By Jason Zweig | June 14, 2013 5:37 p.m. ETImage Credit: Christophe Vorlet If you are an investor and aren’t on the verge of retirement, your fondest wish should be for another whiff of fear that will tip even more assets into the bargain bin. On May 22, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted that the Fed could reduce, or “taper,”...
Read MoreHow to Buy Muni Bonds
Photo credit: Bond issued by the State of the Massachusetts-Bay, 1778, Museum of American Finance By Jason Zweig 2:13 pm ET June 11, 2013 Last weekend’s Intelligent Investor column, on the often prohibitive costs of buying municipal bonds, set off a thundershower of comments and emails. We can reduce them to a few key questions: 1. Can I...
Read MoreWhat’s Eating Your Munis?
By Jason Zweig | 6:25 pm ET June 7, 2013Image Credit: Christophe Vorlet Municipal bonds are beginning to look tempting — but investors who buy munis in haste can unwittingly hand over their first year’s worth of income to their broker. Fortunately, with a few simple steps, you can control that risk and maximize your net return. Intriguingly, the health of...
Read MoreGoodbye, ‘Booby Tuesday’
By Jason Zweig 2:30 pm ET June 4, 2013 We don’t normally root for the stock market to go down on a given day, but we are today. If the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at a loss today, it will finally break the streak of 20 consecutive Tuesdays on which the market went up – and we can’t wait. For weeks, investors have been treated to...
Read MoreHow Funky Is Your 401(k)?
By Jason Zweig | 5:45 pm ET May 31, 2013Image Credit: Christophe Vorlet Is the invasion of the “offbeat bond funds” about to reach your 401(k)? Over the past three years, bond funds that invest outside the mainstream of U.S. Treasurys and investment-grade corporate debt — in high-yield bonds, foreign and emerging-market debt and floating-rate or “bank...
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