Sustainable Bliss

never stop learning!

Investing

What to Look For

Understand how the fund/stock sits:

    • Size: large cap, mid cap, small cap
    • Sector: by country, by industry
    • Fixed income vs long term capital appreciation
    • Style: growth vs value
    • Domestic vs International
    • Other factors: emerging market, SRI, REIT, commodities

Check historical performace

    • versus the benchmark
    • versus similar funds/stocks
    • focus more on long term (5 years)

Manager

    • how long has the manager been there? best >5 yrs
    • performance during manager's tenure
    • should be invested themselves

Risk profile

    • Morningstar analyst rating

Expenses

    • opt for no sales charges / loads / commissions
    • low expense ratio (under 1%)
    • low turnover (under 40%)
    • low cash reserves
    • 12b-1 fee = marketing = avoid

Volatility

    • standard deviation

Some definitions:

SRI - Socially Responsible Investing / Socially Conscious

There are lots of different kinds of socially conscoius approaches. Sometimes it concerns avoiding companies that produce or sell alcohol, tobacco, gambling . Another vein is including companies that are engaged in environmental sustainability or clean energy. Also, sometimes this approach is concerned with fair employment practices or promoting human rights.

ETF - exchange traded funds

mutual fund that tracks an index, commodity or category of assets, but trades like a stock.

Individual Stocks

Benchmarks

Index Funds

Diversification

Tax Implications