What Does the Law Require
By law, mutual funds are required to release complete portfolio holdings only twice a year. For actively managed funds, in the interim of 6 months, their holdings could have been turned over many times and the information at investors’ hands can never be real time, live feeds, considering today’s online technology has made instant exchange of information nothing but possible. In fact, the decades-old securities law enacted such a rule because of the concern that fund companies couldn’t afford to mail out a report every day.

Objection to Frequent Portfolio Disclosure
Chief concern among mutual fund companies is that timely portfolio updates of fund holdings can tip off their intentions to the market. It may cause potential front run on a fund where other traders can buy shares ahead of the fund and drive up prices, while the fund is still taking the time to build up positions in a stock. But supporters of full, on-time publication of portfolio holdings argue that the hidden reason why funds are reluctant to do anything beyond what the law requires is that managers might be concerned about revealing questionable trading practice in any disclosure. Funds do a lot of window-dressing trading close to quarter end to boost performance and increase management compensation.

Other Concerns by Financial Advisers
Some financial advisory don’t think that requiring more disclosures of a fund’s holdings is a good idea. They contend that overwhelming information can lead investors to losing their long-term focus and becoming obsessed with fund trading. The advantage of having accessible information as claimed by some investors may be overblown. They also observe that people who are trading stocks and looking for ideas are more interested in getting a first look at a fund’s holdings.

Amid all the conflicting viewpoints, some mutual fund companies are stepping up to make more frequent disclosures on their portfolio holdings. More quarterly updates are now available, with monthly reports on top holdings. To the delight of some investors, a fund named OpenFund lets investors view active trading on its website, while others post weekly trading commentaries by fund managers. A standard monthly reporting ought to be possible if the idea of leaving out sensible trading information is made to consensus.

What happened to the stock market today?

However, all too often people are afraid to put their money to work in the stock market because it seems like a confusing place. Many worry that their money might evaporate away if a stock goes under. For example, if you invest in a gold ETF fund, and the price of gold collapses, then you’re busted — you lose your investment. The same goes for Oil ETFs, the natural gas ETF and others. While this fear is legitimate if you are invested in only one stock, there are ways to diversify your money and to grow it without having to learn the complexities of the market. This way is by investing in a high yield ETF.

A high yield ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is an investment vehicle in which your money is given to a professional who manages the money for you by placing it into a number of high yielding stocks. A high yield stock means a stock that pays a high dividend relative to it’s share price. By investing in this kind of ETF you are allowing compound interest to work in your favor in order to significantly grow your money over time.

Conservative style investors might be particularly drawn to high yield ETF’s because of the glamor of the high dividend. Investors have the option of receiving their dividend (share of the company’s earnings) in the form of a check every three months, or in the form of reinvestment in the stock. Reinvestment in the stock gives you a bigger share each time and is generally thought of as the smarter move financially, unless you are using the money as income.

While ETF’s are a relatively new product of Wall Street, they are in many ways similar to mutual funds. They allow you to not have to worry about studying the stock market before investing. You may simply place your money into these funds on a set schedule (i.e. monthly, weekly, etc.) and allow it to grow over time for you. This makes your investing automatic, rather than focusing on random ETF news and sound bites. Naturally you should never jump into an investment halfheartedly. If you want your money to work for you and compound over time, then you are going to need to stick to your investment plan.

Of course, some U.S. companies do business overseas (for example, Exxon). Thus, an investment in the energy sector may involve the purchase of these different kinds of stocks and many others that fit this description, and it sometimes wise for an investor to consider what element(s) of the business sector is most appealing, given that investor’s beliefs about what types of energy are apt to be particularly fast growing enterprises or what areas of the world are most apt to need and have the ability to expand energy production. An investor can purchase individual energy stocks or a stock fund in which the fund manager has assembled a group of stocks that all share in common a primary involvement in energy production.

This too becomes a consideration, since an investor may have more confidence that a single company will do well in the future than a group of related but different companies or may dislike the idea of investing entirely in a single company and prefer a wider bet that the energy sector will do well, whether a given company does or not. If the intent is to invest in the energy sector, it is generally best to purchase a mutual fund run by a good fund manager with low overhead costs in order to place a wide bet on this sector of the economy generally.

With this decision made, the next step is to research various mutual funds, perhaps through a fund rating company like Morning Star,in order to determine which mutual fund might be purchasing those energy stocks the investor most likes, in the region of the world that the investor believes to be most ripe for fast growth, managed by a fund manager with a good track record, and set up to minimize the overhead costs (for example, the management fees and the commission costs at purchase and sale of the mutual fund). In my judgment, the new investor should always look first at the Vanguard mutual funds.