Managing Financial Resources

Assignment: Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are a low-cost, flexible way to diversify a portfolio. To learn more, go to Yahoo! Finance and click on investing, then on the ETFs tab. a. What are the pros and cons of investing in ETFs? b. What are the five most actively traded ETFs? c. Which ETFs grew the most in the last three years? d. In which industry sectors or countries do these high-growth ETFs specialize? Go to the websites of Charles Schwab, E*Trade, or Ameritrade and find two IPOs offered in the past eighteen months. Track the performance of each from its introduction to its present market price. Report your observations and any conclusion. Imagine you are in your mid-20s, single, have just inherited $50,000, and you want to invest it to meet two financial goals: (a) to save for your wedding, which you plan to have in two years, and (b) to save for your retirement a few decades from now. How would you invest the money? Explain your answer. Select two stocks for your portfolio–one from the NYSE and one from the NASDAQ. Explore the changes over the last twelve months for your two stocks. Note any particular significant moves and see if it is possible to explain these moves in terms of news about the firm, about the markets, or about the world more broadly. Report your observations and explain any conclusions.