The 60/40 portfolio is back at all-time highs after a tumultuous stretch that started in 2022. The Morningstar US Moderate Target Allocation Index, which resembles a typical diversified balanced fund, has gained more than 6.3% for the year to date through mid-June, and despite continued pessimism from some market observers, the outlook isn’t as grim…

Large-growth funds posted strong gains in 2024, thanks partly to the artificial intelligence boom. Despite slipping in December, the average large-growth fund beat the broader market last year.To screen for the top-performing funds in this category, we looked for those with the best returns over the last one-, three-, and five-year periods. Among large-growth funds,…

Dividend stocks are the Dolly Parton of investing: Everyone seems to like them.Many retirees rely (at least somewhat) on the regular income that dividend stocks generate. Nonretirees, meanwhile, enjoy “getting paid to wait”—collecting regular income from quarterly dividends while holding on for stock price appreciation.Looking back at 2024, the returns of the Morningstar Dividend Yield…

Index funds are passive investments. They track an index with the aim of replicating that index’s performance minus expenses. Active funds, meanwhile, are led by managers who choose particular securities to outperform an index.However, some index funds are better than others. The best index funds closely track their indexes, minimize costs, and follow sensible rules-based…

In many ways, exchange-traded funds are an evolution of mutual funds. ETFs are like mutual funds that trade throughout the day but are more tax-efficient, transparent, and accessible. And they are often cheaper than their mutual fund forebears.But these advantages don’t apply to every ETF. Some purported benefits of ETFs are oversold, while others are…