John Rekenthaler

Here's how insuring with stock-index put options works.

Now is the time to be creative.

The better approach: Survive as a bear, profit as a bull.

The four stages of (most) bear markets.

Little indeed: When the going got tough, diversification did not get going.

Going where no Treasury notes have gone before.

Expect more stock market volatility in the coming weeks (and maybe months).

For the most part, yes.

Global governments have no choice but to risk a recession.

Discretion can be the better part of valor.

The timing is suspect, but the concept may eventually make sense.

Their scraps aren't necessarily nutritious.

When the expected return is not clearly positive.

Fidelity's "study" rings true, whether it exists or not.

Revisiting a 25-year old suggestion.

They have quietly acquired huge powers--and responsibilities.

Beware of promises that cannot be fulfilled.

Whatever the answer, defined-contribution plans will feature in the solution.

These days, the statistic's interpretation is taken more figuratively than literally.

They can guess, but they do not know.

Ensuring that the plane can stay aloft.

The attacks have been directed at the wrong target.

The time is right, even if the politicians aren’t yet ready.

The plans are as good as they can be under the current framework--and that's not good enough.

Ben Graham's analogy is beguiling but inaccurate.

Yes, but with a very large asterisk.

The quiet attributes of slow-growth businesses.

Freedom is just another word for an emotion left to lose.

A fund that shouldn’t succeed, but does.

Another tool for understanding stock funds.

Volatility, size, and momentum, say Morningstar's quantitative researchers.

Gradually, its inefficiencies are being competed away.

Yet they will not become extinct.

As does being careful when interpreting charts.

Their aggregate decisions aren’t so very different.

The critical item is the hardest to measure.

When scale becomes a problem, even the greatest fund isn’t all that great.

Their stories are compelling, but their results are not.

Pretty well, all things considered.

Low costs drive superior stock-fund results, not indexing.

How an outsider conquered the fund industry.

The industry is better than ever--but also duller.

As the investment universes become smaller, the complications increase.

The case for indexing overseas is stronger than first appears.

Active management's dangerous infatuation with private-placement securities.

Practical considerations for using the new statistic.

A measure invented in 2005 gets retested--and passes with flying colors.

It appears to be as powerful as it is unknown.

In a healthy financial system, some IPOs will fail.

Morningstar’s global study demonstrates that when funds become bigger, they don't necessarily become cheaper.