2010 has been pretty volatile so far for most asset classes. Stocks and bond have traded all over the board and May was particularly ugly for global stocks and the corporate bond market. But one sector has held up really well: high-yield municipal bonds.

It would be hard not to notice the recent surge in market volatility. As a firm believer in the low-cost, transparent nature of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), I wanted to provide some tips to my clients and readers about how to handle trading ETFs in this environment.

As the Senate passed the Financial Reform Bill (aka FinReg) 60-39 last Thursday, many investors and financial advisors are speculating about how this legislation may affect the financial services industry—specifically the relationship between investment advisors and retail consumers.

If you’re a client of mine, or have ever engaged in a conversation with me about managing investments, then you know I’m a big fan of indexes and low-cost investing.

Roth IRAs are very trendy right now. “Trendy” isn’t a word I usually use to describe financial products and services but in this case I think it applies.

I’ve written at length about problems within the retirement plan system here in America. Perhaps the biggest drawback for employees is that those secure pensions of the 80’s and 90’s are, for the most part, being replaced by employee-funded 401(k) and 403(b) plans.

There is an interesting article in this month’s Financial Planning Magazine which questions how realistic it is for the dollar to “fail” on a global scale. These sorts of articles aren’t unusual these days as much debate takes place over US debt, continued foreign investment, rising gold prices, etc.

Many conservative investors like Certificates of Deposit (CDs) because of their stability. It is true that your principal rarely fluctuates with a CD. However, the rate you get is variable, volatile and highly unpredictable as has been evidenced by interest rates in the economy over the past 15 years.

There has been much debate over the past decade about the value proposition of actively-managed mutual funds to the average investor. The potential advantage which you’re really paying for with mutual funds is the possibility of choosing a brilliant portfolio manager who can beat their benchmark year after year.

I’ve gotta say—I was a bit surprised by the opening life of Evan Simonoff’s column in the October Financial Advisor magazine. He said “Who among us (referring to the financial advisor community) really takes this 60% rally in equity prices seriously.”

A year ago it was hard for me to keep variable annuity (VA) wholesalers out of my office. The features offered by various insurance companies would change so rapidly that I’d have to take meetings to stay up-to-date.*