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Pastimes : The Justa & Lars Honors Bob Brinker Investment Club -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Justa Werkenstiff who wrote (10478)	12/16/1999 6:38:00 PM
From: Boca_PETE	Respond to of 15132

Justa: Just heard that plans are for Alan Bond to remain a Wall Street Week "Elf", HOWEVER he will be dressed in striped jail garb pending the outcome of the SEC proceeding. Personally, I prefer a duce cap to jail garb. P

To: Justa Werkenstiff who wrote (10478)	12/16/1999 11:51:00 PM
From: Lars	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15132

Justa, How about this 3000 fund? Not bad. There are some smart people at TIAA-CREF. I wonder what Vanguard thinks. >>> TIAA-CREF Plans to Add Five New Mutual Funds By DAVID FRANECKI Dow Jones Newswires TIAA-CREF plans to dramatically expand its fledgling mutual-fund operation in April by rolling out five new funds. They will nearly double the lineup of low-cost mutual funds the organization -- the Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund -- started selling to the public in 1997. Expanding its fund business is important for its transition from a huge pension system for teachers into a diversified financial-services company. The new offerings will include TIAA-CREF's first index-based mutual fund and a "socially responsible" fund. The other three will be bond funds. One will invest in high-yield, or "junk," bonds, one in short-term bonds and one in municipal bonds. The New York company offers six mutual funds, which have grabbed nearly $2 billion in assets in less than two years, with little marketing push. With $265 billion under its watch, TIAA-CREF is a quiet giant of investing, known for strong investment results and some of the lowest costs around. These attributes have drawn comparisons with Vanguard Group Inc., the Malvern, Pa., mutual-fund giant known for its low-cost index mutual funds. TIAA-CREF is adding the index fund and the socially responsible fund in response to requests from its two million pension clients, many of whom are college and university professors. Requests for index funds "were coming up a lot," according to Dennis Foley, who heads TIAA-CREF's mutual-fund and annuity businesses. Some TIAA-CREF funds already partially track stock indexes, but "we felt that we really did need to get an index fund out there," he said. The index-based portfolio will seek to mimic the Russell 3000 Index, which covers the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S. The organization chose this index over the popular big-company Standard & Poor's 500-stock index because the Russell 3000 is more inclusive, Mr. Foley said. The S&P 500 accounts for about 80% of the stock market's value, he said, while the Russell 3000 covers 98% of the market. "We really feel if you want to invest in an index, that's giving you broader representation of the market," he said. The socially responsible fund springs from the investing style's popularity in the educational community, which still makes up the bulk of TIAA-CREF's business. Such funds typically avoid investing in companies that make alcohol, tobacco, military or nuclear products, as well as those with poor employee-relations records. TIAA-CREF's fund will have "substantially lower" fees than any such fund on the market, Mr. Foley said. The average socially responsible fund charges 1.79% of assets in total annual expenses, according to Morningstar Inc. Mr. Foley calls socially responsible investing "an underserved, growing part of the market, where there isn't a low-cost product." >>>

To: Justa Werkenstiff who wrote (10478)	12/17/1999 9:39:00 AM
From: Wally Mastroly	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15132

NAZ on fire...& not sure if this one's for real or not - ITRA. Some links: Message 12286708 ITRA SI thread link: Subject 25927 - P.S. - ..and of course, all do your own due diligence.