Money Smart Week

Money Smart Week is just around the corner. Are you ready? During April 20-27, organizations around the country will be educating individuals on a variety of personal finance topics. Morningstar has two special events this year which you may want to view.

The first event will be Wednesday, April 24th at 5:30 p.m. Central (3:30 p.m. PDT). Morningstar’s Christine Benz and Adam Zoll will discuss how to prepare your finances for life events ranging from college planning to saving for retirement. Watch the live stream video or the recording.

If you are interested in viewing the session from home,work or bring your laptop or tablet to the library, they will be streaming the event live from this link: www.morningstar.com/goto/moneysmartweek

In addition to their regular training sessions, they are offering a special Money Smart Week training for Morningstar Investment Research Center users. Login to the webinar and call into their teleconference on Friday, April 26th at 12 p.m. Central (9 a.m. PDT). They’ll focus on navigating the database, using the screening and portfolio analysis tools, and where to find helpful information.

Webinar access directions: www.morningstar.com/goto/mswmirctraining
Call in to listen: 866-844-9418
Access Code: 736 330 5258
Password: mirc

And don’t forget to utilize their new Investing for the Long Run book – A free guide with strategies and solutions to help you shape up your personal finances.

Remember the Library offers additional Business and Investing resources on our Databases by Topic page – Business and Investing.

Are you using Morningstar Mutual Funds in the Library?

We recently were notified that Morningstar has decided to retire the print version of Morningstar Mutual Funds on December 24th but you can still access Morningstar Mutual funds in Morningstar Investment Research Center online using the Virtual Library. We do have limited licenses to the product, so if you cannot get in, wait 15-30 minutes and chances are a license will free up so you can get use it. I will be monitoring the turn-a-ways and if it’s happening too often we will add additional licenses.

If you have never used Morningstar Investment Research Center checkout the Help & Education tab. Here you will find how-to guides to print and monthly online workshops on how-to use Morningstar Investment Research Center .

Morningstar Training Tip for the Novice Investor

Morningstar’s analysis is loaded with financial jargon and ratings that are unique to Morningstar, which can present a challenge for the novice investor. Don’t let be intimidated by Morningstar’s research. Located within Morningstar is all the tools  you need to use the database and its extensive research.

The Help and Education tab of Morningstar Investment Research Center is full of helpful tips and guides for investors at all levels of expertise. For any financial terms that you are unfamiliar with, you can utilize the glossary on the Help and Education tab. Hundreds of terms are defined here using simple language and clear examples, ensuring that you understand how to interpret technical terms or data points. Directly below the glossary, users will find several methodology documents to provide deeper insight into Morningstar’s proprietary ratings. These documents will demonstrate how each rating was developed and how you should utilize the ratings to support your investment decisions.

For example, many mutual funds will have a Star Rating and an Analyst Rating. The Star Rating for mutual funds is a backward-looking measure based on a fund’s past risk- and load-adjusted return versus its category peers. The Analyst Rating is a summary of Morningstar’s forward-looking analysis of a fund. For folks who are focused on past performance, the Star Rating is a great indicator. However, for those who are interested in Morningstar analysts’ opinions on the long-term success of a fund, the Analyst Rating would be a more appropriate benchmark.

Read about these ratings and more by clicking on the methodology documents on the Help and Education tab.

As always, we offer monthly training webinars the first Thursday of each month at 11:00 a.m. Central Time.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Monthly Session
Training Webinar
June 7th @ 11:00am
Click here to attend
Dial 800-549-9585. Event password: mirc
Access Code: 308 167 0

Morningstar: Closed-end Funds Coming Soon

What’s New

There are many new and exciting changes coming to Morningstar Investment Research Center this month!

• First, you will notice recently improved pages for viewing exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Overall, you will see that the pages include larger, easier-to-read fonts and graphs with additional data points and a more user-friendly interface. The new ETF Quote pages provide a comprehensive overview of the ETF you are viewing, complete with interactive graphs, important price data, style map, sector information, and several other highlights. Just like our stock and fund pages, there is now a Chart tab where users can compare one ETF to another fund or benchmark. And similar to the mutual funds, you can find related fund family data by clicking the link at the top right of each page.

• They have also updated the Portfolio X-Ray Tool to help investors better understand the types of sectors they are invested in. Now, in the Stock Sector section of the tool, users will see industry sectors, such as health care and technology, divided into three new categories: cyclical, sensitive, and defensive. These three divisions indicate how sensitive the industries are to macroeconomic factors. Investors can clearly see how their portfolio is divided amongst these three broader categories and the 11 industry sectors.

• Starting in mid-August, you will notice a new area on the Morningstar Investment Research Center. For the first time, they are offering detailed data on closed-end funds (CEFs). The CEF pages have the same look and feel as the other fund analyses, while allowing investors to learn about a whole new segment of funds. To learn more about CEFs, check out the CEF summary in the Glossary and Methodologies section of the Help & Education tab.

Wall Street Doesn’t Take the Summer Off, and You Shouldn’t Either

Image by paukrus via Flickr

Consider what the condition of your yard would be if you stopped caring for it during the summer.

If you don’t keep an eye on your investments during the summer, you could be left with a greater mess than an overgrown lawn. After all, Wall Street doesn’t take a vacation just because the weather turns nice.

The Library offers tools which simplifies investment tracking by providing you access to financial databases at no cost to you.

Morningstar Investment Research Center is a favorite database of savvy investors. Morningstar Investment Research Center allows you to research more than 35,000 stocks, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds, build and test a portfolio of investments, and learn new investing skills through self-paced courses and online workshops.

Plus, you’ll have access to the very same analyst reports that top investing firms use to make decisions for their clients.

Gain access to Morningstar Investment Research Center all summer long. Drop by your local library or login online at the Virtual Library to stay on top of your portfolio.