Asset Classes Paper 1

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First, it is important to understand that Walmart, being the economic super power it is, developed extremely quickly. According to the Company Profile Walmart Stores, Inc., Walmart was established in 1969, and shortly thereafter in 1972 become publicly traded on the New York Stock exchange. As the company continued to grow, in the 1980’s the company diversified into Supercenters, Sam’s Club (membership warehouse club), and even international operations. Walmart expanded and began to sell household items (2000), the launch of their “No Boundaries” cosmetic line (2001), an online music store (2004), the completion of Walmart Site to Store (2007), Walmart prepaid debit cards (2007), their very own home furnishing brand “Canopy” (2008), and finally their very own line of Sam’s choice coffee (2008). In 2009 the company took a huge leap

They are different types of assets that can be used to diversify a portfolio because they are different from one another. These types of assets add diversification to the portfolio because they are diverse from each other. They can also be used to maximize risk and minimize profit. According to the article titled “portfolio diversification” the very best mix of assets you can hold to maximize risk for a given level of return is called the efficient frontier. (Portfolio diversification 2009). In other words if one has a diverse mix of assets they are more likely to maximize their risk and maximize their profit. Therefore having a diverse portfolio with stocks, bonds, real estate, global funds and metals is beneficial and adds diversity to the portfolio because each asset has different characteristic and benefits for the investor. The difference between each type of asset is what adds diversity in a portfolio.

With Wal-Mart is one of the top retail stores in the United States, its main focus is being people friendly and affordable so that Americans have not had to spend a fortune just to shop for necessities. President and CEO Doug McMillon reported in October 2014 that “Wal-Mart stores, Inc. helps people around the world save money and live better-anytime and anywhere...Each week, more than 250 million

Wal-Mart is a symbol of the US economy of the 21st century, which is held in radical contrast to the symbol of the old economy. Indeed, It is one of the giants of the " service sector" of the United States economy. To add, its $244.6 billion in the sales in 2002 composed more than 2% of all the gross domestic product of the United States (GDP). Let us also mention that this has made Wal-Mart the world's largest company (based on incomes). That is the 19th greater economy in the world. Consequently, it is our nation's biggest employer, with 1.3 million employees in the

The costs of this strategy are very high. Because this would involve constructing new buildings and organizing new distribution networks, Wal-Mart has to plan for this with the utmost attention to detail. This is not a very large problem for Wal-Mart, though, because they have the financing available to do just about anything. The typical store covers over 150,000 square feet, and requires a lot of planning before the construction begins. Everything has to be organized in a way that everything is in place and operating within the shortest amount

The first Wal-Mart was opened in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962. By 1969 it was incorporated into Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and in 1972 went public on the New York Stock Exchange. The company grew steadily across the United States, and by 1990 was the nation's largest retailer. In 1991 and 1994, Wal-Mart moved into Mexico and Canada respectively. By 1997 it was incorporated into the Dow Jones Industrial Average. As of 2005, Wal-Mart has stores in the United Kingdom, and Puerto Rico, and brings in revenue of close to 300 billion dollars a year. In 2006, Wal-Mart invaded the China and India's markets. During the last two decades, Wal-Mart has been able to take advantage of the rise of information

Investors should have prior knowledge of the funds. Investors should know the difference between index funds and midcap opportunity funds. Investors must understand how the share market is doing , how mutual funds work, evaluate track records of funds and most of all, will need to have the time to devote to research on which fund to invest.

Generally, Wal-Mart’s reputation of offering quality and low cost products and its presence in the global market helps keep the company strong. Wal-Mart’s strategic growth plan is aggressive and evident in the number of retail stores it operates domestically and internationally. The wide array of stores built to suit local economies enables them to attract a wide array of customers and keep their sales growing. In the financial year ending January 31, 2011 the company recorded total sales amounting

We selected 5 mutual funds that have 80% of more invested in stock equity securities in the mutual fund. The 5 mutual funds all have different investment styles according to Morningstar. The investment objective defines what each mutual fund’s long term goals are. It includes things such as required return, the risk tolerance, and investment time horizon. The investment style is the different strategy used to set asset allocation of the mutual fund. It sets expectations for long term portfolio performance. For example, VTICX focuses on large blend, where HASCX focuses on small blend; meaning that they will target different portfolio asset allocations. Each fund will allocate its funds differently and in different proportions. The investment strategy is a set of rules, behaviors or procedures designed to guide an investor's selection of an investment portfolio. For example, VTICX looks into stocks that pay lower dividends and are included in the Russell 1000 Index so they can provide a tax-efficient investment return consisting of long-term capital appreciation. Behind every capital investment there is a strategy. Arithmetic mean returns are the total average of the returns for the last ten years (07-16) of

In 2005, Wal-Mart’s sales increased to312.4 billion dollars, more than 6200 companies around the world including 3800 stores in the U.S.

Those who are interested in understanding investment opportunities would benefit by understanding what a mutual fund is and how it works. Mutual funds are collections of stocks, bonds and other investments, which are operated by money managers. The companies that manage mutual funds are able to use the financial input of numerous investors to manage diverse investments in collections called portfolios. These portfolios are subject to investment objectives that are explained in the prospectus of the fund.

If you are investing just a few thousand dollars it may not be cost effective to diversify your money across more than one asset class as the transaction fees may eat up any earnings you make. Managed funds are an effective way to diversify with small and large amounts of money, either as a single investment or as a way of investing ongoing savings

Diversification of investing in mutual funds simply exemplifies the saying, “don’t put all of you eggs in one basket.” Mark Schuab states that diversification reduces investment risk and due to this investors look for ways to most efficiently spread risk among many different investments (Schaub, 2013). Mutual funds will comprise of a portfolio or a basket of securities which can be numerous. If one or several of these securities declines significantly there would be minimal risk due to the numerous securities within the basket. The next advantage is professional management. This is advantage to the investor because they will not decide what will be invested; this is the responsibility of manager of the mutual funds. The manager will have thorough knowledge and time to research which securities to add or remove from mutual funds. The last advantage is minimal initial investment. This advantage allows an investor to start investing at a low amount. Mutual funds can be initiated between as low as $250 to $1,000 with the initial price beginning at $2,500; after this funds can be

For the purpose of generating huge wealth we need to manage our money in an efficient way and that is where Portfolio Management comes into play. Portfolio could be termed as a mixture of various outlays of investment done by you, or in short “Asset Allocation”.