Cooking a meal, lighting a street, keeping a factory running and driving across the country- all these require energy. Energy is thus at the heart of our everyday life and affect almost all economic activity. If you believe in the importance of energy, then does it not make sense to invest in the sector?
According to fund investment website Morningstar, the energy sector has turned in third place for year-to-date performance, gaining returns of 11.83 percent. This is behind the utilities sector with returns in investment of 15.2 percent, and the real estate sector at 13 percent.
There are many ways in which you can gain exposure to the energy sector, such as buying stocks of company who produce oil and gas, investing in mutual funds, or buying oil futures. Be warned that the energy sector is volatile due to its highly speculative nature and can be easily influenced by global geopolitics. Any major political chaos in oil-producing countries such as those in the Middle East, sanctions on producer countries or weather-related shutdowns of oil-rigs can all post sudden surge or drops in oil prices and energy stocks. Thus, you may want to take the guesswork out of picking a specific stock or futures contract by investing in an energy mutual fund finder which targets the sector instead.
Mutual fund rating firm Morningstar lists more than 100 mutual funds in its energy sector category. Some of these which offer the highest returns include the Tortoise Select Opportunity which saw a 21.23 percent return year-to-date(ytd), BP Capital TwinLine Energy with 18.75 percent returns and ProFunds Oil Equipment Svc &Distwith a 17.8 percent returns.
Given the many different offerings, nearly any strategy, be it funds that are bearish or bullish on the energy sector, can be found. There are opportunities to gain exposure to varying market capitalizations and capability to invest in growth companies or simply those that pay above attractive dividend yields.
Other than investing in funds which buy into the energy sector, another related sector which is becoming hot in the market is the alternative energy sector. Around the world, governments are stepping up efforts to grow their clean technology capabilities in order to address climate change and reduce reliance on fossil fuel sources. With the alternative energy revolution underway, you can now participate in the global shift to alternative energy by investing in companies that explore and harness energy from solar, wind, hydroelectric, tidal wave, geothermal, biomass and biofuel energy.According to alternergystocks.com, alternative energy mutual funds have shown robust returns, averaging 28 percent for a year with funds that it is tracking posting double digit returns.
Some of the top performing alternative energy mutual funds include the Firsthand Alternative Energy and the Guinness Atkinson Alternative Energy. Both of these funds invest companies from the alternative energy sector. As said earlier, the energy sector is highly volatile and even if your risks in putting your money in a mutual fund is already diversified, do note that returns and losses can be as volatile as more than 50 percent difference within a year and be prepared to have the risk appetite to stomach that.
started by weinvest on 08 Dec 14
According to fund investment website Morningstar, the energy sector has turned in third place for year-to-date performance, gaining returns of 11.83 percent. This is behind the utilities sector with returns in investment of 15.2 percent, and the real estate sector at 13 percent.
There are many ways in which you can gain exposure to the energy sector, such as buying stocks of company who produce oil and gas, investing in mutual funds, or buying oil futures. Be warned that the energy sector is volatile due to its highly speculative nature and can be easily influenced by global geopolitics. Any major political chaos in oil-producing countries such as those in the Middle East, sanctions on producer countries or weather-related shutdowns of oil-rigs can all post sudden surge or drops in oil prices and energy stocks. Thus, you may want to take the guesswork out of picking a specific stock or futures contract by investing in an energy mutual fund finder which targets the sector instead.
Mutual fund rating firm Morningstar lists more than 100 mutual funds in its energy sector category. Some of these which offer the highest returns include the Tortoise Select Opportunity which saw a 21.23 percent return year-to-date(ytd), BP Capital TwinLine Energy with 18.75 percent returns and ProFunds Oil Equipment Svc &Distwith a 17.8 percent returns.
Given the many different offerings, nearly any strategy, be it funds that are bearish or bullish on the energy sector, can be found. There are opportunities to gain exposure to varying market capitalizations and capability to invest in growth companies or simply those that pay above attractive dividend yields.
Other than investing in funds which buy into the energy sector, another related sector which is becoming hot in the market is the alternative energy sector. Around the world, governments are stepping up efforts to grow their clean technology capabilities in order to address climate change and reduce reliance on fossil fuel sources. With the alternative energy revolution underway, you can now participate in the global shift to alternative energy by investing in companies that explore and harness energy from solar, wind, hydroelectric, tidal wave, geothermal, biomass and biofuel energy.According to alternergystocks.com, alternative energy mutual funds have shown robust returns, averaging 28 percent for a year with funds that it is tracking posting double digit returns.
Some of the top performing alternative energy mutual funds include the Firsthand Alternative Energy and the Guinness Atkinson Alternative Energy. Both of these funds invest companies from the alternative energy sector. As said earlier, the energy sector is highly volatile and even if your risks in putting your money in a mutual fund is already diversified, do note that returns and losses can be as volatile as more than 50 percent difference within a year and be prepared to have the risk appetite to stomach that.