When searching for a mutual fund, what do you look for? Obviously, you want solid performance over time. Many funds are flashy but only shine for a year or two then fall by the wayside.

The Wall Street Journal features two no-load funds that have topped their peers. What sets them apart is that they don't follow the crowd. They do intensive research and filter out all but a few holdings. They are not index traders.

Economists and public policy professionals, among others who closely follow the economy, often get asked questions at dinner parties about where the U.S. economy is headed.

Many who ask know a great deal about their own line of work, of course, but often don't know much about the U.S. economy's overall performance, and that's not surprising, given our busy, time-pressured lives these days.

One short-hand I offer those who who don't have the time to review the U.S. Federal Reserve's Beige Book data or the U.S. Labor Department's jobs report, is to keep an eye on General Electric Company's (GE) operational performance, and, by extension, its stock performance.

By Dan Wiener

Mutual funds information is released every day, and on October 6, Vanguard launched yet another offensive in the continuing battle over operating expenses and fund minimums, significantly reducing the entry price for a majority of its funds' lower-cost Admiral share class.

"The Arbitrage Fund (ARBFX) invests in mergers and acquisitions by purchasing the acquired company's stock and typically shorting the acquirer; this strategy yields the 'spread' if and when the deal closes," reports Ian Wyatt.

KaChing! KaChing!

It only makes sense to call a company a sound you like to hear. This is exactly what CEO and co-founder Andy Rachleff must have had in mind. His new company -- kaChing, of course -- is backed by Marc Andreesen (a name often associated with that sound) and Jeff Jordan, the CEO of OpenTable (NASDAQ: OPEN), two guys who usually do a solid job of backing winners. But, they've taken on a challenge by backing a company in the financial services industry.

We've watched stock market numbers bounce around for two years. Unemployment stats have served as unpleasant reminders that, for some, leading indicators haven't translated to reality. We look for so many ways to understand the brutal economic environment with which we've had to contend, and all the choices can make your head spin. So, let's make it simple. Here are eight ways to tack a label onto the financial world in which we live.

1. Lost market value
Total stock market losses from October 2007's top to March 2009's bottom: $11.2 trillion
Total gains in the stock market since the bottom: $4.6 trillion
Lost ground: $6.6 trillion

2. Bad days
Percentage of the 10 worst days in history for the Dow Jones Industrial Average that happened in 2008, by point drops: 60%
Percentage of the 10 worst days in history for the DJIA that happened in 2008, by percentage drops: 30%

3. Mutual funds
Value of mutual fund assets at the end of 2007: $6.5 trillion
... and a year later: $3.7 million
Lost value: $2.8 trillion

But, it got a little better at the end of August 2009: $4.5 trillion (value of assets)

To bolster its capital base and get more focus, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) has been in the process of unloading noncore assets. And, we got the latest deal today; that is, the company has agreed to sell its long-term asset management unit, Columbia Management, to Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP). The price tag comes to roughly $1 billion.

Columbia is certainly a nice business, with a wide assortment of stock and bond mutual funds. One of its standout funds is the Acorn Fund, whose manager is Charles McQuaid.

One of the most valuable commodities in the world is water -- without it, mankind can't survive. While more than 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water, but 97% of it is saltwater and only 1% of the remaining 3% is readily available for consumption. Water is becoming scarce, and upcoming water shortages are emerging as the population of the world increases, particularly in emerging markets like China, India, and Mexico.

A great way to include water as part of your portfolio's commodity allocation is by buying an exchange-traded fund (ETF). An ETF is a basket of stocks that allow you to invest in a single asset class, sector, country, or theme with one stock. In one ETF, you'll own not only water utility companies but also related businesses, like those that help build the infrastructure for making water suitable for drinking. You won't have to pick a single stock, rather you can own the most important stocks in the water industry -- worldwide. ETFs are perfect building blocks for building a diversified portfolio using an asset allocation strategy.

Most investors got slammed last year, down 50% or more in their investments. Didn't matter if they owned stocks or real estate, they got hammered. Many have to start over. And if they're near retirement, it's scary. Years of patient investing wiped out, gains that were made over a long time disappeared frighteningly fast.

But now it's time to begin fresh, to rebuild. What's the safest way to regain some or all of the losses without suffering another wipeout?

As you read stories about victims of the Madoff fraud, aren't you glad that you weren't one of them? Why are you so sure that it will never happen to you? How do you know its not happening to you now?

In academic financial research, there's a concept called "agency risk." Agency risk occurs when someone who is acting as your agent has a set of interests that conflict with yours. In investing, agency risk is rampant because one party can often gain from an action that will cause a loss to the investor without the investor even knowing it! Bernie Madoff was an agent of the investors who hired him to manage their money and he was crooked for years until his scheme ended. But investors face plenty of legal, yet sometimes equally dangerous forms of agency risk. It is important to understand them and find ways to mitigate these risks.

Has your broker repeatedly sold you on the "safe" investment vehicle, the mutual fund? Investing in a wide variety of prominent companies, with solid, long-term track records, mutual funds have been an easy-to-understand and popular investment choice for decades.

Mutual funds are hugely diversified, holding large stakes in recognizable names such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Walmart (NYSE: WMT), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), General Electric (NYSE: GE), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM).