9 Ways to Help You Become a Smarter Investor<br />Yet anyone saving for retirement or a house, a car or an education — or trying to amass a nest egg for<br />any reason at all — needs to periodically check in to see where the financial world is heading.<br />Stock prices have risen and there are far fewer — if any — bargains, compared with the days right after the end of the financial crisis in 2009.<br />In fact, for many people, forgetting about day-to-day market swings and taking a long-term perspective may be the best approach.<br />All of which raises a big question: What are the prospects for a continuing bull market — or a major decline?<br />Many of these fixed-income instruments have excelled in recent months, and managers of funds<br />that specialize in them say such bonds continue to be attractive.
