Almost a year has gone by since I wrote about the Nona Funds, so it's time for a checkup. Did you forget what a "Nona Fund" is? Here's a refresher...

A "Nona Fund" is a fund that I could recommend to my Nona (Italian Grandmother). The criteria? A maximum of 1 losing year in the past 10, and the loss in that year cannot exceed 9%. The returns have to beat a decent money market fund over any 4 year period. No Load. Expenses under 1%. Tax efficiency is not a concern. (Most ...

I love October.  As a midwesterner, it's one of my favorite months of the year.  The humidity disappears, the heat of summer tapers off, the nights are cool, the leaves on the trees change color and the swings in weather subside.  In sports, hockey season starts,baseball playoffs begin and football gets interesting.  On TV, we get new episodes of our favorite shows. 

In business, people get serious.  It's the fourth quarter.  You have to hit the numbers, you ...

Ask yourself, "What problem does the company solve?"

Reading an article this afternoon, I was reminded that successful technology companies solve problems.  Think about some of the companies that have solved problems for businesses as well as consumers:

Email without a burdensome laptop:   Research in Motion
Presentations over the internet:     WebEx
Tracking web activity on your site:  Webtrends, Omniture
Finding stuff on the Web - quickly: ...

What is a Nona fund you ask?  Or better yet, what or who is a Nona? 

On the Italian side of my family, "Nona" means grandmother.   More than anyone, I credit my Nona for getting me started in investing.  She had a pretty high tolerence for market swings, but in her retirement years, she wanted a decent, fairly predictable, positive return on her money.  If the portfolio lost money one year, she wanted to have confidence that her holdings would bounce back ...