GIZMO

Take a look at your desk. Keyboard, mouse, monitor, various paperwork – and filth. Don’t deny it: there’s a bit of food wedged in your keyboard, isn’t there?

For such grossness was the Mr Gadget USB Vacuum Cleaner invented. It’s a small cleaner powered by the USB port of your computer and comes with two brush attachments designed for fiddly places like your keyboard. Also has a dust catcher and a light built in to it. Currently selling on the mrgadget.com.au web site at a knock-down $13.95. You’ll wonder how you ever got by in life without one.

ROADTEST

Vanguard Index Diversified Bond Fund

Is an index bond fund the place to be right now?

Performance

As a passive fund, it seeks to match the return of two indices: the UBS Australian Composite Bond Index (Aussie fixed interest, accounting for 40%) and the Lehman Global Aggregate (global bonds, accounting for 60% – you’ll soon be referring to this as a Barclays index since Lehman has gone belly-up). It has done so, returning 7.63% in the year to October 31, and 7.37% a year since inception in January 2000.

Holdings

Those indices between them cover 300 Australian and 9000 global securities.

Experience

Vanguard is one of the best-known index fund managers in the world, and certainly in Australia. It is a long-standing supporter of the idea that you get a better all-round deal in an index fund than an active one, since active managers just don’t justify their higher fees.

Fees

0.75% a year up to $50,000. If you invest more than that the fee goes down to 0.5%, and over $100,000, to 0.35%.

Gripes

The problem with an index product is it exposes you to everything – the dross as well as the gems. Still, that hasn’t visibly done it any harm in this most testing of environments, with the indices (and therefore the fund) turning a health positive return in a year when many world stock markets have halved.

Verdict

Does what it’s meant to do: offers predictable and stable returns, matching an index, and in combining local and global indices it provides diversification too.

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