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How to Modify and Pivot Fields in an Excel 2010 Pivot Table

5 of 9 in Series:
The Essentials of Excel 2010 Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts

Pivot tables are much more dynamic than standard Excel 2010 tables because they are so easy to manipulate and modify. Excel makes it just as easy to change which fields from the original data source are displayed in the table as it does originally adding them when a table is first created. In addition, you can instantly restructure the pivot table by dragging its existing fields to new positions on the table.

Modifying the pivot table fields

To modify the fields used in your pivot table, follow these steps:

Click any cell in the pivot table.

Excel adds the PivotTable Tools contextual tab with the Options and Design tabs to the Ribbon.

Click the PivotTable Tools Options tab.

Click the Field List button in Show/Hide group if it isn't already selected.

Excel displays the PivotTable Field List task pane, showing the fields that are currently used in the pivot table as well as to which areas they're currently assigned.

Make any of the following modifications to the table's fields:
- To remove a field from the table, drag its field name out of any of its drop zones (Report Filter, Column Labels, Row Labels, and Values) and, when the mouse pointer changes to an x, release the mouse button; or click its check box in the Choose Fields to Add to Report list to remove its check mark.
- To move an existing field to a new place in the table, drag its field name from its current drop zone to a new zone at the bottom of the task pane.
- To add a field to the table, drag its field name from the Choose Fields to Add to Report list and drop the field in the desired drop zone— note that if you want to add a field to the pivot table as an additional Row Labels field, you can also do this by simply selecting the field's check box in the Choose Fields to Add to Report list.

Pivoting the table's fields

As the name pivot implies, the fun of pivot tables is being able to restructure the table simply by rotating the Column and Row fields. In the PivotTable Field List pane, simply drag a label from the Row Labels drop zone to the Column Labels drop zone and vice versa so that the two field names are swapped. Voilà — Excel rearranges the data in the pivot table at your request.

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-modify-and-pivot-fields-in-an-excel-2010-pi.html

Why You Should Add ETFs to Your Existing Portfolio

Maybe you’re intent on staying put with your existing portfolio, but think you can benefit from an occasional ETF holding. You are right and this tells you why and how to reap the benefits of sprinkling a few ETFs into your existing portfolio.

Improve your diversification with ETFs

Unless you are really rich, like Warren Buffett rich, you simply cannot have a truly well-diversified portfolio of individual securities — not nearly as well-diversified as even the simplest ETF or mutual fund portfolio. Where would you even start?

To have a portfolio as well-diversified as even a simple ETF portfolio, you’d have to hold a bevy of large company stocks (both growth and value), small company stocks (again, both growth and value), foreign stocks (Asia and Europe and emerging markets, growth and value, large and small), and real estate investment trust (REIT) stocks. And that’s just on the equity side!

On the fixed-income side of your portfolio, you would ideally have a mix of short-term and long-term bonds, government and corporate issues, and perhaps (especially if you are Warren Buffett rich and find yourself in the northern tax brackets) some federal-tax-free municipal bonds.

Examine your portfolio. If you have the large majority of your equity holdings in large company U.S. stocks, you can diversify in a flash by adding a small cap ETF or two and a couple of international ETFs. If you, like so many investors who lost their shirts in 2008, are simply too heavily invested in stocks, you may want to tap into some of the more sedate bond ETFs.

Minimizing your investment costs

Now, let’s assume you’re basically a mutual fund kind of guy or gal. You’ve been reading Money magazine and Kiplinger’s for years. You believe that you have winnowed down the universe of mutual funds to a handful of winners, and goshdarnit, you’re going to keep them in your portfolio.

You may or may not have heard the terms core and satellite. They refer to an investment strategy that has been very much in vogue lately. Core refers to a portfolio’s foundation, which is basically invested in the entire market, or close to it. Then, you have your satellites: smaller investments designed to outdo the market. It isn’t such a bad strategy.

Suppose you have four mutual funds that you love: one tech fund, one healthcare fund, one energy fund, and one international growth fund. Each charges you a yearly fee of 1.34 percent (the mutual fund average right now, according to Morningstar).

Now suppose you have $250,000 invested in all four. You are paying ($250,000 × 1.34 percent) a total of $3,350 a year in management fees, and that’s to say nothing of any taxes you’re paying on dividends and capital gains.

Consider trimming those investments down and moving half the money into an ETF or two or three. Turn your present core into satellites, and create a new core using broad-market funds, such as the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI). It carries an expense ratio of 0.07 percent.

Your total management fees are now ($125,000 × 1.34 percent) + ($125,000 × 0.07 percent), or $1,675.00 + $87.50, which totals $1,762.50. You’ve just saved yourself a very nifty $1,587.50 a year, and you’ll likely save a considerable amount on taxes, too.

With the newer generation of actively managed ETFs, it’s quite possible that the Kiplinger’s or Money or Wise Money or whatever magazine picks-of-the-month may include ETFs. If you are swapping actively managed mutual funds for actively managed ETFs, you may still save money and lower your tax hit to boot.