The Best List

We asked our staff to nominate their picks for top financial products and services, gadgets, and deals—everything from timely mutual funds and ETFs to the most rewarding rewards credit cards to hidden gems among used cars. Unlike other best list compilations you may see, our top choices aren’t the best products and services of the year—they are the best ones available right now, so you can use our list as a guide for every facet of your financial life.

INVESTING

PLAY DEFENSE

Bear markets, defined as drops of 20% or more from a market peak, occur nearly every four years, on average. The last one ended in March 2009. Corrections of 10% to 20% come every 26 months, on average, and the last one of those ended in February 2016. Downturns are part of investing, but we think it’s time to play defense:

Rebalance

After years of gains, your portfolio may now be tilting excessively toward stocks. Lock in profits by selling some stocks and buying more bonds. Look for candidates to sell in the tech and financial sectors.

Buy steady Eddies

The shares of big, stable companies with steady revenues and dividends should lose less than average in a market downturn. Our top choice for exchange-traded funds that focus on such stocks is ISHARES EDGE MSCI MINIMUM VOLATILITY USA (SYMBOLUSMV, $50). Over the past three years, the fund has been 18% less volatile than the S&P 500, yet it has beaten the market by an average of 1.6 percentage points a year.

Own safer sectors

Consider classic defensive health care companies, phone service providers and utilities. For broad exposure to health care stocks, we like GUGGENHEIM S&P 500 EQUAL WEIGHT HEALTH CARE ETF (RYH, $175), a member of the Kiplinger ETF 20 (see page 54). For utilities, we recommend FIDELITY MSCI UTILITIES ETF (FUTY, $35); the ETF has a 3.2% yield and a wafer-thin 0.08% expense ratio. Among phone-service providers, we recommend VERIZON (VZ, $49) (see “The Kiplinger Dividend 15: Our Top Dividend Picks,” on page 50).

Hold more bonds