The rumors have been swirling for years: Facebook will IPO next month, next quarter, next year. But each time it seems that investors are disappointed with no such event. However, 2012 may finally see the long-awaited IPO from the social networking giant. Before you roll your eyes and click out of the page, consider some new developments that make this event very likely. Other than unnamed sources confirming an IPO in early to mid 2012, the company’s private stock has been frozen for the past three days, a move that typically coincides with a filing to go public in the near future. ”Facebook and companies who do this don’t want to expose themselves to lawsuits related to the fact that some people had it before others and were able to trade on it,” Sam Hamadeh, CEO of private company research firm PrivCo, told Bloomberg. “The best way to protect yourself

With the World Economic Forum (WEF) scheduled to hold its annual meeting later this week, and the European Union (EUO) holding its first summit of the year on Jan. 30, the possibility of negative sentiment from one or both of these two major events could easily lead to a shift in direction for the market.

The WEF, held annually in Davos, Switzerland, gives world leaders and key financial and business experts a chance to share their personal vision of the macro-economy with the world. And it often seems like a place that creates a pull-no-punches venue.

This can be evidenced by remarks made by the current head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, who expressed the opinion that the world economy could experience a "1930s moment", which, for anyone who either forgot their history or never paid attention in class, was a time of alternating hyper-inflation, depression and general

Vanguard offers funds that have some of the lowest expense ratios in the industry. Offering funds at-cost was a novel idea that made Vanguard the world’s largest mutual fund company, with about $1.6 trillion in assets.

It took a while for competition to take notice, but now there are fund companies that offer funds that are priced lower than their Vanguard peers.

Here’s a list of the ten, commonly used ETFs that have an expense ratio lower than that of Vanguard’s. (ETF commissions have not been considered in the preparation of this list.)

Large Cap – Value

Schwab’s U S Large Cap Value ETF (SCHV), tracks the Dow Jones’ U.S. Large-Cap Value Total Stock Market Index and has an expense ratio of 0.13 which is less than that of its Vanguard peer, VTV, which has an expense ratio of 0.15. Schwab started offering this ETF towards the end of 2009.