Here’s what all investors need to know about ETFs

Article Excerpt

What is an ETF? An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a pooled investment vehicle that trades like a common stock on the market. Investors own a portion of all the assets held by the ETF. What assets do ETFs hold? They let you own publicly traded equities, bonds, commodities, currencies, stock options and futures. What are the associated costs of investing in ETFs? Direct costs for investors are broker trading fees to buy and sell ETF units on the stock exchange. Indirect costs include an ETF management fee as well as portfolio trading and administrative costs. What are the benefits for you of investing in ETFs? Lower fees than mutual funds. As well, ETFs trade on stock exchanges throughout the day much like stocks. So you can buy them through a broker whenever the market’s open, and you’ll generally pay the same commission that you pay to buy stocks. In contrast, you can only buy most mutual funds at the end of the day. What are the risks? Apart…