Exchange traded funds trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Investors can buy them on margin, or sell them short. The best exchange-traded funds offer well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios with exceptionally low management ETF fees. They are also very liquid.
Investors use ETFs in a variety of ways, and some investors work only with ETFs and no other type of investment in portfolio creation.
An amazing aspect of ETFs is their diversity. Some investors may create an entire portfolio solely from a few well-diversified ETFs.
ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading.
Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds.
As well, shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes. As a result of this low turnover, you won’t incur the regular capital gains taxes generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders.
ETFs have a place in every investor’s portfolio, at TSI Network we also recommend using our three-part Successful Investor strategy:
- Invest mainly in well-established companies;
- Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; the Consumer sector; Finance; Utilities);
- Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.
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An academic study titled “Would A Stock By Any Other Ticker Smell As Sweet?” examined the performance of companies with clever stock tickers such as Southwest (LUV), Internet America (GEEK), Lion Country Safari (GRRR), and Explosive Fabricators (BOOM).
This study found that between 1984 and 2004, a portfolio of clever-ticker stocks would have handed you substantially stronger gains than the overall market....
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The best of those ETFs charge you very low management fees yet offer you well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high-quality stocks.
Here’s a look at four international ETFs we see as well- suited for new buying and two others your portfolio will continue to benefit from holding.
ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS ETF $43.93, is a buy for aggressive investors. The fund (New York symbol EEM; buy or sell through brokers) is designed to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index; it gives you access to some of the world’s fastest growing markets.
The ETF’s geographic breakdown is as follows: China, 34.2%; South Korea, 11.7%; Taiwan, 11.5%; India, 9.0%; Brazil, 7.3%; South Africa, 4.6%; Russia, 4.0%; Saudi Arabia, 2.6%; Mexico, 2.5%; Thailand, 2.4%; Indonesia, 2.0%; and Malaysia, 1.8%.
Your biggest stock exposure through the fund is Alibaba Group (China: e-commerce), 5.9% of assets; Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), 4.6%; Taiwan Semiconductor (computer chips), 4.3%; Samsung Electronics (South Korea), 3.8%; China Construction Bank, 1.2%; Naspers (South Africa: media and Internet), 1.2%; Ping An Insurance Group (China), 1.1%; Reliance Industries (India: conglomerate), 1.0%; Housing Development Finance Corp....
International Dividend-Paying Stocks
Our first ETF niche primarily appeals to investors in two ways: International dividend payers generally have p/e and other valuations that are cheaper than U.S....
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