Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat’s commentary for the week of March 24, 2015

Article Excerpt

Most investors would agree when I say that Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) started out as the most benign investment innovation that has come along in our lifetimes. However, as often happens after the successful launch of any new investment product, the financial industry soon came up with new, improved ETFs. The new models came with a wider variety of investor appeal, along with new wrinkles and extra costs. The first ETFs had a simple goal: cutting fees for investors. Each new ETF aimed to copy the performance of a particular stock index (minus the costs of creating and running the ETF, of course). Most of the model indices were well-known, widely followed collections of actively traded stocks. These days, new ETFs aim to broaden investment opportunities for investors, and create new profit opportunities for the financial companies that sponsor them. Instead of giving you a low-cost way to copy the…