Why ETFs are better than stocks?
Investing in ETFs provides the diversification of a mutual fund, saving you the time of researching specific assets for investment, while also giving you the flexibility of trading it like a stock. Investing in stocks, on the other hand, gives you full control over your investment selections.
ETFs offer advantages over stocks in two situations. First, when the return from stocks in the sector has a narrow dispersion around the mean, an ETF might be the best choice. Second, if you are unable to gain an advantage through knowledge of the company, an ETF is your best choice.
An ETF can stray from its intended benchmarks for several reasons. For instance, if the fund manager needs to swap out assets in the fund or make other changes, the ETF may not exactly reflect the holdings of the index. As a result, the performance of the ETF may deviate from the performance of the index.
For most individual investors, ETFs represent an ideal type of asset with which to build a diversified portfolio. In addition, ETFs tend to have much lower expense ratios compared to actively managed funds, can be more tax-efficient, and offer the option to immediately reinvest dividends.
A single ETF can contain dozens or hundreds of different stocks, or bonds or almost anything else considered an investable asset. Since ETFs are more diversified, they tend to have a lower risk level than stocks.
You expose your portfolio to much higher risk with sector ETFs, so you should use them sparingly, but investing 5% to 10% of your total portfolio assets may be appropriate. If you want to be highly conservative, don't use these at all.
When you buy a stock, you're investing in only one company. If the company underperforms, you could lose your entire investment, so investing in individual stocks can be risky. With an ETF, you have broader market exposure, and your portfolio is more diversified since you're investing in a basket of securities.
In fact, 47% of all such funds have closed down, compared with a closure rate of 28% for nonleveraged, noninverse ETFs. "Leveraged and inverse funds generally aren't meant to be held for longer than a day, and some types of leveraged and inverse ETFs tend to lose the majority of their value over time," Emily says.
The single biggest risk in ETFs is market risk. Like a mutual fund or a closed-end fund, ETFs are only an investment vehicle—a wrapper for their underlying investment. So if you buy an S&P 500 ETF and the S&P 500 goes down 50%, nothing about how cheap, tax efficient, or transparent an ETF is will help you.
Liquidation of ETFs is strictly regulated; when an ETF closes, any remaining shareholders will receive a payout based on what they had invested in the ETF. Receiving an ETF payout can be a taxable event.
What are the 4 benefits of ETFs?
Benefits of ETFs
ETFs have grown in popularity due to the many benefits they offer: intraday trading ease, relative transparency and a likelihood of tax efficiency—all typically at lower total cost than most actively managed mutual funds.
| Symbol | Name | 5-Year Return |
|---|---|---|
| USD | ProShares Ultra Semiconductors | 52.17% |
| FNGO | MicroSectors FANG+ Index 2X Leveraged ETNs | 49.28% |
| TECL | Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3X Shares | 45.82% |
| TQQQ | ProShares UltraPro QQQ | 36.25% |
- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)
- Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF (SCHA)
- Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ)
- Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index ETF (VYM)
- Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS)
- Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT)
- iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG)
An ETF follows a particular index and the securities are present at the same weight in it. So, it can be zero when all the securities go to zero.
ETF issuers collect any dividends paid by the companies whose stocks are held in the fund, and they then pay those dividends to their shareholders. They may pay the money directly to the shareholders, or reinvest it in the fund.
ETFs are most often linked to a benchmarking index, meaning that they are often not designed to outperform that index. Investors looking for this type of outperformance (which also, of course, carries added risks) should perhaps look to other opportunities.
Generally speaking, fewer than 10 ETFs are likely enough to diversify your portfolio, but this will vary depending on your financial goals, ranging from retirement savings to income generation.
Holding period:
If you hold ETF shares for one year or less, then gain is short-term capital gain. If you hold ETF shares for more than one year, then gain is long-term capital gain.
This investment strategy seeks total return through exposure to a diversified portfolio of primarily equity, and to a lesser extent, fixed income asset classes with a target allocation of 70% equities and 30% fixed income. Target allocations can vary +/-5%.
The one time it's okay to choose a single investment
You wouldn't ever want to load up your portfolio with a single stock. But if you're buying S&P 500 ETFs, this is the one scenario where you might get away with only owning a single investment. That's because your investment gives you access to the broad stock market.
Is it smart to only invest in ETFs?
Should you invest in ETFs? Since ETFs offer built-in diversification and don't require large amounts of capital in order to invest in a range of stocks, they are a good way to get started. You can trade them like stocks while also enjoying a diversified portfolio.
BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF (ASX: CRYP)
Our final and best-performing ASX ETF of 2023 was this cryptocurrency-focused fund from provider BetaShares. CRYP aims to give investors exposure to the cryptocurrency sector.
ETFs. Investment funds are a strategic option during a recession because they have built-in diversification, minimizing volatility compared to individual stocks. However, the fees can get expensive for certain types of actively managed funds.
At least once a year, funds must pass on any net gains they've realized. As a fund shareholder, you could be on the hook for taxes on gains even if you haven't sold any of your shares.
An ETF may not be a suitable investment. You can't make automatic investments or withdrawals into or out of ETFs.
