From the category archives:

ETF.edu

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have burst on to the scene in the last few years, raking in hundreds of billions of dollars in assets and prompting a major shift towards indexing strategies in the process. ETFs have empowered financial advisors (FAs), registered investment advisors (RIAs), Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), money managers, and retail investors to take greater control over their portfolios, pushing down fees and maxing out tax efficiency in the process. While ETFs appear quite simple on the surface, these securities can be quite complex. In order to get the most out of ETFs, there’s a lot that investors need to know about the structure, opportunities, and limitations of these securities.

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The growth of the ETF industry has spawned numerous tools that bring forth previously difficult-to-reach corners of the market at the fingertips of mainstream investors. The evolution of the exchange-traded product structure has not only become the preferred vehicle for investors looking to achieve cost-efficient diversification, this instrument has also struck a chord with active traders. ETFs are useful as building blocks in long-term portfolios, however they can also serve as incredibly powerful tactical tools for those looking to implement shorter-term trading strategies.

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The growth of the ETF industry has led to major strides forward in democratizing the investment process, and ongoing evolution in the exchange-traded universe continues to bring forth previously hard-to-reach asset classes at the fingertips of mainstream investors. With innovation also comes complexity however, and ETFs are no different from other financial instruments in the sense that they [...]

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When managing a fixed income portfolio, there are two primary risk factors that financial advisors consider: credit risk and interest rate risk. The superstar bond fund managers of the world have set themselves apart by a superior ability to identify these risk components–and then select securities that offer superior risk-adjusted returns [see also Better-Than-AGG Total [...]

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In recent years ETFs have become popular tools for pursuing a wide range of investment objectives. As the product lineup has become more granular in nature, investors have turned to exchange-traded products as a way to tap into narrow segments of the global stock market; the current product offerings include a number of funds that [...]

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At times, it seems as if the number of ETFs available to U.S. investors will soon exceed the number of stars in the sky. That might be overstating things a bit, but the pace of expansion in the ETF industry has truly been impressive over the last several years. With multiple products seemingly debuting every [...]

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The growth of the ETF universe has spawned a number of ways to tap into a variety of asset classes that were previously out-of-reach for mainstream investors. Thanks to the numerous (and growing) number of advantages that ETFs offer over traditional mutual funds, it’s no wonder that the exchange-traded product structure has become the preferred vehicle [...]

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Five Important ETF Lessons (Picture Edition)

by on April 30, 2012 | Updated May 1, 2012

Innovation remains a dominant and exciting theme in the ETF universe, although as with any financial instrument, with growth and evolution also comes increasing complexity and newly discovered nuances. The towering lineup of over 1,400 exchange-traded products is probably intimidating for many investors who are new to industry and aren’t exactly sure where (or how) [...]

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The ongoing expansion of the ETF industry continues to bring previously hard-to-reach corners of the global financial market at the fingertips of mainstream investors and institutional money managers alike. However, with innovation also comes the introduction of new complexities, and for many, the towering lineup of over 1,400 exchange-traded products can seem a bit intimidating at first glance. [...]

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As the ETF universe has expanded by leaps and bounds in recent years, investors now have tools at their disposal to accomplish almost every objective. From plain vanilla stock and bond indexes to hyper-targeted regional and sector funds, there are ETFs to bet on just about every asset class. And there are also a number [...]

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In recent years ETFs have become the vehicle of choice for accessing a wide range of asset classes, from traditional stocks and bonds to more “exotic” strategies such as commodities and hedge fund-like positions. So it is no surprise that there are now dozens of dividend-focused ETFs designed to deliver cheap, efficient, and targeted exposure [...]

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Though ETFs may appear as very simple and straightforward investment vehicles, there is a rather complex infrastructure that lies beneath the surface. Under the hood of exchange-traded products is a unique “creation / redemption” mechanism that allows for the number of shares outstanding to fluctuate based on supply and demand. Generally, this mechanism serves a [...]

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