ETF Database » MBG

Tax Efficiency Report Card

Daniela Pylypczak — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:00:24 +0000

The year-end periods provides the ETF industry with a couple of opportunities to flex its collective muscle; performance comparisons generally tend to favor those products with lower expense ratios–a defining feature of exchange-traded funds. But early January also puts another benefit of exchange-traded products into focus: enhanced tax efficiency relative to traditional mutual funds. The nuances of the exchange-traded structure have the potential to bring additional tax efficiencies to investors thanks to the availability of an “in kind redemption” that ultimately gives investors more control over the timing of tax obligations. Mutual funds, on the other hand, have a nasty tendency to stick remaining shareholders with tax liabilities incurred as a result of redemptions by others–a development that can obviously be undesirable [see Tax Loss Harvesting With ETFs: 6 Ideas To Lower Client Liabilities]. ETFs won’t allow investors to skip out on their taxes, but this product structure can deliver [...]

Click here to read the original article on ETFdb.com.

ETFdb Category Kings: Best Performers From First Half Of 2011

Michael Johnston — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:00:40 +0000

The first half of 2011 is officially in the books, and many investors find their portfolios in approximately the same place as they were to start the year (though a furious rally in the final week of the quarter gave a nice boost at an opportune moment). Most major equity indexes are up slightly on the year, while fixed income benchmarks have similarly hovered around breakeven. Beyond these broad generalizations, there are some significant performance discrepancies among exchange-traded products that may seem to offer up similar risk/return profiles. The following tables highlight the top performers from every ETFdb Category during the first six months of the year, shedding some light on the asset classes that have struggled and thrived so far in 2011–and reinforcing that the seemingly minor distinctions between ETPs can lead to big differences in performance [for monthly updates on the best performers, sign up for the free [...]

Click here to read the original article on ETFdb.com.

Will Fed’s Exit Strategy Bury MBS ETFs?

Eric Dutram — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:57:04 +0000

Due to the role they played in spawning the recent global financial crisis, mortgage-backed securities are viewed by many as “portfolio poison.” As individual and institutional investors looked to dump these securities last year, the federal government was “forced” to acquire a huge MBS position. With signs of a sustainable recovery popping up, the Fed has reportedly begun considering ways to unwind this massive position, a policy move that could have a big impact on prices of MBS ETFs in coming months. Despite some attractive yields and backing from agencies of the U.S. government, most investors have been hesitant to buy up these securities, opting instead for less risky fixed income products. When the Fed’s decision to cut borrowing rates to almost zero failed to thaw frozen credit markets, they adopted additional emergency measures, buying up almost $1.5 trillion of government-guaranteed mortgage related securities and Treasuries. As the Fed’s balance [...]

Click here to read the original article on ETFdb.com.

ETFs To Play Along With Soros, Paulson, and Fournier

Michael Johnston — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:01:36 +0000

Even the most vocal supporters of passive management and indexing have to admit that certain investor track records are far too stellar to attribute entirely to luck. While I’ve frequently disparaged the concept of active investing, I’m still eager to hear what trends legendary investors are following. The Wall Street Journal’s Gregory Zuckerman recently compiled some thoughts from George Soros, John Paulson, and others on the current economic environment. So what are these experts betting on? Some of the answers might surprise you: Soros, known for his controversial currency attacks, calls the current environment a “trading market,” advising investors to take profits when prices rise. Although he is less involved in the day-to-day management of his $24 billion fund, Soros does have some investment ideas, and is bullish on most of the BRIC countries, particularly China. “China is the major beneficiary of the collapse of the financial system. For them it was [...]

Click here to read the original article on ETFdb.com.

Five ETFs Most Investors Don’t Understand

Michael Johnston — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:48:59 +0000

The majority of ETFs on the market follow the traditional ETF model – tracking an underlying equity or bond index. But as the benefits of the ETF structure become more widely accepted, inflows from increasingly sophisticated have created a demand for increasingly complex funds. Here are five of the more complex ETFs available to investors today, along with explanations of their objectives and strategies. PowerShares S&P 500 BuyWrite Portfolio (PBP): This ETF is based on the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index, which measures the rate of return of an S&P 500 covered call strategy. This strategy consists of holding a portfolio indexed to the S&P 500, and selling a series of call options, each with an exercise price at or above the current level of the S&P 500. Selling options hedges downside risk if the market falls (since the ETF receives premiums from options that are out-of-the-money), but limits upside returns if [...]

Click here to read the original article on ETFdb.com.

ETF Database » MBG

Tax Efficiency Report Card

Related Posts:

ETFdb Category Kings: Best Performers From First Half Of 2011

Related Posts:

Will Fed’s Exit Strategy Bury MBS ETFs?

Related Posts:

ETFs To Play Along With Soros, Paulson, and Fournier

Related Posts:

Five ETFs Most Investors Don’t Understand

Related Posts: