Commission Free ETF

**disneysteve** · 12-04-2011, 02:05 PM

More and more companies are going this route, which I think is a good thing. ETFs never appealed to me before because of the commissions involved. Now, with various places (Vanguard, Schwab, ETrade, etc.) offering them free of commissions, they become more appealing. You just have to decide if ETFs make more sense than mutual funds for your own circumstances.

**Mr Nice Guy** · 12-04-2011, 03:51 PM

Scottrade offered commission-free ETFs and they started last March. They have a nice little family of different sectors and such, but most of the etf's have extremely low volume, still. Its also hard to gauge their performance in this up and down market.

**jteezie** · 12-04-2011, 03:53 PM

The only downside I ever saw in ETF's were the commissions cost if one wanted to do a higher frequency dollar cost average strategy, which obviously comes with higher transaction costs. With that cost out of the way, commission-free (reimbursed) ETFs are the cheapest option, plus they reduce risk overall. Mainly, you can limit what price to buy/sell at, but also you can better tailor your investment strategy to your risk profile.

**snafu** · 12-05-2011, 02:43 PM

ETFs [Exchange Traded Funds] are a relatively new product for individuals who care about their money more than MF salesmen. The advantage is the lower [Management Expense Ratio] MER [huge issue in Canada's small financial marketplace]. Those considering this instrument need to be very aware of holdings and volume since you need to feel secure that there will be a buyer the moment you decide to be a seller. As people become more knowledgeable and want a better Return on Investment, ETFs will likely become more popular.

The break point for me was the MER for misnamed Mutual Funds whose product merely tracked an index although it was not named IX. The 2008 market crash highlighted my losses as significantly higher than Index Fund. MF managers provided no added value, no warning, no cushion of any sort what-so-ever and they continue to get huge bonuses. The MF sales force focused their efforts on keeping clients from selling and locking in the loss which lowers their take-home.

If you were/are/become interested in a specific market segment an ETF is a product worth looking at for comparison. I offer for example the ETF for Gold. Small venture companies are too scary for people like me. The Gold ETF in our small market has been a big winner here [without fear/ sleepless nights].

For folks who believe it's important to hold international stocks ETFs for places like Brazil or Canada are worth examining. PR China & Shanghai have issues that even feet-on-the-ground have problems evaluating.

**orenwach** · 12-09-2011, 07:23 AM

Charles Schwab also has commission free ETFs in their family of ETFs and Fidelity has free ETFs for ishares.

Commission Free ETF