ETF investing

[islefan39]

Just curious for those out there that invest mostly in ETF's What the average number of funds you have in your portfolio? Or any info from anyone out there on ideas of how positions each of you hold will be appreciated.

[tan fish]

[QUOTE=islefan39;321603]Just curious for those out there that invest mostly in ETF's What the average number of funds you have in your portfolio? Or any info from anyone out there on ideas of how positions each of you hold will be appreciated.[/QUOTE

Pretty much all my investments are in my retirement accounts. My individual trading account is just for "fun" and over the years I've invested mainly in individual companies, as well as a few leveraged funds when I was feeling a bit liberal risk-wise. Now I only have 2 ETF positions in my trading account, and those are HYG and IDV, both of which I can trade free through fidelity.

[vips]

Actually I am not aware of all the details of ETF and its values, but I have some knowledge about it. I think Gold ETF is majorly traded product on stock exchange which is highly rated nowadays.
Can anybody know about International bond ETFs ?

[kv968]

Actually I am not aware of all the details of ETF and its values, but I have some knowledge about it. I think Gold ETF is majorly traded product on stock exchange which is highly rated nowadays.
Can anybody know about International bond ETFs ?

List of Int'l Bond ETF's

As always, do your research and know what it is you're buying when investing with ETF's.

[Gina23]

I have only one ETF due to the fact that the cost ratio is lower than the mutual fund offered in it's place.

[Slug]

I hold about 6 ETF's in my Roth. I think it's a fine way to play the market. I only trade in the ETF's that my broker (Ameritrade) let's me trade commission-free, but you can build a solid portfolio this way. If you are going to do it, definitely find a brokerage that will let you trade commission-free. Schwab, although only have a few ETF's, has perhaps the cheapest expenses in their ETF's (beating Vanguard) and let you trade commission-free.

[soogar]

I wanted to bump this up because I am playing around with different investments in my Roth IRA. I am a small potato investor- just $100 here and there. Mainly I put my money in a no load low fee mutual index fund. I've also purchased a few shares of stocks that I felt were priced low and would have potential growth/dividends.

I've been hearing a lot about ETFs but I have a hard time wrapping my brain around them. To me they sound a lot like the the CDOs and CDO squared that were targeted for sophisticated investors. One thing that troubles me is that the ETFs seem geared for traders and not people who buy and hold. With mutual funds, your money is pooled in a fund that owns the underlying securities. From what I've read, it seems that these ETFs reference stocks or commodities and that there is no underlying ownership. It also seems as if the funds are more volatile and related to supply and demand as opposed to the underlying stocks, commodities, currency etc.

If there is anyone on here who invests in these ETFs and can opine as their suitability for the buy and hold investor it would be appreciated.

[feh]

I wanted to bump this up because I am playing around with different investments in my Roth IRA. I am a small potato investor- just $100 here and there. Mainly I put my money in a no load low fee mutual index fund. I've also purchased a few shares of stocks that I felt were priced low and would have potential growth/dividends.

I've been hearing a lot about ETFs but I have a hard time wrapping my brain around them. To me they sound a lot like the the CDOs and CDO squared that were targeted for sophisticated investors. One thing that troubles me is that the ETFs seem geared for traders and not people who buy and hold. With mutual funds, your money is pooled in a fund that owns the underlying securities. From what I've read, it seems that these ETFs reference stocks or commodities and that there is no underlying ownership. It also seems as if the funds are more volatile and related to supply and demand as opposed to the underlying stocks, commodities, currency etc.

If there is anyone on here who invests in these ETFs and can opine as their suitability for the buy and hold investor it would be appreciated.

ETFs can be used for buy & hold investors. Here's what you need to know: http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/ETFs_vs_mutual_funds