Are ETFs good for long term?
ETFs can be a great investment for long-term investors and those with shorter-term time horizons. They can be especially valuable to beginning investors. That's because they won't require the time, effort, and experience needed to research individual stocks.
For instance, some ETFs may come with fees, others might stray from the value of the underlying asset, ETFs are not always optimized for taxes, and of course — like any investment — ETFs also come with risk.
Holding an ETF for longer than a year may get you a more favorable capital gains tax rate when you sell your investment.
- SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
- iShares Core S&P 500 ETF.
- Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund.
- Shelton NASDAQ-100 Index Direct.
- Invesco QQQ Trust ETF.
- Vanguard Russell 2000 ETF.
- Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF.
- SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust.
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.
Low Liquidity
If an ETF is thinly traded, there can be problems getting out of the investment, depending on the size of your position relative to the average trading volume. The biggest sign of an illiquid investment is large spreads between the bid and the ask.
Leveraged ETF prices tend to decay over time, and triple leverage will tend to decay at a faster rate than 2x leverage. As a result, they can tend toward zero.
Stock-picking offers an advantage over exchange-traded funds (ETFs) when there is a wide dispersion of returns from the mean. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer advantages over stocks when the return from stocks in the sector has a narrow dispersion around the mean.
The choice comes down to what you value most. If you prefer the flexibility of trading intraday and favor lower expense ratios in most instances, go with ETFs. If you worry about the impact of commissions and spreads, go with mutual funds.
Q: How does the wash sale rule work? If you sell a security at a loss and buy the same or a substantially identical security within 30 calendar days before or after the sale, you won't be able to take a loss for that security on your current-year tax return.
What ETFs are expected to do well in 5 years?
| Symbol | Name | 5-Year Return |
|---|---|---|
| OEF | iShares S&P 100 ETF | 14.73% |
| SPHB | Invesco S&P 500® High Beta ETF | 14.58% |
| SPYG | SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF | 14.40% |
| VOOG | Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF | 14.38% |
| Ticker | Fund | 10-Yr Return |
|---|---|---|
| VGT | Vanguard Information Technology ETF | 19.60% |
| IYW | iShares U.S. Technology ETF | 19.58% |
| IXN | iShares Global Tech ETF | 18.20% |
| IGM | iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | 17.95% |
| ETF | Assets Under Management | Expense Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) | $70 billion | 0.10% |
| VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) | $16.3 billion | 0.35% |
| Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF (XMMO) | $1.6 billion | 0.34% |
| SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) | $1.8 billion | 0.35% |
Visit your My NerdWallet Settings page to see all the writers you're following. RDIV and SPYD have some of the highest yields of any high-dividend ETF. It's possible to live off the income from high-dividend ETFs, but it may take some planning.
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.
Trading ETFs and stocks
There are no restrictions on how often you can buy and sell stocks or ETFs. You can invest as little as $1 with fractional shares, there is no minimum investment and you can execute trades throughout the day, rather than waiting for the NAV to be calculated at the end of the trading day.
The biggest hassle of an ETF closure is it upends your investment timeline, and there's nothing you can do about it. You're forced to sell or take liquidation proceeds, which can create a tax burden or lock in investment losses.
If Vanguard ever did go bankrupt, the funds would not be affected and would simply hire another firm to provide these services.
Holding too many ETFs in your portfolio introduces inefficiencies that in the long term will have a detrimental impact on the risk/reward profile of your portfolio.
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.
Do ETFs go down in a recession?
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.
In 2023, there were 244 ETF closures with an average age of 5.4 years and average assets under management of only $54 million.
If you're looking for an easy solution to investing, ETFs can be an excellent choice. ETFs typically offer a diversified allocation to whatever you're investing in (stocks, bonds or both). You want to beat most investors, even the pros, with little effort.
| Exchange-traded fund (ticker) | Assets under management | Expenses |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG) | $78.2 billion | 0.06% |
| Vanguard U.S. Quality Factor ETF (VFQY) | $324.3 million | 0.13% |
| SPDR Gold MiniShares (GLDM) | $6.8 billion | 0.10% |
| iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY) | $24.8 billion | 0.15% |
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.
