What are the top 5 ETFs to buy?
You expose your portfolio to much higher risk with sector ETFs, so you should use them sparingly, but investing 5% to 10% of your total portfolio assets may be appropriate. If you want to be highly conservative, don't use these at all.
Exchange-traded fund (ticker) | Assets under management | Expenses |
---|---|---|
Vanguard 500 Index ETF (VOO) | $431.7 billion | 0.03% |
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% |
Symbol | Name | 5-Year Return |
---|---|---|
FNGO | MicroSectors FANG+ Index 2X Leveraged ETNs | 43.94% |
TECL | Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3X Shares | 34.92% |
SMH | VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 30.83% |
ROM | ProShares Ultra Technology | 29.51% |
Symbol | Name | Avg Daily Share Volume (3mo) |
---|---|---|
SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 73,711,102 |
TQQQ | ProShares UltraPro QQQ | 72,739,305 |
SOXL | Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares | 71,673,344 |
XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | 47,652,930 |
- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO -0.83%) ...
- Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM 0.7%) ...
- Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ 0.29%) ...
- iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT -0.8%) ...
- Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP 0.86%)
Symbol | Name | AUM |
---|---|---|
SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | $498,344,000.00 |
IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | $432,845,000.00 |
VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | $423,703,000.00 |
VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | $372,782,000.00 |
You expose your portfolio to much higher risk with sector ETFs, so you should use them sparingly, but investing 5% to 10% of your total portfolio assets may be appropriate. If you want to be highly conservative, don't use these at all.
Symbol | Name | Dividend Yield |
---|---|---|
TSL | GraniteShares 1.25x Long Tesla Daily ETF | 97.18% |
KLIP | KraneShares China Internet and Covered Call Strategy ETF | 60.60% |
NVD | GraniteShares 2x Short NVDA Daily ETF | 60.22% |
TSLY | YieldMax TSLA Option Income Strategy ETF | 54.64% |
Market risk
The single biggest risk in ETFs is market risk. Like a mutual fund or a closed-end fund, ETFs are only an investment vehicle—a wrapper for their underlying investment. So if you buy an S&P 500 ETF and the S&P 500 goes down 50%, nothing about how cheap, tax efficient, or transparent an ETF is will help you.
Ticker | Name | Annual dividend yield |
---|---|---|
RDIV | Invesco S&P Ultra Dividend Revenue ETF | 4.87% |
SPYD | SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF | 4.49% |
FDL | First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund | 4.36% |
DJD | Invesco Dow Jones Industrial Average Dividend ETF | 4.25% |
What is better than ETF?
Mutual funds and ETFs may hold stocks, bonds, or commodities. Both can track indexes, but ETFs tend to be more cost-effective and liquid since they trade on exchanges like shares of stock. Mutual funds can offer active management and greater regulatory oversight at a higher cost and only allow transactions once daily.
Experts agree that for most personal investors, a portfolio comprising 5 to 10 ETFs is perfect in terms of diversification.
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.
Innovator Equity Defined Protection ETF (TJUL) To be clear, yes, it sounds too good to be true, but TJUL is indeed designed to provide 100% downside protection against losses in the S&P 500. BUT...it comes with several caveats and features that investors need to be aware of before diving in.
Yes, you can generally withdraw your money from an equity fund at any time, but there may be restrictions depending on the specific fund and its terms and conditions. Here are some important points to consider: 1.
- 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.
The S&P 500's track record is impressive, but the Vanguard Growth ETF has outperformed it. The Vanguard Growth ETF leans heavily toward tech businesses that exhibit faster revenue and earnings gains. No matter what investments you choose, it's always smart to keep a long-term mindset.
FUND(TICKER) | EXPENSE RATIO | 10-YEAR RETURN AS OF APRIL 1 |
---|---|---|
Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) | 0.04% | 15.07% |
iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (IWF) | 0.19% | 15.78% |
iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (IVW) | 0.18% | 14.34% |
Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF (SCHG) | 0.04% | 15.95% |
Key Takeaways
For most ETFs, selling after less than a year is taxed as a short-term capital gain. ETFs held for longer than a year are taxed as long-term gains. If you sell an ETF, and buy the same (or a substantially similar) ETF after less than 30 days, you may be subject to the wash sale rule.
How much money do I need to invest to make $500 a month?
Some experts recommend withdrawing 4% each year from your retirement accounts. To generate $500 a month, you might need to build your investments to $150,000. Taking out 4% each year would amount to $6,000, which comes to $500 a month.
Because of their wide array of holdings, ETFs provide the benefits of diversification, including lower risk and less volatility, which often makes a fund safer to own than an individual stock. An ETF's return depends on what it's invested in. An ETF's return is the weighted average of all its holdings.
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, VOO is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market.
Stock ETFs usually only pay out their dividends quarterly. Sure, you can sell some of your shares every month to create a pseudo-income stream, but that can start to get messy, especially from a tax planning standpoint.
That's why many income-seeking investors prefer an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that targets dividend stocks. You can achieve passive income and wide diversification with just one purchase.