Are you wondering what the top (US and international) equity and fixed income ETFs are? If so, you’re at the right place.  We’ll provide you with the league tables of top ETFs by category (domestic, developed ex-US, emerging markets equity, and fixed income), and also highlight where some successful investors have put their money. Our core belief is that there is no such thing as “the best ETF”.  We will tell you instead what the top ETFs by assets and by category are, what their performance characteristics (return, cost, Beta) look like, and how much money is invested in those assets. So let’s start.  First let’s take a look at the top 10 ETFs by assets invested in them.  If you’re a totall...
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To prove the point that US investors are behaving intelligently on the whole, we analyzed over 2,000 ETFs sold in the US only, with the total market value of over $3 Trillion. Almost 80% of the ETF assets are invested in equity ETFs, which have the highest return: 8% over the last 5 years vs. 4% for the average ETF.  So the majority of the assets are producing high returns.The top 37 ETFs that have combined assets of $1.5 trillion (or half of the entire US ETF market) have an average expense ratio of 0.15% vs. 0.59% for all ETFs.They also have an average 5-year return of 10% vs. 4% for the average ETF, and 1-year return of 15% vs. 11% for the average ETF.See the infographic below. There are ...
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Among the mainstream ETF investment strategies (with collective assets of over $100 Billion), growth, value and dividends stand out because of their superior historical returns. Growth, value and dividends ETFs have returned 14.53%, 14.24%, and 8.16% (respectively), over the last five years.Compare that to the five-year average of 4% for all ETFs. Even better: growth, value and dividends ETFs have returned 19.87%, 18.16%, and 13.24% (respectively), over the last year.Compare that to the one-year average of 10.99% for all ETFs. The growth ETFs that have attracted the most ETF assets are:iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (IWF); $36B assetsVanguard Growth ETF (VUG); $28B assetsiShares S&P 500 Gro...
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We analyzed 2,049 ETFs trading on the US stock exchanges, so we’d like to share the most important insights about the ETF market with you.  We hope this will be educational, and that you’ll keep this at the back of your mind as you pursue your investment choices. ETFs are a $3 Trillion market in the US only.  If you do the math, you’ll quickly figure out the average ETF attacks just under $1.5 Billion in assets under management.  However, ETFs are fairly concentrated.  The number of ETFs above $1.5 Billion in assets is only 255, and they represent almost 90% of all ETF assets by value. Here are the things that immediately jumped out of us when we looked at the ETF landscape:1. ETF investors ...
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Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (ETF:BND) offers investors  broad exposure to US investment grade bonds.  In this review, we’ll cover 21 points investors should be cognizant of before investing in BND.  We’ll take a look at the fund performance (share—not stock—price, returns, dividends, yield, holdings, expense ratio, tax efficiency and beta), and the alternatives (BND vs. VCIT, BND vs. VBMFX, BND vs. VBTLX, BND vs. BIV, BND vs. BNDX, BND vs. BOND, BND vs. SCHZ) available to individual investors.   1. What is Vanguard BND ETF?Vanguard BND is an ETF that tracks Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index.It provides broad exposure to US investment grade bonds.  Its goal is to keep pa...
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Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (ETF:VXUS) offers investors diversified exposure to non-US companies(indeveloped and emerging markets) and is based on the FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index.  In this review, we’ll take a look at the fund performance (share—not stock—historical price, return, dividends, yield, holdings / composition, cost / expense ratio, tax efficiency and beta), and the alternatives (VXUS vs. VEU, VXUS vs. VEA, VXUS vs. VGTSX, VXUS vs. VTIAX, VXUS vs. SCHF, VXUS vs. VT) available to individual investors.   1. What is Vanguard VXUS ETF?Vanguard VXUS is an ETF that tracks the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of stocks issued by companies locat...
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Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (ETF:VTI) offers investors diversified exposure to the US stock market.  In this review, we’ll take a look at the fund performance (share—not stock—historical price, return, dividends, yield, holdings / composition, cost / expense ratio, tax efficiency and beta), and the alternatives (VTI vs. VTSAX, VTI vs. VTSMX, VTI vs. VOO, VTI vs. SPY, VTI vs. VXUS, VTI vs. SCHB) available to individual investors.   1. What is Vanguard VTI ETF?Vanguard VTI is an ETF that seeks to track the performance of the CRSP US Total Market Index.The ETF invests in large, mid-size and smaller companies trading on US stock exchanges. It a passively managed (index-sampling) ETF.  The fu...
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In this Essential Guide, we’ll review Wells Fargo Advantage mutual funds and point to some of the funds that have solid cost- and risk-adjusted performance.  If you’re searching for best-performing (or “best”) mutual funds, you will get a few ideas on where to put your money. Wells Fargo has over 370 mutual funds for various types of investors. We covered those funds that have exceeded market benchmarks (for the level of risk assumed) and that have reasonable cost and tax efficiency.  Our focus was US equity, and we didn’t review international or bond funds. As always, there could be other great Wells Fargo funds that we didn’t include in this guide.There are many classes of Wells Fargo mutu...
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Vanguard S&P 500 Index Fund (ETF:VOO) is one of the best S&P 500 ETFs available.  In this review, we’ll take a look at the fund performance (share—not stock—historical price, holdings, dividends, expense ratio and tax efficiency), and the alternatives (VOO vs. SPY, VOO vs. IVV, VOO vs. VFINX Admiral shares, VOO vs. VTI and VOO vs. VXF) available to individual investors.   A low fee and a well-constructed benchmark make VOO well-positioned to continue to produce solid risk-adjusted returns over the long haul. What is Vanguard VOO?Vanguard VOO invests in stocks of the S&P 500 Index, representing 500 of the largest US companies.  It offers investors diversified exposure to US large-cap stocks.T...
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Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX) is one of the top performing mutual funds tracking US large cap stocks.  In the following review, we discuss some of the key aspects of VTSMX fund performance (share—not stock—price, expense ratio, dividends, holdings, and tax efficiency), along with other options individual investors should consider (VTSMX vs. VTSAX, VTSMX vs. VFINX, VTSMX vs. VTI).How do we rate VTSMX Fund? If you’re looking for a VTSMX star rating, check out Morningstar.  What we provide to you are some pointers that will enable you to make informed decisions based on your investment needs, experience, and understanding of the market.   If you are new to the world of investme...
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