Trackinsight (2024)

FAQs

What are ETFs in investing? ›

ETFs or "exchange-traded funds" are exactly as the name implies: funds that trade on exchanges, generally tracking a specific index. When you invest in an ETF, you get a bundle of assets you can buy and sell during market hours—potentially lowering your risk and exposure, while helping to diversify your portfolio.

Price to earnings ratio, or P/E, is a way to value a company by comparing the price of a stock to its earnings. The P/E equals the price of a share of stock, divided by the company's earnings-per-share.

ETFs are subject to market fluctuation and the risks of their underlying investments. ETFs are subject to management fees and other expenses. Unlike mutual funds, ETF shares are bought and sold at market price, which may be higher or lower than their NAV, and are not individually redeemed from the fund.

Though ETFs allow investors to gain as stock prices rise and fall, they also benefit from companies that pay dividends. Dividends are a portion of earnings allocated or paid by companies to investors for holding their stock.

In simple terms, a good P/E ratio is lower than the average P/E ratio, which is between 20–25. When looking at the P/E ratio alone, the lower it is, the better. For new investors, “P/E” might as well mean “physical education.”

Key Takeaways. Beta is a concept that measures the expected move in a stock relative to movements in the overall market. A beta greater than 1.0 suggests that the stock is more volatile than the broader market, and a beta less than 1.0 indicates a stock with lower volatility.

Again, these ratios are often used in a comparative sense, so what's good or bad is often dependent on what you're comparing it against. To give you some sense of what the average for the market is, though, many value investors would refer to 20 to 25 as the average P/E ratio range.

Since ETFs are more diversified, they tend to have a lower risk level than stocks. Similar to stocks, ETFs can be bought and traded at any time and they are also taxed at short-term or long-term capital gains rates. The assets inside an ETFs are bought and pooled together by the fund's managers.

The low investment threshold for most ETFs makes it easy for a beginner to implement a basic asset allocation strategy that matches their investment time horizon and risk tolerance. For example, young investors might be 100% invested in equity ETFs when they are in their 20s.

Disadvantages of ETFs. Although ETFs are generally cheaper than other lower-risk investment options (such as mutual funds) they are not free. ETFs are traded on the stock exchange like an individual stock, which means that investors may have to pay a real or virtual broker in order to facilitate the trade.

Which is better ETF or mutual fund? ›

ETFs can be more tax-efficient than actively managed funds due to their lower turnover and fewer transactions that produce capital gains. ETFs are bought and sold on an exchange throughout the day while mutual funds can be bought or sold only once a day at the latest closing price.