All About Exchange-Traded Funds

Although exchange-traded funds have been around quite a while, they have only recently gained popularity among individual investors. ETFs are basically index funds that trade like shares of stock. For buy and hold investors*, they offer lower expense ratios than traditional index mutual funds.

There is a wealth of information regarding ETFs available on the internet. Here's some links to some of my favorite places with ETF information:

iShares - iShares has built a wonderful website with lots of information about their exchange-traded funds.

Ameritrade - Ameritrade has a section of their website dedicated exchange-traded funds.

Journal of Indexes - A magazine that is dedicated to index funds. You may have to sign up before you can gain complete access to this website. Also, this site may be a little on the technical side for most people.

IndexUniverse - This is the sister site to the Journal of Indexes Site. Your logon information for the Journal of Indexes website also works on Index Universe.

That should be enough to get you started in learning about exchange-traded funds. I will add more information from time to time.

Until next time...

*The purchase exchange-traded funds may require brokerage commissions. Therefore, they be best suited for lump sum investing or a discount brokerage firm to keep expenses low.