Is it better to hold stocks or ETFs?
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.
Lack of liquidity
An investor may have difficulties selling when the ETF is thinly traded, which means it trades at low volume and often high volatility. This can be seen in the difference between what an investor will pay for an ETF (the bid) and the price it can be sold for (the ask).
ETFs are less risky than individual stocks because they are diversified funds. Their investors also benefit from very low fees.
You can hold ETFs as long as you want. Allow compound interest to work for you over time. However, you should avoid selling ETFs when the market is down since you can miss out on the potential to gain money when the market recovers.
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.
Lower Dividend Yields
But if an investor can take on the risk, then owning individual stocks can mean much higher dividend yields. While you can pick the stock with the highest dividend yield, ETFs track a broader market, so the overall yield will average out to be lower.
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.
| ETF | Assets under management | Expense ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Invesco QQQ Trust (ticker: QQQ) | $244 billion | 0.2% |
| VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) | $14 billion | 0.35% |
| Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY) | $19 billion | 0.09% |
| Global X Uranium ETF (URA) | $3 billion | 0.69% |
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.
Should I invest in S&P 500 or individual stocks?
Is Investing in the S&P 500 Less Risky Than Buying a Single Stock? Generally, yes. The S&P 500 is considered well-diversified by sector, which means it includes stocks in all major areas, including technology and consumer discretionary—meaning declines in some sectors may be offset by gains in other sectors.
| Symbol | Name | 5-Year Return |
|---|---|---|
| IYW | iShares U.S. Technology ETF | 24.71% |
| XSD | SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF | 24.26% |
| FTEC | Fidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETF | 23.66% |
| VGT | Vanguard Information Technology ETF | 23.50% |
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) can be an excellent entry point into the stock market for new investors. They're cheap and typically carry lower risk than individual stocks since a single fund holds a diversified collection of investments.
Hold ETFs throughout your working life. Hold ETFs as long as you can, give compound interest time to work for you. Sell ETFs to fund your retirement. Don't sell ETFs during a market crash.
The Fidelity Blue-Chip Growth ETF FBCG has jumped 58.7% in 2023 to become the best-performing U.S. fund, excluding ETNs and leveraged products, according to FactSet data. The WisdomTree U.S. Quality Growth Fund QGRW is up 56.2% this year, while the Invesco QQQ Trust Series I QQQ has risen 55.6% in 2023.
How long should you keep ETFs? It depends on your investment goals and how long you want to stay invested in ETFs. While a long-term ETF holding for more than three years can get you better returns, short-term returns can also be more for some ETFs.
Interest rate changes are the primary culprit when bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs) lose value. As interest rates rise, the prices of existing bonds fall, which impacts the value of the ETFs holding these assets.
Liquidation of ETFs is strictly regulated; when an ETF closes, any remaining shareholders will receive a payout based on what they had invested in the ETF. Receiving an ETF payout can be a taxable event.
The securities that underlie the funds are held by a custodian, not by Vanguard. Vanguard is paid by the funds to provide administration and other services. If Vanguard ever did go bankrupt, the funds would not be affected and would simply hire another firm to provide these services.
One of the ways that investors make money from exchange traded funds (ETFs) is through dividends that are paid to the ETF issuer and then paid on to their investors in proportion to the number of shares each holds.
Should I hold individual stocks?
If you have enough money to invest, are willing to accept the risk and want a high degree of involvement, individual stocks may be a good choice. Potential Growth of Principal – Stocks have a long track record of providing higher returns than bonds or cash-alternative investments.
In terms of safety, neither the mutual fund nor the ETF is safer than the other due to its structure. Safety is determined by what the fund itself owns. Stocks are usually riskier than bonds, and corporate bonds come with somewhat more risk than U.S. government bonds.
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.
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.
ETFs are stocks which derive their values from the underlying stocks of net assets of an investment. These investments are not guaranteed and as such could ALL go to $0 in which your NAV would be $0.
