Investment Advice. Anyone know the Pro's and Con's of an ETF?

[Brainonska511]

is there a commission fee for buying and selling shares of the ETF? Does your financial advisor get a portion of the commission fee?

The bigger question is: does this financial adviser have a fiduciary duty to the OP? If not, I'd be wary of any of their advice. Someone with legal fiduciary duty is obligated to put the customer's interests ahead of their own profits. And lots of people running around calling themselves "advisers", when really, all they're advising on is how to get you to buy overpriced funds so they can line their own pockets.

Overall, most people would be better off just diversifying in some index funds from Vanguard - buy and hold. It's probably not worth trying to play fancy games or try to beat the market.

 

[Paratus]

The bigger question is: does this financial adviser have a fiduciary duty to the OP? If not, I'd be wary of any of their advice. Someone with legal fiduciary duty is obligated to put the customer's interests ahead of their own profits. And lots of people running around calling themselves "advisers", when really, all they're advising on is how to get you to buy overpriced funds so they can line their own pockets.

Overall, most people would be better off just diversifying in some index funds from Vanguard - buy and hold. It's probably not worth trying to play fancy games or try to beat the market.

It started out as an investment my parents opened. The same guy has been over seeing it for 20+ years.

I actually haven't put much of my money into it. My wife and I just about max out our TSP accounts instead,(Max value per year not the lower employer matching).

 

[Ichinisan]

one pro of ETFs is that they have no minimum required purchase amounts. also, they can have lower expense ratios than mutual funds.

i have run into this at vanguard - VTI is their total US market ETF and has an ER of %.05. there are 2 mutual fund versions of this ETF - VTSMX with an ER of %.17 and minimum amount of 3$k, and VTSAX with an ER of %.05 and minimum amount of 10$k.

so if you have 10$k or more, the mutual fund is fine and there's no reason to buy the ETF. but if you have less than 10$k, the ETF will be cheaper.

Of course, I was talking about an "early termination fee."