Skip to main content

ETFs- Benchmarks

By: Rick Walter

What is a benchmark and how does it help you or your ETF Fund?
A benchmark is a standard against which the performance of a security, mutual fund or investment manager can be measured. Generally, broad market and market-segment stock and bond indexes are used for this purpose.
For example, "when evaluating the performance of any investment, it's important to compare it against an appropriate benchmark. In the financial field, there are hundreds of indexes that analysts use to gauge the performance of any given investment including the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Russell 2000 Index and the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index." All ETFs are built with a benchmark in mind. Does this make ETFs easier to construct and market? Maybe, according to the total ETF funds chart I have constructed show ETFs proliferating at break neck speed.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

ETF update

I have been tracking exchange-traded fund indexes of oil and gas, banking, health and pharma, real estate and commodities but none of these indexes are budging from their lows. Maybe, I am looking at this in the wrong way. A few points here, a few points there- nothing major; The only investors that are possibly making money are the short sellers. If you are good at short selling then this is the market for you. Lets take a look at a good short fund.

ETFs -More training and education

By Rick Walter ETF Training & presentation, education and more... There is so much out there. I went to the iShares website and found a series of educational tools, webinars, web casts , tutorials and presentations that may help a beginner and even experienced investors. I was impressed with the tutorials, but I still think that the financial buzzwords in the presentations may be a bit too complex for beginners. However, the site overall presentation and content is very good! What about taxes? By trade I am a tax professional; I believe that all investments should be analyzed first from a tax position, before an investment decision is made. ETFs are labeled as very tax efficient vehicles. Here is a good article, in my opinion, that explains the tax efficiency issue very well for ETFs. Check our external link section for links to websites that I believe provide top notch information on ETFs, including sponsors, distributors and advisers. I will be adding to the list daily. If th...