ETF Portfolios

By: EconomyWatch   Date: 3 August 2009

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Exchange traded fund (ETF) portfolios are an excellent choice when it comes to providing diversification to your investment portfolio.

Some of the distinctive advantages of owning ETF portfolios are:

  • They are tax friendly

  • They are more transparent than mutual funds

  • They cover several major asset classes

  • They have very low expense ratio

ETFs are also quite flexible as they can be bought and held, hedged with options, leveraged with margin and even sold short.

Types of ETF Portfolios
 

The various types of ETF portfolios are:

  • Sector savvy portfolio: These portfolios have ETFs focused on a particular sector. At the end of 2008, there were 213 industry sector ETFs, making it the largest ETF category. The sector savvy portfolio separates the best sectors from the countless sector funds and capitalizes on them.

  • Capital defense portfolio: This portfolio invests in defensive index ETFs that provide security from inflation, deflation and other financial problems. This type of portfolio has exposure to short term bonds and short ETFs.

  • Contrarian fox portfolio: This portfolio focuses on asset classes that are undervalued or out-of-favor but poised for a recovery.

  • Strategic balance portfolio: The central goal is to maintain balanced exposure to all the major asset classes.

How to Build the Right ETF Portfolio
 

If you are building an ETF portfolio, follow these steps:

  • Determine the objective for this portfolio.

  • Consider your return expectations, risk appetite, investment time horizon, distribution needs and your tax and personal situation. Determine how this portfolio fits in with the overall investment strategy to decide on asset allocation.

  • Check the various types of ETF portfolios and weigh their pros and cons. ETF portfolios could focus on low-risk, large-cap stocks or high-risk, small- or mid-cap stocks. While ETFs based on large-cap stocks provide good security and larger dividends, those based on small- or mid-cap stocks have a higher prospect for rapid gains. Spread your purchases over a period of six months.

  • Monitor and access. Evaluate the performance of your ETF portfolios every year keeping in view the existing circumstances. Balance your ETF weightings to generate the best possible yield.


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