Comparison shopping is a typical routine done in stores all the time and it usually ends at the price. But every once in a while, you dig a little deeper. You check under the hood of a car or compare ingredients in food. So why don’t we do more of it with our investment products? When shopping for funds, take the time to compare the ETF and mutual fund holdings.
Digging is a prerequisite when it comes to investing. The easiest way to compare funds is to use an ETF screener (you can use a mutual fund screener for index and mutual funds). Just find the fund category you’re looking for and break the results down from there. Simple enough.
Don’t Stop At Costs
Picking a fund (mutual or ETF) is great but it’s useless if you don’t know what’s in it. An argument can be made for considering costs last. Most people will set an asset allocation for their portfolios based on their goals and risk aversion, then choose investments that best fits those needs. Continue Reading…