Dipping Your Toes In the Water With Funds of ETFs | ETF Trends

If you are too timid to try your luck with an exchange traded fund (ETF) but have heard about all of their benefits, there are now funds-of-ETFs to quell your curiosity while giving you a taste.

It is fair to say that ETFs are generally less expensive than their mutual fund counterparts, more tax efficient and can be flexibly traded throughout the day. But for those of you who still need convincing, many mutual funds offer ETFs within their funds.

Joanne Von Alroth for Investor’s Business Daily reports that these funds, when they were first launched, didn’t seem to have a clear goal and that doomed them. One of the earliest of their type closed in 2004.

AdvisorOne Amerigo (CLSAX) and the 3-month-old Aston/Smart Allocation are no-loads with expense ratios under 1.5%. Investors are required to dole out 2.27% of assets a year for expenses and foot the underlying ETF fees.

Wouldn’t it just be easier and more efficient to invest in a broad-based ETF, and save yourself some management fees?

The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.