“ETFs have experienced extraordinary growth in recent years, allowing investors easy access to virtually any asset class and investing strategy,” Rich Messina, SVP of Investment Products at E*TRADE Financial, said in a note. “With more choices than ever before, it’s no surprise that investors can experience selection fatigue. Before investing in any ETF, investors are wise to research the underlying positions of the ETF, the bid-ask spread, and the market capitalization, which can go a long way in helping to reduce concerns. There are many tools available to help investors.”
Moreover, E*TRADE found that ETF concerns can vary by age demographics. For example, over a third of Millennials are concerned the most that their ETF will be delisted, but only 1 out of 10 Boomers share that concern. This concern may stem from the differing investment styles or ETF strategies that the two groups would favor.
For instance, Millennials are more apt to gravitate toward less traditional ETFs like commodity, style, foreign currency,d derivatives or inverse funds to gain target market exposure.
In contrast, Boomers are more likely to gravitate toward the types of ETFs that can serve as the core position of a retirement portfolio, such as broad U.S. market index and dividend funds.
Meanwhile, Gen Xers favor overseas and smart beta for their fund selection, along with similar interest in mainstream ETFs like U.S. market index and dividend ETFs.
For more information on ETF usage, visit our ETF performance reports category.