Are ETFs lower risk than stocks?
The risks associated with owning ETFs are usually lower than those of individual stocks. But if an investor can take on the risk, then owning individual stocks can mean much higher dividend yields.
Stock-picking offers an advantage over exchange-traded funds (ETFs) when there is a wide dispersion of returns from the mean. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer advantages over stocks when the return from stocks in the sector has a narrow dispersion around the mean.
Key Takeaways. ETFs are less risky than individual stocks because they are diversified funds. Their investors also benefit from very low fees. Still, there are unique risks to some ETFs, including a lack of diversification and tax exposure.
For instance, some ETFs may come with fees, others might stray from the value of the underlying asset, ETFs are not always optimized for taxes, and of course — like any investment — ETFs also come with risk.
Losses in ETFs usually are treated just like losses on stock sales, which generate capital losses. The losses are either short term or long term, depending on how long you owned the shares. If more than one year, the loss is long term.
Because of their wide array of holdings, ETFs provide the benefits of diversification, including lower risk and less volatility, which often makes a fund safer to own than an individual stock. An ETF's return depends on what it's invested in. An ETF's return is the weighted average of all its holdings.
Nearly all leveraged ETFs come with a prominent warning in their prospectus: they are not designed for long-term holding. The combination of leverage, market volatility, and an unfavorable sequence of returns can lead to disastrous outcomes.
For most standard, unleveraged ETFs that track an index, the maximum you can theoretically lose is the amount you invested, driving your investment value to zero. However, it's rare for broad-market ETFs to go to zero unless the entire market or sector it tracks collapses entirely.
ETFs may close due to lack of investor interest or poor returns. For investors, the easiest way to exit an ETF investment is to sell it on the open market. Liquidation of ETFs is strictly regulated; when an ETF closes, any remaining shareholders will receive a payout based on what they had invested in the ETF.
Market risk
The single biggest risk in ETFs is market risk.
What happens to my ETF if Vanguard fails?
If Vanguard ever did go bankrupt, the funds would not be affected and would simply hire another firm to provide these services.
Like any business, even low-cost ETFs need to generate revenue to cover their costs. Like any business, even low-cost ETFs need to generate revenue to cover their costs. Plenty of ETFs fail to garner the assets necessary to cover these costs and, consequently, ETF closures happen regularly.
Diversification. One ETF can give investors exposure to many stocks from a particular industry, investment category, country, or a broad market index. ETFs can also provide exposure to asset classes other than equities, including bonds, currencies, and commodities. Portfolio diversification reduces an investor's risk.
Q: How does the wash sale rule work? If you sell a security at a loss and buy the same or a substantially identical security within 30 calendar days before or after the sale, you won't be able to take a loss for that security on your current-year tax return.
ETFs. Investment funds are a strategic option during a recession because they have built-in diversification, minimizing volatility compared to individual stocks. However, the fees can get expensive for certain types of actively managed funds.
Interest rate changes are the primary culprit when bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs) lose value. As interest rates rise, the prices of existing bonds fall, which impacts the value of the ETFs holding these assets.
ETFs can be safe investments if used correctly, offering diversification and flexibility. Indexed ETFs, tracking specific indexes like the S&P 500, are generally safe and tend to gain value over time. Leveraged ETFs can be used to amplify returns, but they can be riskier due to increased volatility.
The low investment threshold for most ETFs makes it easy for a beginner to implement a basic asset allocation strategy that matches their investment time horizon and risk tolerance. For example, young investors might be 100% invested in equity ETFs when they are in their 20s.
For most ETFs, selling after less than a year is taxed as a short-term capital gain. ETFs held for longer than a year are taxed as long-term gains. If you sell an ETF, and buy the same (or a substantially similar) ETF after less than 30 days, you may be subject to the wash sale rule.
Since they maintain a fixed level of leverage, 3x ETFs eventually face complete collapse if the underlying index declines more than 33% on a single day. Even if none of these potential disasters occur, 3x ETFs have high fees that add up to significant losses in the long run.
Can you live off ETF?
Visit your My NerdWallet Settings page to see all the writers you're following. RDIV and SPYD have some of the highest yields of any high-dividend ETF. It's possible to live off the income from high-dividend ETFs, but it may take some planning.
For ETFs held more than a year, you'll owe long-term capital gains taxes at a rate up to 23.8%, once you include the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) on high earners. If you hold the ETF for less than a year, you'll be taxed at the ordinary income rate.
There are a few reasons why ETFs generally die. Low assets under management, high fees, poor performance, and short track records are closely associated with the probability of closure. In 2023, there were 244 ETF closures with an average age of 5.4 years and average assets under management of only $54 million.
Tax strategy
If you buy and sell frequently, ETFs are the clear winner when it comes to taxes. When shares of an ETF are sold, only the seller pays capital gains taxes. That's different from index mutual funds because you sell these shares to a fund manager.
One of the ways that investors make money from exchange traded funds (ETFs) is through dividends that are paid to the ETF issuer and then paid on to their investors in proportion to the number of shares each holds.
