ETF Related

Mutual Fund Hits Investors With Huge Tax Bill

A change in the manager and a fund’s strategy may create a huge distribution to holders of the FPA Perennial Fund managed by FPA advisors, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal today.  Because the fund has changed managers and its strategy, many of the underlying holdings were liquidated to transform the fund to its new holdings.  When mutual funds sell shares of underlying securities, the short and...

Global ETF/ETP Assets Forecast to Surpass Hedge Funds During Second Quarter

According to ETFGI, global assets in ETFs/ETPs are expected to exceed those in hedge funds.  At the end of the first quarter, ETFGI estimates that hedge funds contained just $13 billion less than ETFs/ETPs globally.  In Q1 alone, ETFs/ETPs gained $US96 trillion, compared to just US$18 trillion for hedge funds. Reasons for this growth include an “expanding toolbox of index exposures to various markets and asset classes, including hedge...

ETF.com Award Winners Announced

ETF.com announced its 2014 award winners at its annual banquet held in New York City on Thursday.  Endowment IndexTM calculated by Nasdaq OMX® was a finalist for Index of the Year.  The Index of the Year award went to the Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Spot Index. Other category winners included: ETF of the Year: Wisdom Tree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (HEDJ) Best New ETF for 2014: Market Vectors China AMC...

Endowment Index^TM Named A Finalist for Index of the Year for 2014 by ETF.com

MARCH 11, 2015 08:53 AM EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME APPLETON, Wis.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Endowment IndexTM (symbol: ENDOW) calculated by Nasdaq OMX®, has been honored as a finalist for “Index of the Year” by ETF.com for 2014. The rules-based Endowment IndexTM tracks the performance of the average university and college endowment portfolio. The Index represents the investable opportunity for managers of portfolios that utilize the Endowment Investment PhilosophyTM by incorporating alternative investments within their...

ETF Investor Psychology

To be successful at anything, requires discipline.  In athletics, you must train your body to make certain movements at certain times so that during competition, those movements become second nature and you can perform them without thinking.  To be healthy, one must be disciplined to eat right and get proper exercise.  And to be successful, or to reach your financial goals, one must have a sound plan and the...

Flex Shares posts preliminary list of ETFs with capital gains distributions for 2014

According to a PDF on the FlexShares website, only two of their ETFs will distribute a capital gains payment for 2014, based on an October 31, 2014 estimate.  The FlexShares Disciplined Duration MBS Index Fund (MBSD) will pay a $.01 per share short-term gain, and the FlexShares Ready Acces Variable Income Fund (RAVI) will pay an $0.11 per shareshort-term gain and a $0.01 per share long-term capital gain. ETF...

Pimco ETFs with Capital Gains distributions for 2014

While ETFs are mostly tax efficient, especially compared to most mutual funds, there are some ETFs that do incur capital gains distributions annually.  Pimco recently announced the ETFs that will be subject to a distribution for 2014. 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index Exchange-Traded Fund (HYS) 1-3 Year U.S. Treasury Index Exchange-Traded Fund (TUZ) 1-5 Year U.S. TIPS Index Exchange-Traded Fund (STPZ) 15+ Year U.S. TIPS Index Exchange-Traded...

First Trust estimates no L-T capital gains distributions for its ETFs for 2014

A statement on the First Trust’s website indicates that the firm does not anticipate any  long-term capital gains distributions for its ETFs for the 2014 tax year.  Any short-term capital gains distributions are expected to be nominal.  The statement reads, as follows : 2014 Estimated Capital Gain Distributions The First Trust Exchange-Traded Funds are not expecting to pay long-term capital gain distributions during the remainder of 2014.  Short-term capital gain...

Nine Vanguard ETFs expected to have Capital Gains Distributions for 2014

Vanguard recently announced ETFs in their lineup that will be distributing capital gains to unit holders for 2014. These include: Extended Duration Treasury ETF (EDV) Intermediate-Term Bond ETF (BIV) Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCIT) Long-Term Bond ETF (BLV) Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF (VMBS) Short-Term Bond ETF (BSV) Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCSH) Short-Term Government Bond ETF (VGSH) Total Bond Market ETF (BND) Details on the exact distributions, as well as...

Investors in this iShares Frontier ETF face unusually high capital gains obligation

One of the reasons ETFs have been adopted so widely is that ETFs are typically very tax-efficient investments, especially when compared to mutual funds, because their structure typically allows them to avoid shareholder distributions.  The operative word in the opening sentence is typically.  This year, one particular ETF, the iShares MSCI Frontier Markets 100 ETF (Symbol: FM, NYSE-Arca, recent price $34.26) will pay out a large distribution on December 24th.  The...