5 Best ETFs for April 2024 - NerdWallet (2024)

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Diversification is hard work. A well-rounded investor may own stock in dozens or even hundreds of publicly-traded companies — and stock research on all of those companies can take a lot of time.

One workaround is to invest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These are baskets of companies that trade on exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, just like stocks, and can provide exposure to many stocks with a single purchase.

Best ETFs as of April 2024

Below is a list of the best ETFs with expense ratios below 0.5% that hold large U.S.-based companies, ordered by five-year performance. Leveraged ETFs, inverse ETFs and hedged ETFs are excluded.

Ticker

Fund name

5-year return

SMH

VanEck Semiconductor ETF

35.02%

SOXX

iShares Semiconductor ETF

30.70%

XLK

Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund

24.57%

IYW

iShares U.S. Technology ETF

24.09%

FTEC

Fidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETF

22.79%

Source: VettaFi. Data is current as of March 29, 2024, and is for informational purposes only.

ETF advantages and disadvantages

ETF pros

Investors have flocked to exchange traded funds because of their simplicity, relative cheapness and access to a diversified product. Here are the pros:

Diversification

While it’s easy to think of diversification in the sense of the broad market verticals — stocks, bonds or a particular commodity, for example — ETFs also let investors diversify across horizontals, like industries. It would take a lot of money and effort to buy all the components of a particular basket, but with the click of a button, an ETF delivers those benefits to your portfolio. Diversification can help safeguard your portfolio against market volatility. If you invested in just one industry, and that industry had a really bad year, it's likely your portfolio would have performed poorly too. By investing across different industries, company sizes, geographies and more, you give your portfolio more balance. Because ETFs are already well-diversified, you don't have to worry about creating diversification within your portfolio.

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Transparency

Anyone with internet access can search the price activity for a particular ETF on an exchange. In addition, a fund’s holdings are disclosed each day to the public, whereas that happens monthly or quarterly with mutual funds. This transparency allows you to keep a close eye on what you're invested in. Say you really don't want to be invested in oil — you'd be able to spot those additions to your ETF more easily than with a mutual fund.

Tax benefits

ETFs have two major tax advantages over mutual funds.

If you invest in a mutual fund, you may have to pay capital gains taxes (or, the profits from the sale of an asset, like a stock) through the lifetime of your investment. This is because mutual funds, particularly those that are actively managed, often trade assets more frequently than ETFs. Most ETFs, on the other hand, only incur capital gains taxes when you go to sell the investment. This means you'll pay less tax on your ETF investment overall.

As mutual fund managers are actively buying and selling investments, and incurring capital gains taxes along the way, the investor may be exposed to both long-term and short-term capital gains tax. If you're invested in an ETF, you get to decide when to sell, making it easier to avoid those higher short-term capital gains tax rates.

» Related: Best-performing high-dividend ETFs

ETF cons

Exchange traded funds may work well for some investors, but they aren't perfect. Here are the cons:

Trading costs

ETF costs may not end with the expense ratio. Because ETFs are exchange-traded, they may be subject to commission fees from online brokers. Many brokers have decided to drop their ETF commissions to zero, but not all have.

Potential liquidity issues

As with any security, you’ll be at the whim of the current market prices when it comes time to sell, but ETFs that aren’t traded as frequently can be harder to unload.

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Risk the ETF will close

The primary reason this happens is that a fund hasn’t brought in enough assets to cover administrative costs. The biggest inconvenience of a shuttered ETF is that investors must sell sooner than they may have intended — and possibly at a loss. There’s also the annoyance of having to reinvest that money and the potential for an unexpected tax burden.

More reading about ETFs

  • How to invest in ETFs.

  • Best-performing semiconductor ETFs.

  • Bitcoin ETFs.

Frequently asked questions

Are these the best ETFs for me?

The best ETFs for your portfolio will depend on your circ*mstances and goals. It's a good idea to talk to a financial advisor if you're not sure what type of ETF is right for you.

What should I look for when choosing an ETF?

It's good to check an ETF's historical returns, expense ratio and holdings before buying it.

Neither the author nor editor held positions in the aforementioned investments at the time of publication.

5 Best ETFs for April 2024 - NerdWallet (2024)

FAQs

How much money do I need to invest to make $3,000 a month? ›

Imagine you wish to amass $3000 monthly from your investments, amounting to $36,000 annually. If you park your funds in a savings account offering a 2% annual interest rate, you'd need to inject roughly $1.8 million into the account.

How much to invest to get $50,000 per month? ›

Assuming the average annual dividend yield to be 7%*, you would need to invest INR 85,00,000 to get approximately INR 50,000 per month. *The average dividend rate is calculated from the top 15 dividend-yielding stocks.

How much to invest per month to become a millionaire in 5 years? ›

Suppose you're starting from scratch and have no savings. You'd need to invest around $13,000 per month to save a million dollars in five years, assuming a 7% annual rate of return and 3% inflation rate. For a rate of return of 5%, you'd need to save around $14,700 per month.

How much money do I need to invest to make $1 000 a month? ›

A stock portfolio focused on dividends can generate $1,000 per month or more in perpetual passive income, Mircea Iosif wrote on Medium. “For example, at a 4% dividend yield, you would need a portfolio worth $300,000.

Has Warren Buffett outperformed the S&P 500? ›

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A -0.31%) (BRK.B -0.56%) CEO Warren Buffett is widely considered a legend on Wall Street, and for good reason. The conglomerate's portfolio has substantially outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 since Buffett became CEO in 1965.

What ETF doubles the S&P 500? ›

Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bull 2X Shares. The Direxion Daily S&P 500® Bull 2X Shares seeks daily investment results, before fees and expenses, of 200% of the performance of the S&P 500® Index.

What is better than VOO? ›

The primary difference between SPY, VOO, IVV, and SPLG is their cost. SPLG has the lowest cost at 0.02%, followed by VOO and IVV at 0.03%, and SPY at 0.09%. If you are a cost-conscious investor, the VOO, IVV, and SPLG might make a more attractive option compared to SPY with their lower expense ratios.

Which mutual fund is best to invest in 2024? ›

Technology based mutual funds have offered an average return of 6.45% in 2024 so far. Quant Teck Fund led with 12.20% return, followed by Franklin India Technology Fund with 10.19%. ICICI Prudential Technology Fund also performed well with a 4.50% return.

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