There are many ETF databases out there. Morningstar covers mutual funds very well. But what are the BEST ETFs and mutual funds? How do you measure it?
What Is The Best ETF And Mutual Fund?
Contents
This post was inspired by Paul Merriman who has for many years recommended ETFs and mutual funds to implement his portfolio strategies. I have expanded on the “Best In Class” concept to include many more asset classes.
The first thing you should know is that there is rarely ONE best ETF or fund. It all depends on a host of variables:
- Your goals
- Your portfolio
- Your tax situation
- Your broker (some funds are commission free).
- Subjective opinion about the data.
There are A LOT of really, really BAD ETFs and mutuals funds out there. Make sure you avoid the worst by picking one of ETFs below.
Best ETF and Mutual Fund for each asset class
| Asset Class | Mutual Funds | ETF | Number of holdings (ETF) | Expense Ratio ETF | Expense Ratio Mutual fund |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Total Stock Market | VTSMX | VTI | 3398 | 0.04% | 0.14% |
| US Large Cap | VLACX | VV | 594 | 0.05% | 0.17% |
| US Large Cap Value | VIVAX | VTV | 704 | 0.05% | 0.17% |
| US Large Cap Growth | VIGRX | VUG | 299 | 0.05% | 0.17% |
| US Mid Cap | VIMSX | IJH | 1472 | 0.07% | 0.17% |
| US Mid Cap Value | VMVIX | JKI | 185 | 0.30% | |
| US Mid Cap Growth | VMGRX | IJK | 240 | 0.25% | |
| US Small Cap | NAESX | VIOO | 600 | 0.15% | 0.17% |
| US Small Cap Value | VISVX | VIOV | 455 | 0.20% | 0.19% |
| US Small Cap Growth | VSGAX | IJT | 340 | 0.25% | |
| US Micro Cap | BRSIX | IWC | 1360 | 0.60% | 0.86% |
| US High Dividend Yield | VHDYX | VYM | 394 | 0.08% | 0.15% |
| International All-World ex-US | VFWIX | VEU | 2712 | 0.11% | 0.23% |
| Int. Developed Blend | VDVIX | VEA | 3905 | 0.07% | 0.17% |
| International Lg Cap Value | VTRIX | EFV | 609 | 0.38% | 0.40% |
| Intl Sm Cap Blend | VFSVX | VSS | 1428 | 0.13% | 0.25% |
| Intl Sm Cap Value | N/A | DLS | 910 | 0.58% | |
| European Stocks | VEURX | VGK | 1094 | 0.10% | |
| Pacific Stocks | VPACX | VPL | 1012 | 0.10% | |
| Emerging Markets | VEIEX | VWO | 1569 | 0.14% | 0.32% |
| Emerging Markets Value | DFEVX | FNDE | 309 | 0.39% | |
| Emerging Markets Small Cap | DEMSX | EWX | 975 | 0.65% | |
| International REITs (Real Estate) | VRXRX | VNQI | 423 | 0.14% | |
| Total World Stock | VTWSX | VT | 8122 | 0.10% | 0.19% |
| Cash (money market fund) | VMMXX | BIL | 13 | 0.14% | |
| Short Term Treasury | VSCSX | VGSH | 24 | 0.07% | 0.07% |
| 1 Year Fixed Income | BSV | 34 | 0.07% | ||
| Intermediate Term Treasury | VFITX | VGIT | 25 | 0.07% | 0.20% |
| 10-year Treasury | IEF | 15 | 0.15% | ||
| Long Term Treasury | VUSTX | TLT | 31 | 0.15% | 0.20% |
| TIPS | VTIPX | VTIP | 16 | 0.06% | 0.15% |
| Total US Bond Market | VBMFX | BND | 65 | 0.05% | 0.15% |
| 5 Year Global Fixed Income | BNDW | 3 (BND & BNDX + cash) | 0.09% | ||
| Global Bonds (USD Hedged) | BNDW | 3 (BND & BNDX + cash) | 0.09% | ||
| Short-Term Investment Grade | VFSTX | VCSH | 67 | 0.07% | 0.20% |
| Intermediate Term Corporate Bonds | VFITX | VCIT | 73 | 0.07% | 0.20% |
| Long-Term Corporate Bonds | VCLT | 78 | 0.07% | ||
| High Yield Corporate Bonds | HYG | 971 | 0.49% | ||
| Corporate Bonds | LQD | 1960 | 0.15% | ||
| Short-Term Tax-Exempt | SUB | 992 | 0.07% | ||
| Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt | MUB | 3724 | 0.07% | ||
| Long-Term Tax-Exempt | VWLTX | VTEB | 65 | 0.09% | |
| 2 Year Global Fixed Income | BNDX | 5281 | 0.11% | ||
| Non-US Bonds | BNDX | 5281 | 0.11% | ||
| Emerging Market Bonds | VWOB | 44 | 0.32% | ||
| REITs (Real Estate) | VGISX | VNQ | 181 | 0.12% | 1.15% |
| Gold | IAU | 1 (physical gold) | 0.25% | ||
| Precious Metals | GLTR | 4 (gold, silver, palladium, platinum) | 0.60% | ||
| Commodities | DBC / GSG | 14 / 24 | 0.85% / 0.75% | ||
| Energy | XLE | 31 | 0.13% | ||
| Momentum Factor | MTUM | 125 | 0.15% | ||
| Dividend Growth | VIG | 183 | 0.08% | ||
| Mortgages | VMBS | 24 | 0.07% |
The ETFs and Mutual funds have been selected by these criteria
- Tracking error. The fund must track its underlying index very closely or it is of no use.
- Fees. Low expense ratios win the day and are one of the best indicators of performance.
- Bid/ask spread. This is relevant for ETFs that trade on the open market. Is the gap (spread) of the buy and sell price is too great it imposes an additional cost to the investor. Therefore the lower the bid/ask spread, the better.
- Liquidity. Means how many shares of the fund are being traded every day. A good fund needs to tens of thousands of shares traded every day.
- Holdings. The holdings by the fund needs to be liquid.
- Respectable fund provider.
- Turnover rate. Every time a fund buys and sells underlying stock it could be exposing itself to capital gains tax. Those taxes are channeled to the investor, so you want as low turnover as possible.
Together these factors decide if the fund represent the appropriate asset class the best.
How to verify and do your own research
Morningstar.com is a great resource to research ETFs and mutual funds. If you f.x. want to research U.S. small-cap value ETFs you could look up VIOV, VBR, and SLYV (among others) on morningstar.com. Click the portfolio tab and you get an overview of whats in the fund. Here are the 3 funds as per 2018:
VIOV: Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Value Index Fund ETF Shares
VBR: Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index Fund ETF Shares
SLYV: SPDR® S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF
As you can see VBR has some attributes that make it a poor candidate for representing the small-cap value asset class:
- It has style drifted. It has gone from a small-cap fund (2017) to a mid-cap fund (2018).
- The average size of the holding is more than twice that of SLYV and VIOV.
I cheated a little and selected two funds, SLYV and VIOV, that both track the same index. The S&P Small-Cap 600 Value Index.
Next, you want to check:
- Fees (under fees & expenses), lower is better.
- Turnover rate (under fees & expenses), lower is better.
Super important note:
Notice that a return comparison doesn’t even factor in when we are comparing fund. If we follow the above guidelines we would select the best funds and therefore theoretically get the appropriate returns for that asset class. Sure some fund may beat other funds within the same category but chasing performance is a losers game.
If you find that you have found two equally good funds – BUY THEM BOTH. No need to agonize over which funds to select. The commission on buying and selling are cheap and sometimes free. It is a very small price to pay to avoid regret.
Summary and next steps
It is not easy finding the BEST ETF or mutual fund. But it is easy to AVOID the worst. By using a few simple metrics and Morningstar you can narrow down the field to just a few. While finding the best fund may be impossible, it is often to find one that is good enough.
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Let me know what your best ETFs are in the comments!