Discussing financial things with someone and they mentioned all there money was in iShares. Now I had enough knowledge to know that is some ETF stuff but could someone pls fill me in on iShares? Pretty please??
I'll hazard a guess and suggest that your friend is using the ASX 200 ETF (ticker symbol STW). For all intents and purposes the fund owns shares in the largest 200 companies on the ASX. Buying an index fund means that you own the good shares as well as the bad. Buying an ETF is accepting the market return. You're not trying to out perform the market. You're not trying to outwit other traders. You are taking the good with the bad. You're owning a diversified portfolio with one trade. Listed Investment Companies are an alternative. Here is the ASX home page for ETF's and ETC's. http://www.asx.com.au/products/exchange-traded-funds-and-exchange-traded-commodities.htm Here is an ASX case study (note that the weighting of the portfolio and start date seriously effect the outcome) http://www.asx.com.au/resources/exchange-traded-funds-portfolio-study.htm I currently hold Vangaurds ETF (VAS) which is basically ASX 300. I'm looking at buying an ETF which holds foreign shares in the future. Hope that helps or at the very least didn't confuse
iShares website is here and list of iShares ETFs and their ASX codes are here. They have quite a number of ETFs.
