ETF Store Show Recap – 10/01/11

Listen to The ETF Store Show every Saturday at 3pm on KCMO Talk Radio 710AM as we cover everything you need to know about Exchange Traded Funds and the world of investing. On our most recent radio show, we discussed an interesting study on ETF investors conducted by Charles Schwab.  The study focused on individuals who have purchased an ETF in the past two years or would consider doing so in the next two years.  Some highlights from the study include: Among those respondents who already have purchased an ETF, over 80% said they would invest more in ETFs over the next two years. ETF owners that were interviewed said the biggest benefits of ETFs are that they can be traded like stocks, they help diversification, they allow access to asset classes and sectors/regions, and they have lower fees than other investments. In addition, 46% of respondents referred to themselves as ETF “novices” and only 8% considered themselves ETF experts.  Finally, the top three challenges respondents in the study cited regarding investing in ETFs were 1) too many choices, 2) they don’t know how to buy or sell them, and 3) they don’t understand them. On the show, we delved deeper into the overwhelmingly positive results of this study and also explained how The ETF Store aims to help investors fill knowledge gaps on ETFs and tackle the challenges they face investing in ETFs. We also continued with the second of four case studies regarding how individuals at different stages of their lives should be positioning their portfolios.  This week, we focused on those individuals who were in the latter half of their careers and building towards retirement.  These are typically the prime earning years and an absolutely critical time for accumulating and growing the wealth necessary to support a comfortable retirement. Listen to the full show here.