Should you sell or hold ETFs?
A lack of trading activity means the sale is made below the value it would have in a volatile market. Investors can choose to hold their ETFs for a return in action. Nonetheless, a decline in liquidity can mean a drop in value for both the short and long term, which makes investors more likely to sell.
Holding an ETF for longer than a year may get you a more favorable capital gains tax rate when you sell your investment.
Higher costs and higher risks can come with overtrading. Holding a long-term ETF can lower costs over time. Feb. 16, 2024, at 3:25 p.m. Discipline and patience is the name of the long-term game.
- Trading fees.
- Operating expenses.
- Low trading volume.
- Tracking errors.
- The possibility of less diversification.
- Hidden risks.
- Lack of liquidity.
- Capital gains distributions.
At least once a year, funds must pass on any net gains they've realized. As a fund shareholder, you could be on the hook for taxes on gains even if you haven't sold any of your shares.
It's relatively simple: You add up all of your investments, and withdraw 4% of that total during your first year of retirement. In subsequent years, you adjust the dollar amount you withdraw to account for inflation.
Every quarter or every 6 months when you receive your dividend payment, just log into your broker account and sell off a small number of shares in your ETFs to access extra cash. That is the right time to sell your ETFs.
If an ETF still has large trading volumes, a price that isn't moving radically up and down with each new trade, and fairly small bid-ask spreads (see the next section), then the market price is likely a better indicator of portfolio's true value than the NAV, and it is safe to proceed with a trade.
ETFs are subject to market fluctuation and the risks of their underlying investments. ETFs are subject to management fees and other expenses. Unlike mutual funds, ETF shares are bought and sold at market price, which may be higher or lower than their NAV, and are not individually redeemed from the fund.
Leveraged ETFs use various financial instruments such as futures, options and swaps to achieve their leverage. These instruments have associated costs, including transaction costs, bid/ask spreads and management fees. These costs can eat into the returns of the ETF and contribute to its decay.
Why I don't invest in ETFs?
Low Liquidity
If an ETF is thinly traded, there can be problems getting out of the investment, depending on the size of your position relative to the average trading volume. The biggest sign of an illiquid investment is large spreads between the bid and the ask.
In contrast, the riskiest ETF in the Morningstar database, ProShares Ultra VIX Short-term Futures Fund (UVXY), has a three-year standard deviation of 132.9. The fund, of course, doesn't invest in stocks. It invests in volatility itself, as measured by the so-called Fear Index: The short-term CBOE VIX index.
Because of their wide array of holdings, ETFs provide the benefits of diversification, including lower risk and less volatility, which often makes a fund safer to own than an individual stock. An ETF's return depends on what it's invested in. An ETF's return is the weighted average of all its holdings.
Tax Strategies Using ETFs
One common strategy is to close out positions that have losses before their one-year anniversary. You then keep positions that have gains for more than one year. This way, your gains receive long-term capital gains treatment, lowering your tax liability.
Thanks to the tax treatment of in-kind redemptions, ETFs typically record no gains at all. That means the tax hit from winning stock bets is postponed until the investor sells the ETF, a perk holders of mutual funds, hedge funds and individual brokerage accounts don't typically enjoy.
It's rare for an index-based ETF to pay out a capital gain; when it does occur it's usually due to some special unforeseen circ*mstance. Of course, investors who realize a capital gain after selling an ETF are subject to the capital gains tax.
For most personal investors, an optimal number of ETFs to hold would be 5 to 10 across asset classes, geographies, and other characteristics.
One simple rule of thumb I tend to adopt is going by the 4-3-2-1 ratios to budgeting. This ratio allocates 40% of your income towards expenses, 30% towards housing, 20% towards savings and investments and 10% towards insurance.
In addition, ETFs tend to have much lower expense ratios compared to actively managed funds, can be more tax-efficient, and offer the option to immediately reinvest dividends. Still, unique risks can arise from holding ETFs as well as tax considerations, depending on the type of ETF.
The choice comes down to what you value most. If you prefer the flexibility of trading intraday and favor lower expense ratios in most instances, go with ETFs. If you worry about the impact of commissions and spreads, go with mutual funds.
Can I sell my ETF anytime?
ETFs are investment funds that track the performance of a specific index – like the STI Index or S&P 500. Just like stocks, you can trade ETFs on a stock exchange at any point during market hours.
Evaluate the ETF's Premium or Discount
If the ETF is trading at a premium, it could indicate that the ETF is overvalued. If it's trading at a discount, it could indicate that the ETF is undervalued.
Times to Sell
If the fund manager has changed. If the investment plan and strategy of the fund has been altered. If the fund has been consistently underperforming. If the fund sees too large a growth to fulfil the goals of any investor.
For ETFs held more than a year, you'll owe long-term capital gains taxes at a rate up to 23.8%, once you include the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) on high earners. If you hold the ETF for less than a year, you'll be taxed at the ordinary income rate.
Gains from the sale of ETF shares are reported to you on Form 1099-B. The form may include the date when you acquired your shares; it may also include your basis in the shares. You may wish to talk with your financial advisor to determine the impact of taxation on the sale of your ETF shares.
