06-25-2014, 10:36 PM
From a long time Mutual Fund investor who no longer invests in them....
The short answer(s) - they cost you money (even the index funds), you have no control over when capital gains are taken, and you won't get any dividend growth because of the constant portfolio turnover.
With that being said, I DO own some international and emerging market index ETFs. It's the only cost efficient way to get exposure to those markets with an appropriate level of diversification (unless you have a LOT of money to invest). But aside from that, no mas.
The short answer(s) - they cost you money (even the index funds), you have no control over when capital gains are taken, and you won't get any dividend growth because of the constant portfolio turnover.
With that being said, I DO own some international and emerging market index ETFs. It's the only cost efficient way to get exposure to those markets with an appropriate level of diversification (unless you have a LOT of money to invest). But aside from that, no mas.