Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
This article is from ETF trends. Perhaps they're biased as well?
It seems to be discussing Vanguard ETFs in the context of 401(k) plans, saying that people don't day trade in those vehicles, and implying that they would save money (expenses) over mutual funds with ETFs.
But it neglects to point out that 401(k) plans often offer institutional class shares - for Vanguard funds these are even cheaper than their ETF class shares. (Even if the 401(k) offered only Admiral class shares, the expenses would match and investors would not be facing bid/ask spreads - thus avoiding another expense.)
It then goes on to serve up this red herring: critics of daily updates of 401(k) prices say that this would lead to more trading. That would apply to mutual funds as well. Of course an employee could always get a realtime quote independently, but that isn't discussed here.
IMHO the greater risk of employees shooting themselves in the foot comes from brokerage windows - whether one is trading mutual funds or ETFs.
Comments
It seems to be discussing Vanguard ETFs in the context of 401(k) plans, saying that people don't day trade in those vehicles, and implying that they would save money (expenses) over mutual funds with ETFs.
But it neglects to point out that 401(k) plans often offer institutional class shares - for Vanguard funds these are even cheaper than their ETF class shares. (Even if the 401(k) offered only Admiral class shares, the expenses would match and investors would not be facing bid/ask spreads - thus avoiding another expense.)
It then goes on to serve up this red herring: critics of daily updates of 401(k) prices say that this would lead to more trading. That would apply to mutual funds as well. Of course an employee could always get a realtime quote independently, but that isn't discussed here.
IMHO the greater risk of employees shooting themselves in the foot comes from brokerage windows - whether one is trading mutual funds or ETFs.