The Top ETFs Over Three Years: Real Estate Dominates
by Charles Rotblut, CFA
Exchange-traded fund (ETF) investors would have done well over the past three years by having a high allocation to real estate.
Five funds that focus on real estate investment trusts (REITs) beat all ETFs in terms of performance for the three-year period ending June 30, 2012. A sixth real estate ETF came in seventh place.
In this article
- Caveats & Notes
- Which Funds Were Included
- The Top Real Estate ETFs
- The Other Top 10 ETFs
- Dividend Funds Lead Several Categories
- Look Beyond Performance
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Preventing a clean sweep of the top 10 spots were two health care funds, a retail sector fund and one fund that invests in Thailand. This is not the mixture most investors held in their portfolios.
For the second consecutive year, I asked my colleagues to compile a list of the best-performing exchange-traded funds over the past three years. This list is designed to complement both “The Individual Investor’s Guide to Exchange-Traded Funds 2012” (published in the August 2012 AAII Journal) and my annual article on mutual funds with the best five-year performance (see “The Top Funds Over Five Years: Bond Funds Take the Lead” in the March 2012 AAII Journal). Given the growth of ETFs, I thought there would be continuing interest in an article that looks at the best-performing exchange-traded funds.
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Discussion
Good informative article - thanks for the analysis and insights as I've been moving more toward ETF investments
posted 6 months ago by Michael Audet from Maryland
It always seems to boil down to one thing. "Be Greedy When Others are Fearful" , most important thing Warren ever told me. But you must be greedy and buy those things that will always have value,Not just everything that has lost all it's value. Realestate, Apple brands etc.. Not two things that the average Joe plummer doesn't understand. So why doesn't he buy things that he knows will eventually recover due to it's intrinsic value? Because the other thing that Buffet taught us, " Investing is more about temperament than intelligence! " What is it right now that nobody wants but will always eventually be valuable? That is worth the time to explore.
posted 6 months ago by John Gorsline from Washington
A great article, most helpful. It's certainly a set of ideas for my portfolio.
posted 6 months ago by John Hunt from West Virginia
Informative info. I have relieved myself of the burden of the fees associated with mutual funds (sold them)and have started purchasing ETF's.
posted 5 months ago by Joseph Wilkonski from New York
I JOINED AII A MONTH AGO AND MY FIRST REACTION IS THAT AII IS ALL HYPE.WHAT SOME NEWCOMERS NEED IS A FOLLOWUP BY AN EXPERIENCE AII CONNECTED REP WHO CAN SPEND SOME TIME ORIENTING NEWCOMERS TO THE AII PROGRAM.YESTERDAY I MUST HAVE CALLED AII 7 TIMES IN THE MID-AFTERNOON CENTRAL TIME .EACH TIME I WAS WELCOMED BY A BUSY SIGNAL.MAYBE A LOCAL CHAPTER REP CAN VOLUNTEER THEIR TIME ,HOWEVER BRIEF, TO GET NEW MEMBERS STARTED.I'M ABOUT TO CASH IN.(SORRRY FOR THE CAPS..MAYBE A SIGN OF MY AGE).
posted about 1 month ago by Gene Zitani from California
Hi Gene,
Due to work being done by AT&T, our telephone lines are temporarily down. We can be contacted via email at: members@aaii.com.
If this helps, here a is list of the key areas of the website we suggest members visit:
http://www.aaii.com/benefits/members
If you need help with the model portfolios, this guide may be of help:
http://www.aaii.com/model-portfolios/getting-started
-Charles
AAII
posted about 1 month ago by Charles Rotblut from Illinois
