【Native Speaker每日综合训练—38系列】【38-10】经管 ETF

wnj2611339

内容：wnj2611339  编辑：wnj2611339

公益申请名额，每月一名  

Stay tuned to our latest post! Follow us here----＞http://weibo.com/u/3476904471


Today's topic is Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), 交易型开放式指数基金，因为本人对于这个基金还不是很了解，所以饶有兴趣地选择这方面的文章了来增长知识。

Speaker这方面比较难找呢，所以打了擦边球，请见谅！Speed 属于科普知识类的文章，比较适合像我们这种初学者，呵呵~然后obstacle的文章有点旧，但我认为是一篇很不错的文章，不是特别深奥，具有可读性，而且可以加深我们对ETF的了解。

如果你想在读之前以中文的形式会会这个基金，那么请点这里，百度百科告诉你 ---＞http://baike.baidu.com/view/890551.htm?from_id=4947183&type=syn&fromtitle=%EF%BC%A5%EF%BC%B4%EF%BC%A6&fr=aladdin

好啦，废话不多说啦~
Enjoy your reading！

Part I: Speaker

Investing Your Money

Audio Index:
Slow dialogue: 1:24
Explanations: 3:28
Fast dialogue: 18:39

Karen: My company offers a 401(k) plan. Do you think I should have one?

Jimmy: Yes, definitely. I had a 401(k) account when I worked for McQ Corp, and when I started working on my own I converted it to an IRA.

Karen: I really don’t understand any of these investment options. I talked to an investment specialist at my bank, but I left her office just as confused as when I went in.

Jimmy: Look, you want to have a diversified portfolio of lower-risk and higher-risk investments. On the low-risk end, put money in bonds, CDs, or a money market account. You want to balance that out with some riskier investments that may bring a higher return, such as mutual funds and stocks.

Karen: Wow, all of that just went over my head. I don’t know a CD from a bond.

Jimmy: It’s really simple. Your choice ranges from a fixed return to a variable return, and the variable investments carry different levels of risk.

Karen: My head hurts. Are you sure I really need all of these investments?

Jimmy: Not all of them, but it would be smart to invest your money in something.

Karen: Not if I spend it all first, right?

Jimmy: Right. You know what they say: “A fool and his money are soon parted!”


Source：ESL Podcast
http://www.eslpod.com/website/show_podcast.php?issue_id=10460238

[Rephrase 1, 20:36]

wnj2611339

Part II: Speed

ETFs


[Time 2]

What's an exchange-traded fund?
Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, were invented to combine the simplicity and low costs of index mutual funds with the flexibility of individual stocks. Unlike most mutual funds, ETFs trade on exchanges, where you can buy and sell them anytime the market is open.

With ETFs you can track broad market indexes such as the S&P 500, gaining instant diversification. You pay super-low fees. And you don't get hit with a tax bill (most of the time) until you sell.
There are some 700 ETFs on the market today.

What do ETFs invest in?
The first ETFs tracked plain-vanilla indexes, like the S&P 500. But as investors poured money into ETFs, investment companies eager to capture that business began engineering new, supposedly innovative ETFs that are complicated, risky and more expensive - just the reverse of what ETFs are supposed to be. Some of these new ETFs use borrowed money to boost returns. Others track narrow slices of the market, such as nanotechnology.

What do ETFs cost?
The biggest plus of ETFs is their low annual operating costs. Their expenses are not only well below those of traditional mutual funds, but in many cases even less than the expenses levied by their index fund counterparts.
[209 words]


[Time 3]

How do I buy an ETF?
Probably the biggest disadvantage to ETFs is that you've got to buy them through a broker. Even with the low fees available at discount and online brokers these days, brokerage commissions can seriously erode ETFs' low-expense advantage, especially when you're investing small sums of money.

For example, if you were planning to invest $100 a month in ETFs, even a cost of just $10 per trade would mean 10% of your investment is being siphoned off. So your ETFs' price would have to rise 10% just to recoup your buying cost. And don't forget that you'll have to pay a commission when you sell, too.

What's better: ETFs or mutual funds?
If you're trying to track the performance of a large index, your results will be similar whether you choose an index fund or an index ETF. But which is right for you comes down to whether you want to invest a big chunk of money all at once, or smaller chunks of money over time.

If you want to invest a big chunk at once - for example, you're doing a rollover of a 401(k) or an IRA - you're better off with an ETF. By contrast, if you want to invest $200 a month (or you tend to invest sporadically with modest amounts of money), you're probably better off in a regular mutual fund; overall, the fees will be lower.

How do I choose an ETF?
Keep it simple. Forget about the fancy, complicated new ETFs hitting the market. Pick those that track broad market indexes. Among those, choose funds with strong performance records and rock-bottom fees. You can put together a simple yet fully diversified portfolio by spreading your money among just five or so ETFs.
[295 words]

Source: CNN Money
http://money.cnn.com/retirement/guide/investing_ETFs.moneymag/index.htm




Four Things To Know Before You Invest In ETFs
By APARNA NARAYANAN, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | 06/25/2014 06:41 PM ET


[Warm up]

Exchange traded funds may be the wunderkind of the investing world. They have grown from 80 funds and $66 billion in assets in 2000 to 1,500 funds and $1.7 trillion in assets today. They offer the average investor a path to a professionally managed and instantly diversified portfolio, just like mutual funds, but can be traded on public exchanges during market hours, like stocks.
[64 words]


[Time 4]

But perhaps it is the low cost of investing in ETFs that has you mulling a stake. Or stories about ETF-only 401(k)portfolios. Whatever the case, here are some key things to know before investing in them:

• Not all ETFs are created equal. Novice investors sometimes assume that all ETFs possess all the qualities contributing to the halo effect around this category. But not every fund has all these benefits in spades.

"Some are less diversified, some are not as tradeable, some don't have quite as attractive a cost," said Michael Iachini, managing director of ETF research for Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW).

Of course, choosing among the 1,500-plus ETF products on the stock market today can take time, especially as funds in the same category seem to be doing virtually the same thing. So Iachini advises investors to fully understand the fund's goals: Read up on its overall investment description on the company's website or take a deep dive into the prospectus. If you find yourself overwhelmed by mention of leveraged funds and volatility futures, move on to another fund.

"If you don't understand it, then you should probably think twice before investing," Iachini said.

• Not all investors are created equal. Just as important as understanding the investment is understanding the investor — yourself. Buy-and-hold investors invest for the long term and use ETFs as a core building block of their portfolio. Their investment requires little hands-on maintenance beyond perhaps occasional rebalancing.

More active traders, on the other hand, use ETFs tactically to access a whole range of securities in a market segment in one single trade.

Rookie investors need to figure out which camp they fit into, said Ben Johnson, director of passive funds research at Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN). Of course, they can have a foot in both camps. But they should treat investments in each accordingly.
[306 words]


[Time 5]

• Know how to calculate costs. Many investors, initially drawn to ETFs because of their reputation for low costs, feel burned down the road. According to experts, focusing on ETFs' slight management fees — 0.58% on average vs. 1.11% for mutual funds — can obscure other costs.

Besides broker fees, investors should become familiar with the less apparent costs of dealing in ETFs, Johnson said. Buying and selling generally involve trading fees, and active trading can quickly cut investment gains as the commissions add up.

Then there are indirect or "frictional" costs such as the bid/ask spread, which is the difference between what you pay for buying an ETF and what you get for selling it.
Iachini advised: "We tell investors to focus on total costs."

• Know what you own. ETFs, unlike mutual funds, are traded on a public exchange, which makes their holdings transparent. So they allow investors to "look under the hood" and assess whether they are comfortable with the level of risk involved, said Robbie Cannon, chief executive officer of Horizon Investments, a strategy firm.

Assessing risk has become more urgent as the ETF space has been sliced into ever-narrower segments. These segments may focus on niche sectors such as consumer staples or tap into areas requiring more investor sophistication, such as options and derivatives.

"You are probably taking on some concentrated risk if you don't understand those sectors," Cannon said, adding: "I would advise the average 401(K) investor to stay in the broad-based indices."
[359 words]

Source: INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
http://news.investors.com/062514-706223-things-to-know-before-investing-in-etfs.htm?ven=yahoocp&src=aurlled&ven=yahoo

There's A New ETF That Will Let You Bet Against People Who Are Betting Against Stocks
By MYLES UDLAND, BUSINESS INSIDER | JUN. 6, 2014, 10:02 AM


[Time 6]

There is a new ETF coming to market that will let investors bet that heavily shorted stocks will turn around, ETF Trends reports.

ETF Trends reports that a new "short squeeze" fund from ETFis is set to trade under the ticker 'SQZZ.' The ETF will seek to outperform the microcap Russell 2000 index, which tracks shares of smaller companies.

An ETF, or exchange traded fund, is a publicly traded fund that contains a basket of assets and trades like a stock on an exchange.

A "short squeeze" happens when a stock that is heavily shorted, or a stock investors have bet will go down in price, surges higher.

A short squeeze results because fewer shares of a company are available for purchase. Since those betting against a stock must borrow the shares, fewer shares remain for sale and can quickly get bid higher due to a lack of supply.

This is basically what happened to shares of Herbalife last year, for instance. Prices soared to more than $70 from about $30 after Carl Icahn took a massive stake in the company following Bill Ackman's presentation December 2012 that said the company would go out of business.

Taking the opposite side of stocks that are heavily shorted is a risky, but not unpopular, strategy among traders who are betting that the principles of supply and demand will make a stock go higher.

As volatility dries up on Wall Street, this fund is yet another example of how investors can expand their "search for yield."
[253 words]

Source: BUSINESS INSIDER
http://www.businessinsider.com/theres-a-short-squeeze-etf-coming-2014-6

wnj2611339

Part III: Obstacle

Exchange-traded funds: Twenty years young
----The anniversary of a successful financial innovation
Jan 26th 2013 | From the print edition


[Paraphrase 7]

TWENTY years ago this month, State Street, an American financial-services group, launched a listed product called an exchange-traded fund (ETF), which tracked the S&P 500 share index. Because of its ticker code, SPDR, the product soon became known as the Spider. It was not the first quoted fund to track an index (that was launched in Toronto in 1990) but the Spider fund quickly became the template for an industry that now controls around $2 trillion of assets, almost as much as the hedge-fund sector.

The ETF is one of the more successful financial innovations in recent decades. Its success has been driven by two things: cheapness and convenience. The total expense ratio (a fund’s expenses divided by its assets under management) on the Spider is just 0.09% a year, allowing investors to get a return that is close to that of the overall stockmarket. Compare that with actively managed mutual funds, which try to pick stocks and have expense ratios of over 1% a year. On average actively managed funds are unlikely to beat the index; some underperform by a big margin.

Secondly, the industry has expanded so rapidly—there were 4,731 funds at the end of last year—that investors can use ETFs to invest in almost any asset class (see chart). It is possible to create a fully diversified portfolio consisting entirely of ETFs and to switch the allocation of that portfolio within seconds. That has made the funds highly attractive to high-frequency traders and to hedge funds: some 16% of trading volume at the New York Stock Exchange in 2012 was in ETFs.

There seems to be no sign of a slowdown in the industry’s growth. Investors piled a further $265 billion into ETFs in 2012, up from an inflow of $170 billion in 2011. The compound annual growth rate of assets over the past decade has been 29.6%, according to ETFGI, an information provider. Even at $2 trillion, the industry is still a tiddler compared with the $26 trillion invested in mutual funds worldwide.

Index-tracking is one area of fund management where it is possible to achieve economies of scale: it costs little more to manage $10 billion than $1 billion. Fund managers can benefit from a virtuous circle in which bigger funds mean lower fees, attracting more investors and leading to even bigger funds. As a result the industry is highly concentrated. The three top providers, iShares (part of BlackRock), State Street (which uses the Spider brand for all its funds) and Vanguard, control almost 70% of assets. BlackRock this month agreed to buy Credit Suisse’s ETF business, with $17.6 billion of assets in 58 funds.

The industry’s rise has not been without controversy. Early ETFs like the Spider resembled the index-tracking funds that had been created in the 1970s: they mimicked a benchmark by buying all the constituent stocks or bonds. But as the industry branched out into other, less liquid types of assets, it proved far more difficult physically to buy all the index components. Some ETF providers gave exposure to such asset classes in the form of a swap agreement with a counterparty, normally a bank, which agrees to match the return achieved by the benchmark index.

The appearance of these types of products, usually described as synthetic ETFs, caused some alarm among regulators. In March 2010 the Securities and Exchange Commission suspended the approval of new synthetic ETFs (existing products were allowed to continue). A trio of international watchdogs—the Financial Stability Board, the Bank for International Settlements and the International Monetary Fund—all worried aloud.

In particular, the authorities fretted about the links between investment banks and synthetic ETFs. What if the bank counterparty to a swap went bust, a natural concern in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers? The issue was most pertinent in Europe, where synthetic ETFs were more widespread than in America.

Although there has been no regulatory restriction on synthetic ETFs in the EU, investors seem to have voted with their wallets, favouring the providers of physically backed funds. In 2012 iShares (which mainly offers physically backed funds) increased its European market share to 38%; the db X-trackers and Lyxor brands, which both rely on synthetic funds, lost ground. But there are some asset classes—notably commodities—where it makes more sense to use derivatives or swaps than to buy the assets outright; fund managers cannot store corn or pork bellies. So synthetic ETFs will not disappear altogether.

Another regulatory worry concerns the existence of leveraged ETFs, which aim to give investors a geared exposure to an asset class. Because of the way they are constructed, the returns from leveraged ETFs do not, over the long term, tend to deliver returns that closely track the chosen benchmark, creating the potential for small investors to be misled.

So far, however, the industry has not seen the kind of scandal that might tarnish its image. And innovation continues apace. In December iShares launched a range of minimum-volatility ETFs in London, which are designed to give investors exposure to the equity market with less risk, by choosing stocks that have been more stable than the overall market. If you can dream up an investment style, the industry will create an ETF to match.
[877 words]

Source: The Economist
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21570711-anniversary-successful-financial-innovation-twenty-years-young#

疏离无罪

沙发~~~~~~~~~~~~~
今天的主题好棒！ 各种百科看了半天，学了好多新知识！

Speaker: Talking about investment strategy.Introdcue several different investment choices.

01:10
The defination,invest area and costs of ETF.

01:33
You have to go through a broker to buy ETFs.It depends on your situation when you choose ETFS or mutual funds.The strategy of choosing an ETF.

01:48
Not all ETFs are created equal.Know clearly about the goal of the ETF before you invest.Not all investors are created equal.Different investors use ETFs for different aims.

01:38
Know how to calculate costs.Although ETFs have low fees,there are some less apparent fees.Know what you own.Assess the risk of the ETFs you buy.

01:26
A new ETF can let people bet against people who are betting against stock.This ETF will focus on the stocks of small companies who are among popular ETFs and less available.

05:35
ETF is a young and one of most successful financial innovation in recent decades.The cheapness and convenicenc are main factors of its success.ETFs have expended so rapidly that it creat a fully diversified portfolio now.
Because the cost to manage ETF raise little when the scale expand largely,ETFs is an concentrated industry.Most money is managed by 3 companies.
But ETFs still has some potential risks.The synthetics ETFs caught the attention from regulators.So did the leveraged.There are many worries about ETFs.
But the industry never stops its steps.Some new ETFs are released recently.

wnj2611339

这回自己占一个吧~~嘿嘿

---

----Speaker
Karen asked Jimmy's opinion on whether to invest her money. Jimmy agreed so, and suggested her to have a diversified portfolio of investment.

----Speed
[Time 2] 1'30''
ETFs are simple and low-cost fund that can trade anytime on exchanges, and invest in various business phrases.
[Time 3]1'17''
We have to buy a ETF through a broker.
If you want to track the performance of a large index-both funds are okay. Choose ETF if you want to invest a huge amount one time together; otherwise choose mutual fund if you want to invest little by little.
Pick ETFs that track broad market indexes, and you can diversify your portfolio by choosing several ETFs.
[Warm up] + [Time 4]2'20''
ETFs are developing very quickly in the investment world.
4 things to know:
• Not all ETFs are created equal.
Not all the ETFs share the same benefits. Investors should only invest in the ETFs that they understand.
• Not all investors are created equal.
Investors should understand themselves frist in respect to which kind of investor category they belong to.
[Time 5] 1'29''
• Know how to calculate costs.
Investors should not neglect some fees secretly incurred in dealing the ETFs, and focus on the total costs of investing in ETFs.
• Know what you own.
Investors should assess and understand the risks existed in the ETFs they want to invest in.
[Time 6] 1'44''
A new "short squeeze" fund from ETFs is a fund whose price surged while many investors bet dropped, and thus the demand of the fund gets high. Such fund is going to be traded under the ticker 'SQZZ.' Some investors that understand the principle invest in such fund, although such investment is risky.

----Obstacles 4'50''
ETF has been developing so fast and successfully over the decades that there seems to be no sign of slowdown, and its success is driven by convenience and cheapness, even though in the early stage of ETFs, the industry received some controversy.
Index-tracking enables fund manage to achieve economies of scale.
Regulators raised some concerns about synthetic ETFs, and disapprove the funds, because they worried about the links between investment banks and synthetic ETFs. Though synthetic ETFs were not officially restricted, investors did not show much support towards the fund.
Another concern is about leveraged ETFs, which may not deliver returns that match the benchmark.
Overall, the ETF industry shows a positive development sign.

小麦爱自由

占个座~O(∩_∩)O~

Speaker:

Karen asked Jammy whether she should have a401K plan.

Jammy suggested she should and introducedseveral financial product to her.

Time 2 1:14

ETF is a kind of index mutual fund whichcould trade on exchanges.

ETFs invest in indexes.

The biggest plus of ETFs is their lowcosts.

Time3  1:31

The biggest disadvantage to ETFs is thecommission you have to pay when you buy and sell ETFS.

The performance of an index fund and anindex ETF may similar.

Given the fees, if you want to invest a bigchuck of money at once choose an ETF, otherwise choose a regular mutual fund.

When you choose an ETF, choose a simpleone.

Time4 1:59

Before investing ETFs investors should takesome time to know the ETF they want you invest and to know themselves.

Time5 1:27

Investors should learn how to calculatecosts and know what they own.

Time6 1:48

A new ETF which bet that heavily shortedstocks will surge is coming to market.

Obstacle 5:21

hawk！！！

= = 好快。。。 我先去做今天的作业吧~
谢谢LZ了啦~
Speaker:   今天的语速好慢。。。和昨天的差别好大。。。
Time2: 1'07" 187 word/min
basic info about ETFs. What are they, where they invest and how much they cost
Time3: 1'12" 275 word/min
how to buy ETFs(through a broker, need fee). comparison between ETFs and index fund(which is better depends on the situation). how to choose(the simple one).
Time4: 1'25" 215 word/min
advice when choose ETFs: think twice before buying (taking the ETFs info into account, not all ETFs is equal. not all investors is the same, understanding what your need)
Time5: 1'1" 353 word/min
pay attention to the fees. understand what's your own
Time6: 1'35" 253 word/min
a new ETFs let investors bet against those bet against stock
Obstacle: 4'46" 177 word/min
when ETFs were invented and its basic information -> its advantages (a great innovation, lower fees, expanded quickly, achieved economies of scale) ->controversy (regulation, risk)  ->conclusion so far so good

psychoarya

[speaker]

[speed]

1:18

1:44

2:15

1:12

1:25

[obstacle]

4:47

cherry6891

obstacle:
ETF is a successful financial innovation recently
what drive its successful? cheapness convenience &rapid expanding

controversy: less liquid assets and hard to buy all the index components
no regulatory on synthetic ETFs and leveraged ETFS

share launched a range of minimum-volatility ETFs with less risks
time2
briefly introduce ETFs:  the combination of simplicity and low cost of index mutual fund
in the beginning ETFs tracked safe stocks, but as more investor lured more money into ETFs, investment companies capture engineering new and innovative ETFs
another advantage of ETFs: low annual operating costs

time3
biggest disadvantage is u should buy it from a broker
brokerage commission will erode low expense advantage if u invest small amount of money at once

small chunks of money over time—mutual fund
big chunk at once-ETFs

time4
not all ETFs are created equal and understand yourself before u do the investment

time5
focus on total cost not just apparent costs
know what you own and value the risk

time6
what is short squeeze and be warn of it

LUCY小可

Thanks！！
1'20
2'10
2'42
0'56
1'54

5'19