It’s Mutual Fund Monday again, and I thought that I’d do something a little different this week. Rather than focus on a single fund or concept about funds, I’m focusing on a topic and sharing some of the interesting posts I’ve found on other blogs recently about that topic. The topic: ETFs.

ETFs, or exchange traded funds, first became available to investors in 1993 and have since evolved from being simple index trackers to being full blown portfolios or hedge funds of their own. There’s much mistaken knowledge about ETFs and much confusion. Hopefully these posts will help set you straight on ETFs. Even if you think you know all about them, there is probably a thing or two you didn’t know.

How to Choose ETFs for Your Portfolio from Oblivious Investor is a great place to start when beginning to add ETFs to your portfolio. He examines the usual suspects in regards to the important factors of an ETF, like expense ratio and which index it tracks; but he also covers some lesser known or often overlooked factors like the Bid/Ask Spread of the fund.

Not sure about ETFs, or too sure about them? Be sure to check out Ten Myths About ETF Investing from ETFdb before you make another decision about ETFs

Do you think Charles Schwab Might be the Best Choice for Passive Investors? Steadfast Finances does, and he explains why as well as why you should care. Very interesting post..

Lastly in our ETF posts this week is a post by Dividend Tree in which he reminds us of one of the single most important details about Investing in ETFs – Know What You are Investing In. Some of this is related I think to the 10 myths of ETFs from ETFdb above. Many investors think all ETFs are created the same and they invest in what the name suggests, but Dividend Tree shows that this is not always true.

• Beware Target-Date Funds! Target-date funds were supposed to be the ultimate idiot-proof investment vehicle for retirement savings. The idea is that asset allocation is the single most important factor in determining investing success, and most people get it wrong. Many others never even try because they find the concept too daunting. Many people......
• The One-Minute Portfolio. Here's the ultimate in super-simple investment portfolios, for those who don't have the time or inclination to pick and monitor individual stocks. The One-Minute Portfolio. The One-Minute Portfolio is comprised of just 3 asset allocations: Domestic Stocks, Foreign Stocks and Bonds. Here's a recommendation for each category: 1. Buy America......
• Top Morningstar Bond Funds for July 2009. Morningstar has released their top 3 Bond Funds for June-July. Here's the list: High-yield bonds. T. Rowe Price Spectrum Income (RPSIX) This is a fund of funds. The management team invests in up to 9 T. Rowe Price funds in order to get exposure to all of the sectors of......
• A Sample ETF Portfolio for Alternative Investments. If you're looking for an ETF portfolio that provides exposure to assets other than stocks and bonds, you may want to check this out. The ETFs in this portfolio (from Kiplinger's magazine) are anything but the boring, old index funds that got the ETF started. The funds cover commodities like......
• Mutual Fund Monday: Morningstar Announces their Choice for Fund Managers of the Decade. These managers were chosen by Morningstar as the best of the decade because the "deftly steered investors through good times and bad". That's saying something. Investing in the '80's and 90's was pretty clear cut, but the 1st decade of the 21st century was anything but easy. As with the......

• 10 Things About Funds Investors Should Know About. Whether you invest in mutual funds, index funds or exchange-traded funds and whether those funds are held in your 401(k), IRA or 403(b) there are a lot of factors to consider when choosing the right fund. Here is quick and dirty break down of 5 different types of funds......
• Interview with the Online Investing Guru What is your favorite topic to write about when it comes to finances? I like to write about passive investments that offer a good rate of return. These are the sort of investments where all you have to do is fund your account and the hard work of achieving......
• Buying and Selling Stocks 101 When it comes to investing in stocks, most people predominantly rely on mutual funds. Mutual funds are a type of professionally managed investment pool that allows you to cast your lot along with thousands of other investors at the same time. Mutual funds are a truly wonderful way for you......
• Vanguard CEO Discusses Poor Performance of Index Funds During Last Decade Vanguard's CEO, Bill McNabb, gave a CNBC interview yesterday discussing the poor performance of his Vanguard index funds during the last decade after the recent stock market crash. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you would know I've been rather outspoken on index funds calling them......
• First Page On Google After Six Months of Blogging! What Took Me So Long? Avoid The Two Mistakes I Made... finally found a link from my site on page 26, In November last year I found myself on page 8, and finally, six months into the blog, I find myself on page 1!n...