In this episode of Intelligent Money Minute, we interviewed Matt Hougan, Chairman of Inside ETFs on the definition of ETF and how they compare to mutual funds. An Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is a type of security with a collection of securities like stocks and typically tracks an underlying index. Although there are similarities to mutual funds, ETFs have distinct differences that may provide strategic advantages to a portfolio. Matt calls ETFs the modern version of mutual funds and highlights their potential tax advantages. The most significant difference between mutual funds and ETFs is ETFs trade like stocks. During this episode, Matt reveals what he coined the “hidden secret” of ETFs and why they don’t return capital gains.
At Intelligent Investing, one of our four unique factors is to minimize fees, and we believe taxes are another fee that should be minimized. You can learn more about what makes us unique by going to What Makes Us Different. We are excited to be interviewing Matt Hougan, and we have several more episodes where we explore the ins and outs of ETFs, bitcoin, and blockchain, so be sure to subscribe to our podcasts to hear all the interviews.
Matt Hougan Bio
Matt Hougan is one of the world’s leading experts on crypto, ETFs, and financial technology. He is Global Head of Research for Bitwise Asset Management, creator of the world’s first cryptocurrency index fund. Hougan is also Chairman of Inside ETFs, the world’s largest ETF conference. He was previously CEO of ETF.com, where he helped build the world’s first ETF data and analytics system. Hougan is co-author of the CFA Institute’s Monograph on ETFs. He’s also a crypto columnist for Forbes, and a three-time member of the Barron’s ETF Roundtable. For more resources from Matt Hougan click here.