re: Good ETF or Vanguard fund suggestion...

quote:

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I would not put much weight in the "star system". That only looks backwards and not forwards. For example, if you look at ICMAX it is a 5 star fund. It used to be a great fund, then the manager left and it is pretty weak. Alls I am saying is, do not base your choices solely on morningstar "star" ratings.

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This is huge.

Scoop, I'm sure Scottrade has a promotion with several dozen commission-free ETFs. I would simply break it down by sector:

S&P 500: SPY, IVV, VOO
Total Market: VTI, IYY
Gold IAU, GLD
Oil: USO, OIL, DBO (these all track different underlying)
Real Estate: VNQ
Homebuilders: XHB


Then I would do a comparison with expense ratios among the various groups and see if it's worth it to go commission-free on something with a higher expense ratio from the same sector(might be sort of a moot point since they are so low anyway).