SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO): These 4 Huge ETFs Could Be Your Core Portfolio

With fees of 0.34% annually, the iShares ETF isn’t the cheapest way to play the international market. But with $44 billion under management, many institutional and individual investors alike rely on the fund for their core international exposure outside the emerging world.

Gold has performed abominably lately, making the gold-tracking SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:GLD) much less popular than it once was. For a while, the gold ETF challenged the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) for supremacy as the ETF with the most assets under management. Lately, gold’s price plunge has led to many former shareholders having exited the fund, imposing a double-hit on its asset levels. Yet the ETF is still worth about $40 billion, with about 29.5 million ounces of gold bullion in its coffers.

With expenses of 0.4% annually, SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:GLD) charges more than some smaller counterparts. Moreover, the shares are treated as collectibles for capital-gains tax purposes, leading to higher maximum rates applying to many shareholders. With many investors seeking commodity investments to hedge their stock exposure, SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:GLD) can serve a useful role for many portfolios.

Be ETF-smart
Obviously, these four ETFs don’t cover every investment you could be interested in, with small- and mid-cap stocks and fixed-income securities being obvious holes. But the huge amount of assets these ETFs have accumulated are a testament to their usefulness for many investors, and they’re a reasonable place for you to start as you seek to build an ETF portfolio of your own.

The article These 4 Huge ETFs Could Be Your Core Portfolio originally appeared on Fool.com is written by Dan Caplinger.

Fool contributor Dan Caplinger owns shares of Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF. You can follow him on Twitter: @DanCaplinger. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 

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