Don't Sweat ETF Fees

Investors have been indoctrinated with the belief that mutual fund fees only rob them of performance and therefore should be avoided or minimized to the extent possible.

As far as mutual funds are concerned, that's probably true, since few active managers are able to consistently outperform their benchmarks anyway. But for ETFs it's different -- fees are largely irrelevant.

Now, before you stop reading, all else being equal, fees do matter. But rarely --if ever -- is all else equal. Fees for ETFs have been reduced to such an extent that a difference of a few basis points in costs between funds is likely to be overwhelmed by the difference in performance of the underlying investments. ...