VettaFi's Islam: ETFs give closed-end investors easy, ready-made portfolios

Roxanna Islam, associate director of research at VettaFi, says that exchange-traded funds that invest in closed-end funds give investors diversified portfolios -- and all the benefits of investing deeply in the closed-end space -- in a one-stop shopping wrapper. Islam says that investors worry about high fees in ETFs of closed-end funds, noting that CEFs tend to have higher expense ratios on their own, and the added layer of costs for the ETF sponsor can feel heavy, but she notes that fund sponsors recognize the issue and tend to keep the additional costs low. Meanwhile, ETFs covering nearly all style boxes and assets of the closed-end universe can provide diversification and professional management, and she provides examples of ETFs for listeners to consider.