Exchange Traded Funds

ETFs are a low cost way to get exposure to a bundle of different shares without having to buy them individually. Each ETF is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is tradeable. Unlike Unit Trusts, they allow investors to view exactly what the fund is holding. They were crteated to act as low cost trackers, covering a variety of different markets. If you bought a FTSE100 ETF this should, in theory, track this index very closely.

Along with ETFs there are also ETC – Exchacnge traded commodities. ETC track commodities opposed to companies like ETFs do and will allow you to get exposure to gold. Here’s some of the funds that track general commodities:

SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD)

iPath Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Idx TR ETN (NYSE: DJP)

iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV)

PowerShares DB Commodity Idx Trking Fund (NYSE: DBC)

PowerShares DB Agriculture (NYSE: DBA)

iShares COMEX Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU)

United States Natural Gas (NYSE: UNG)

Gold exchange-traded funds (GETFs), such as Horizons BetaPro COMEX Gold Bullion Bull & Bear Plus ETFs (TSX: HBU) (TSX: HBD) ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU LN)

Silver by ETFS Physical Silver (PHAG LN)

Precious Metals by ETFS Physical Platinum (PHPT), ETFS Physical Palladium (PHPD), ETFS PM Basket (PHPM)

Petroleum by ETF Securities (LSE: OILB, LSE: OILW) ETF Securities has over 10 energy ETCs

Energy by ETFS Energy DJ AIG, ETFS Petrol DJ AIG

Other base metals such as ETFS Aluminium, ETFS Nickel, ETFS Copper, ETFS Zinc. ETFS DJ AIG Industrial Metals

Lyxor ETF Commodities CRB tracking the Reuters Jefferies CRB Index by Lyxor Asset Management (Euronext: VLCRB)

EasyETF GSCI tracking the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index by Axa Investment Managers and BNP Paribas (FWB: GSCI and SIX: LU0203243844USD4)

ETFS DJ AIG All Commodity, ETFS DJ AIG Agriculture, ETFS DJ AIG Ex-Energy, ETFS DJ AIG Grains, ETFS DJ AIG Softs, ETFS DJ AIG Industrial Metals, ETFS DJ AIG Precious Metals, ETFS DJ AIG Energy, ETFS DJ AIG All Commodity F3s and many more www.etfsecurities.com

ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU), ETFS Physical Silver (PHAG LN), ETFS Physical Platinum (PHPT LN), ETFS Physical Palladium (PHPD LN) and ETFS Physical PM Basket (includes all 4 metals) (PHPM LN).