Worthy ETFs for Gamblers

You know I look for consistency of double-digit performance to identify stocks worthy of evaluation. I do so, too, to find ETFs, exchange-traded funds. 

Most investors I’ve known have little tolerance for investment loss and can fairly be described as timid, so I don’t often recommend leveraged no-load funds or ETFs to them.

If that’s you, never invest from hope alone. U.S. Treasury bonds may be the safest investment on planet Earth, but they can lose (to inflation) half their value as purchasing power in 15-20 years. Because of inflation, even passbook savings accounts are a risky kind of way to save money.

No aggressive investor I’ve known has ever asked me about the riskiest investment one can choose among stocks and funds—perhaps because they are gamblers, not investors, and as such seldom think about seeking advice.

If you are a gambler, you probably own Leveraged ETFs and I don’t know why you are reading these words. At minimum, you ought to know about these leveraged ETFs, because they show consistent double-digit gains in the last three years, one year, three months, one month, and 2013 to date: BTB, QQQ, UCC, DRN, UDOW, MIDU, UPRO, UMDD, SPXL, UKF, UKW, LTL.

At this writing, Morningstar reports nine Industry and sector ETFs are up by consistent double-digit gains in the last three years, one year, three months, one month, and 2013 to date: BJK, QCLN, FAN, GEX, ICLN, DZZ, ZSL, DSLV, RWXL.  You’ll find the first five in my Yahool performance chart. The remaining four are in a second technical chart.