Kiplinger

Run, Don't Walk, From Leveraged ETFs

The competition for investor dollars is fierce, and Wall Street is rife with financial geniuses figuring out new products designed to profit from even the most esoteric of trends. Some of them are good. Others could eat you alive.

One truly great idea was the exchange-traded fund (ETF), which allows investors to own a piece of an entire sector of the market, such as banking, the latest hot trend or even the entire market, with one instrument that trades just like a common stock.

Unfortunately, they just cannot leave well enough alone. They have to supercharge it with leverage, which seems to be a way for individual investors to profit with the professionals.

But just

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