I'm planning on buying shares in a number of ETF's so I'm trying to get an understanding of their differences. Probably the most obvious difference is whether an ETF is accumulating or distributing.
I get the basic idea, a distributing fund will pay dividends to the share holders who can then optionally buy more shares or spend the money elsewhere. An accumulating fund will reinvest the money automatically which increases the NAV of the fund.
I've probably read every page google has turned about this and I'm still confused. I understand the NAV is defined as the net asset value / outstanding shares but I'm not sure how this value changes and it's relationship to the current price of the fund stock.
I think I've figured out accumulating funds: the dividend income is used to purchase more underlying shares but the number of fund shares stays the same so the overall NAV goes up.
I've read that the NAV of a distributing fund drops when they distribute, I'm not 100% sure I understand this. My best guess is that because the dividend payment is counted towards the asset value when that money is payed out the asset value drops so the NAV drops.
Now we come to share price: VUSA is currently trading at 65.77, VUAG at 63.91. The only material difference between these two ETF's (that I can see) is VUSA is distributing and VUAG is accumulating. Is it just coincidence they are nearly the same price? I, perhaps naively, would have expected the price of VUAG to be higher since reinvestment of the dividends causes the fund to own more underlying stock which surely would push up the price?
If anyone is wondering, I'm investing through a tax free savings scheme so VUAG makes more sense. I've previously invested a little in VUSA which I'll probably switch to VUAG once I understand this! Many thanks.
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