What are ETFs?
ETF is an acronym for exchange traded fund. These exchange traded funds are used to track indexes as closely as possible, since investors cannot actually buy an index outright.
Exchange traded funds trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Investors can buy them on margin, or sell them short. The best exchange-traded funds offer well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios with exceptionally low management ETF fees. They are also very liquid.
Investors use ETFs in a variety of ways, and some investors work only with ETFs and no other type of investment in portfolio creation.
An amazing aspect of ETFs is their diversity. Some investors may create an entire portfolio solely from a few well-diversified ETFs.
ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading.
Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds.
As well, shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes. As a result of this low turnover, you won’t incur the regular capital gains taxes generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders.
ETFs have a place in every investor’s portfolio, at TSI Network we also recommend using our three-part Successful Investor strategy:
 How Successful Investors Get RICHLearn everything you need to know in ‘The Canadian Guide on How to Invest in Stocks Successfully’ for FREE from The Successful Investor. How to Invest In Stocks Guide: Find 10 factors that make your investments safer and stronger. |
BMO S&P/TSX CAPPED COMPOSITE INDEX ETF $33.69 (Toronto symbol ZCN; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Conservative; Market cap: $9.8 billion) tracks the S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index. The index includes over 200 top-ranked Canadian stocks that represent more than 90% of the Canadian equity market. Individual stock weights are capped… Read More
You Can See Our Exchange-Traded Funds Portfolio For June 2025 Here.
ETFs in brief
Exchange-traded funds are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings of that index or… Read More
Global energy demand continues to increase as the world population grows and electricity demand for cooling, vehicles and data centers increases.
Meanwhile, sources of energy supply are changing: while oil and coal based energy will continue to form the backbone of energy supply for the next… Read More
Europe is home to many high-quality companies that are among the global leaders in their respective fields of operation. Still, as a group, these companies have underperformed their U.S. peers by a wide margin over the past two decades—lacklustre European economic growth and bureaucratic burdens… Read More
This month, we highlight an actively managed ETF from RBC that invests globally in equities, and a new cryptocurrency ETF from CI Galaxy.
RBC Global Large-Cap Equity ETF $21.84 CBOE symbol RGLE) invests in equities listed on global markets. The ETF launched on April 9, 2025 and charges a.. Read More
Mexico’s ties with the U.S. are very important for the country—and here are two critical aspects of that relationship.
First, Mexico exports over $500 billion worth of goods every year to the U.S. That is more than 80% of the country’s total exports and the equivalent… Read More
Mexico’s relationship with the U.S. is extremely important for the country’s economy. More than 80% of Mexican exports, including manufactured goods and food, go to the U.S. In addition, 38 million Mexicans who live and work in the U.S. send large amounts of money back… Read More
The long-term push to sharply cut oil and gas use—including through renewable power generation and electric vehicles (EVs)—will continue. But at the same time, it’s clear that there will be a continuingly prominent role for oil and gas for some time. That means top oil… Read More
Tesla Yield Shares Purpose ETF $17.40 (CBOE symbol YTSL) invests in Tesla shares, sells call options against the investment, and employs debt to further boost returns. Foreign currency exposure is hedged back to the Canadian dollar.
The ETF launched in December 2022, holds $152.4 million of assets, and charges… Read More
Over the past decade, European companies have lagged well behind the top U.S. companies. Stagnating economies and a heavy regulatory burden on companies contributed to the weak stock market returns. But, Europe remains home to a number of global leaders in their respective fields—with many… Read More
We think foreign stocks can safely make up 10% of a conservative investor’s portfolio. One way is through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with an overseas focus. The best of those ETFs charge you very low management fees yet offer you well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high-quality stocks.
Here’s… Read More
ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND, $71.43, is a buy. The ETF (New York symbol EWJ; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) aims to mirror the return of the Morgan Stanley Capital International Japan Index.
Top holdings are Toyota, 4.8%; Sony Corp., 3.9%; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, 3.7%; Hitachi (conglomerate), 3.1%; Nintendo… Read More
You Can See Our Exchange-Traded Funds Portfolio For May 2025 Here.
ETFs in brief
Exchange-traded funds are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings of that index or… Read More
The key point about profiting from the five sectors is that investors should spread their investments out across most if not all of them.
Note that there are a number of difficulties with recommending a model portfolio for all investors. The main one is that each… Read More
This month we highlight a diversified ETF launched by the Toronto-based alternative asset manager, Arrow Capital Management—and managed by WaveFront Global Asset Management.
The second fund is a short-dated U.S. dollar money market ETF launched by TD Asset Management.
WaveFront All-Weather Alternative Fund $20.39 (Toronto symbol WAAV) invests in a.. Read More
For decades Germany was considered to be the economic growth engine of Europe generating growth between 2% to 4% per year. But growth has slowed sharply since 2000, averaging about 1% per year. In the 2024 IMD World Competitiveness Report, Germany continued to slide and… Read More
Germany was the only country in the Group of Seven (G7) wealthy nations to suffer an economic contraction in both 2023 and 2024. One reason was the country’s “debt brake.” In place since 2009, it sharply limits the government’s ability to borrow and run economy-stimulating… Read More
ISHARES MSCI EUROPE IMI INDEX ETF $31.30 (Toronto symbol XEU; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Conservative; Market cap: $396.1 million) invests in European companies. The ETF is not currency-hedged but there is a hedged version available (symbol XEH)
The ETF aims to track the MSCI Europe Investable Market Index. That… Read More
ARK Genomic Revolution ETF $20.56 (CBOE symbol ARKG) invests globally in companies it expects to benefit from the development of products and services meant to improve the quality of life. Those firms are involved in molecular diagnostics, gene therapy, targeted therapeutics, agricultural biology, and stem cells.
The ETF launched in… Read More
A key rule of our three-part Successful Investor strategy is to spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; and Utilities).
This has two main benefits: a) It keeps you from… Read More
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We do not collect or disclose personal information, except when it is provided to us voluntarily by the site/store visitor with their consent.
We store subscriber and password files containing personal information securely. These files are stored in secure areas that are not accessible to the general public. We are always working to ensure the security of your personal information.
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What personal information do we collect?
The information we receive from customers helps us personalize and continually improve your online experience at TSI Network. TSI Network may collect personal information online for all legal purposes, which include, but are not limited to:
Information You Give Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our website or give us in any other way through sign-up forms or ordering forms for publications and services. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of many of our services and features. We use the information that you provide for such purposes as responding to your requests, customizing your web browsing experience for you, improving our website, and communicating with you.
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Does TSI Network Use the Information It Receives?
"Contact Us" and Comment Features: TSI Network encourages visitors to its websites to contact us with questions and comments. Email addresses and other information of persons using these features may be collected in order to facilitate our responses to those inquiries.
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We may disclose personal information you have provided through our websites, for the above purposes, to persons or companies that we retain to carry out and other activities for which you have registered or in which you have otherwise asked to participate. In particular, we may for these purposes transfer information to any country (including the USA and other countries which may not offer the same level of data protection as Canada). We also will disclose personal information if required by law, including compliance with warrants, subpoenas or other legal processes.
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TSI Network does everything possible to prevent unauthorized intrusion to its websites and the alteration, acquisition or misuse of personal information by unauthorized persons. Notably passwords submitted by users of our websites are encrypted using encryption mechanisms. However, TSI Network cautions visitors to its websites that no network, including the Internet, is entirely secure. Accordingly, we cannot be responsible for loss, corruption or unauthorized acquisition of personal information provided to our websites, or for any damages resulting from such loss, corruption or unauthorized acquisition.
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Changes to this Policy
This Policy is the sole authorized statement of TSI Network's practices with respect to the collection of personal information through TSI Network's websites and the subsequent use and disclosure of such information. Any summaries of this Policy generated by third party software or otherwise (for example, in connection with the "Platform for Privacy Preferences" or "P3P") shall have no legal effect, are in no way binding upon TSI Network, shall not be relied upon in substitute for this Policy, and neither supersede nor modify this Policy.
TSI Network may revise this Policy from time to time.
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