ETFs

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:

  1. Invest mainly in well-established companies;
  2. Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; the Consumer sector; Finance; Utilities);
  3. Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.

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ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $16.12 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds all 16 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX REIT Index.

Expenses for iShares CDN REIT are 0.60% of its assets....
ISHARES CHINA LARGE-CAP ETF $33.44 (New York symbol FXI; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) China 50 Index. That portfolio is made up of the 50 largest, most-liquid Chinese stocks.

The ETF’s top holdings include Tencent Holdings, China Mobile, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, Ping An Insurance and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp....
MARKET VECTORS VIETNAM ETF $14.42 (New York symbol VNM; buy or sell through brokers) holds Vietnamese companies and foreign firms that get a significant amount of their revenue from the country.

The ETF’s top holdings are Vingroup (conglomerate), 8.8%; Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, 7.6%; Masan Group (a food, resources and banking conglomerate), 7.2%; Saigon Securities, 6.4%; and Bao Viet Holdings (insurance), 6.2%....
ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL INDEX FUND $25.87 (New York symbol EWZ; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that’s designed to track the Brazilian stock market.

Its top holdings are AmBev SA (beer and beverages), 10.6%; Cia Itau Unibanco Holding (banking), 10.5%; Banco Brandesco SA, 10.2%; Petrobras (oil and gas), 7.2%; Cielo SA (payment processing), 3.9%; BMF Bovespa (Brazil’s stock exchange), 3.6%; BRF SA (food), 3.4%; Ultrapar SA (gas distribution and petrochemicals), 3.1%; and Itausa Investimentos SA (financial services), 3.1%....
ISHARES MSCI CHILE INVESTABLE MARKET INDEX FUND $35.13 (New York symbol ECH; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that aims to track the MSCI Chile Investable Market Index. Its stocks trade on the Santiago Stock Exchange.

The fund’s largest holdings are Empresas Copec SA (conglomerate), 7.7%; S.A.C.I....

ISHARES MSCI AUSTRALIA ETF $19.42
(New York symbol EWA; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that holds 73 major Australian stocks.

The fund’s top holdings include Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 11.3%; Westpac Banking Corp., 8.6%; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, 6.3%; National Australia Bank, 6.0%; BHP Billiton, 5.2%; CSL Ltd., 4.5%; Wesfarmers, 3.9%; Woolworths Ltd., 2.4%; Scentre Group, 2.1%; and Telstra Corp., 2.0%....
ISHARES MSCI GERMANY FUND $25.96 (New York symbol EWG; buy or sell through brokers) tracks the stocks in the MSCI Germany Index.

These holdings aim to replicate 85% of the market capitalization of the German stock market. The remaining 15% is unavailable for investment, partly due to limitations on foreign ownership....