Q: Pat: I am looking for your advice on the iShares S&P/TSX Composite High Dividend Index ETF. Thanks.

A: The iShares S&P/TSX Composite High Dividend Index ETF, $24.44, symbol XEI on Toronto (Units outstanding: 58.7 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; www.blackrock.com/ca), aims to track the S&P/TSX Composite High Dividend Index, which effectively holds the 75 highest-yielding Canadian stocks.

The index is market-capitalization weighted, with… Read More

Dividend ETFs aim to provide solid income

Rising interest rates mean dividend-paying stocks must increasingly compete for investor interest in fixed-income investments. However, sustainable dividends still offer an attractive and growing income stream for investors.
Meanwhile, dividend-focused ETFs can—but not always—follow strategies that we feel set investors up for maximum long-term gains with… Read More

These ETFs could help you beat inflation

While inflation remains very low, conditions for an eventual uptick may well be building. Those factors include today’s very low interest rates, massive government spending and borrowing to inject money into the economy, growing import barriers, and the higher cost of doing business in a.. Read More

These actively managed ETFs hold appeal

Exchange-traded funds have traditionally offered investors three main advantages: ease of trading, low fees, and transparency. We still believe passively managed ETFs—which simply track benchmark indexes—do the best job of meeting those goals. However, actively managed ETFs, where fund managers tinker with their holdings to… Read More

Pros & cons of how dividend ETFs pick stocks

Companies that pay regular and growing dividends have performed very well over time compared to broad market indices.
A simple strategy capitalizing on that is to select ETFs holding stocks with a long history of uninterrupted dividend growth such as represented by the S&P 500 Dividend… Read More