diversification

If you’re looking for an ETF with top holdings combined with exceptionally low fees, then Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group offers you strong options. Vanguard is one of the world’s largest investment management companies. In all, it administers for investors over $5.3 trillion U.S....

Successful investors, like successful businesses, need to keep an open mind about the way they do things. Neither one can afford to keep doing something just because “we’ve always done it that way.” That applies to investing basics such as bonds.

Many casual investors, financial journalists and brokers take it for granted that owning some bonds is a good thing....

Linamar’s shares were trading as high as $80.59 a share in November 2017. They have since fallen to $39.53—a 50.9% drop in market value. That includes the 20.1% decrease since the start of 2020. Some investors worry this downward trend will continue, mainly because the company is often viewed as simply an auto-parts supplier, overly exposed to the current slump in the automotive industry....

What are the risks and rewards of investing? They are different for each investor, but there are key principles that can help all investors

Our key ETF definitions will help you better understand ETF investing

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 a look at four international ETFs we see as well- suited for new buying and two others your portfolio will continue to benefit from holding.


ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS ETF $43.93, is a buy for aggressive investors. The fund (New York symbol EEM; buy or sell through brokers) is designed to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index; it gives you access to some of the world’s fastest growing markets.


The ETF’s geographic breakdown is as follows: China, 34.2%; South Korea, 11.7%; Taiwan, 11.5%; India, 9.0%; Brazil, 7.3%; South Africa, 4.6%; Russia, 4.0%; Saudi Arabia, 2.6%; Mexico, 2.5%; Thailand, 2.4%; Indonesia, 2.0%; and Malaysia, 1.8%.


Your biggest stock exposure through the fund is Alibaba Group (China: e-commerce), 5.9% of assets; Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), 4.6%; Taiwan Semiconductor (computer chips), 4.3%; Samsung Electronics (South Korea), 3.8%; China Construction Bank, 1.2%; Naspers (South Africa: media and Internet), 1.2%; Ping An Insurance Group (China), 1.1%; Reliance Industries (India: conglomerate), 1.0%; Housing Development Finance Corp....

A diversified stock portfolio example focuses on high-quality stocks—both conservative and aggressive–-with your holdings spread across most if not all of the five main economic sectors

Aggressive and conservative investors alike need to assess a range of risks when they consider how much to invest in stocks for their investment portfolios

Long before 2020—indeed, for several decades—we’ve advised Canadian investors to spread their holdings out geographically between Canadian and U.S. stocks. Our view is that virtually all Canadian investors should have, say, 20% to 30% of their portfolios in U.S. stocks, with the remainder primarily in Canadian stocks....

SPDR S&P 500 ETF $328 (New York symbol SPY) lets you hold the stocks of the S&P 500 Index; they’re major U.S. companies chosen based on market cap, liquidity and industry.


The fund’s highest-weighted stocks offer a lot of appeal for investors: Apple, 4.7% of assets; Microsoft, 4.5%; Alphabet, 3.1%; Amazon.com, 3.0%; Facebook, 1.9%; Berkshire Hathaway, 1.7%; JPMorgan Chase, 1.6%; Johnson & Johnson, 1.4%; and Visa, 1.2%.


But the ETF also gives you a solid 1.7% yield, while charging you a very low 0.10% MER....