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We think conservative investors can hold up to 10% of their portfolios in foreign stocks. One way to do that is to buy carefully chosen exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have an overseas focus.

The best ETFs continue to offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high-quality stocks....

5 tips for selecting the best energy stocks for long-term investment gains.

These six ETFs hold mostly blue chip, widely traded stocks on Canadian and U.S. exchanges. All of them mirror, or track, the performance of major stock market indexes. That’s opposed to narrower indexes focused on, say, resources or themes such as solar power or biotech....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX ETF $21.33 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index—the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange....

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....

We think conservative investors can hold up to 10% of their portfolios in foreign stocks. One way to do that is to buy carefully chosen exchange traded funds (ETFs) that have an overseas focus.

The best ETFs offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of highquality stocks....

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) give you a low-cost, flexible alternative to mutual funds. Here are five ETFs we recommend and one to sell.

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX ETF $20.09 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index—the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.18% of assets, and it yields 2.9%. The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include. The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.6%; TD Bank, 7.7%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.9%; CN Railway, 4.6%; Suncor Energy, 4.4%; Bank of Montreal, 3.9%; BCE, 3.8%; Enbridge, 3.6%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.1%; CIBC, 3.0%; and Brookfield Asset Management, 2.8%....

These six ETFs hold mostly blue chip, widely traded stocks on Canadian and U.S. exchanges. All of them mirror, or track, the performance of major stock market indexes. That’s opposed to narrower indexes focused on, say, resources or themes such as solar power or biotech. Of course, you pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell these ETFs. But their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds. Below we update our advice on all six—five buys and one we don’t recommend....

>ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $20.64 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Ex
The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include.

The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.1%; TD Bank, 7.1%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 6.0%; Suncor Energy, 4.3%; CN Railway, 4.0%; Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 4.0%; Bank of Montreal, 3.7%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.4%; Enbridge, 3.0%; Manulife Financial, 3.0%; BCE, 2.9%; CIBC, 2.8%; TransCanada Corporation, 2.7%; Potash Corp., 2.5%; CP Rail, 2.1%; and Goldcorp, 1.9%.
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