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Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, unlike many other financial innovations, they don’t load you up with heavy management fees, or tie you down with high redemption charges if you decide to get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs. However, ETFs’ low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most conventional 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 bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders....

The Indian government recently projected that the country’s economy will grow at a rate of 8.6% this year. That’s up from the 8.0% growth rate the country recorded last year. That would be the country’s fastest growth rate since 2008. The government expects the fastest growth to come in India’s service sector (11%), followed by manufacturing (8.8%) and agriculture (5.4%).

Exchange traded funds make foreign investing simple

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ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $18.24 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through a broker; ca.ishares.com) (units split 4-for-1 in August 2008) is a good, low-fee way to buy the top stocks and income trusts 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. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets. Most of the stocks in the index are high-quality companies. However, as it must ensure that all sectors are represented, it holds a few we wouldn’t include, such as Yellow Pages Income Fund. The index’s top holdings are: Royal Bank, 7.2%; TD Bank, 5.9%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.2%; Suncor Energy, 4.7%; Barrick Gold, 4.5%; Potash Corp., 4.0%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.7%; Bank of Montreal, 3.1%; Goldcorp, 3.1%; CN Railway, 2.8%; CIBC, 2.8%; Research in Motion, 2.5%; and Trans- Canada Corp., 2.4%....

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, unlike many other financial innovations, they don’t load you up with heavy management fees, or tie you down with high redemption charges if you decide to get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs. However, ETFs’ low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most conventional 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 bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $16.78 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through a broker) (units split 4-for-1 in August 2008) is a good, low-fee way to buy the top stocks and income trusts 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. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets. Most of the stocks in the index are high-quality companies. However, as it must ensure that all sectors are represented, it holds a few we wouldn’t include, such as Yellow Pages Income Fund. The index’s top holdings are: Royal Bank, 7.5%; TD Bank, 6.1%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.2%; Suncor Energy, 5.1%; Barrick Gold, 4.8%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.9%; Goldcorp, 3.5%; Bank of Montreal, 3.3%; CN Railway, 3.0%; Potash Corp., 2.8%; Manulife, 2.8%; CIBC, 2.7%; Research in Motion, 2.6%; and TransCanada Corp., 2.5%....

In the first quarter of 2010, India’s economy grew by 8.6% compared to the same period last year. That’s the world’s second-fastest growth rate. Only China, with an 11.9% expansion, saw stronger growth. India’s gain was largely the result of a 16.3% increase in manufacturing, as the country continued its faster-than-expected recovery from the global economic slowdown. India’s strong economic performance is expected to continue: the World Bank recently projected that the country’s economy could grow at an annual rate of 8% to 9% over the next two years....

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are one of the more benign financial innovations to come along in the past few years. ETFs 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 that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Investors can buy them on margin or sell them short. The best ETFs offer well diversified, tax-efficient portfolios with exceptionally low management fees....

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, unlike many other financial innovations, they don’t load you up with heavy management fees, or tie you down with high redemption charges if you decide to get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs, but you will quickly make these back because of the low management fees. 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 bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders....

ISHARES CDN LARGECAP 60 INDEX FUND $16.46 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through a broker) (units split 4-for-1 in August 2008) is a good, low-fee way to buy the top stocks and income trusts 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. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets. Most of the stocks in the index are high-quality companies. However, as it must ensure that all sectors are represented, the index holds a few we wouldn’t include, such as Yellow Pages Income Fund. The index’s top holdings are: Royal Bank, 8.2%; Suncor Energy, 5.9%; TD Bank, 5.7%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.0%; EnCana, 4.8%; Barrick Gold, 4.1%;Canadian Natural Resources, 3.9%; Manulife, 3.5%; Research in Motion, 3.2%; Potash Corp., 3.1%; Goldcorp, 3.1%; Bank of Montreal, 2.9%; CN Railway, 2.6%; and CIBC, 2.5%....

While ETFs won’t protect you from the three costliest mistakes an investor can make, they may have a worthwhile place in your portfolio. Unlike many other innovations, ETFs don’t load you up with heavy management fees, or tie you down with heavy redemption charges if you decide to get out of them. Instead, they give you a lower-cost and more flexible and convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but you will quickly make these back because of the low management fees....