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ETFs

What are ETFs?

ETF is an acronym for exchange traded fund. These exchange traded funds are used to track indexes as closely as possible, since investors cannot actually buy an index outright.

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:

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

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ETFs Library Archives

ETFs

Profit from our five sectors approach

The key point about profiting from the five sectors is that investors should spread their investments out across most if not all of them.

Note that there are a number of difficulties with recommending a model portfolio for all investors. The main one is that each individual has different objectives, acceptable risk levels and so on....

2 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Here are new ETFs for Canadian investors

This month we highlight a diversified ETF launched by the Toronto-based alternative asset manager, Arrow Capital Management—and managed by WaveFront Global Asset Management.

The second fund is a short-dated U.S. dollar money market ETF launched by TD Asset Management.

WaveFront All-Weather Alternative Fund $20.39 (Toronto symbol WAAV) invests in a range of investment assets with the aim of delivering consistent returns across diverse market conditions.

The ETF launched in January 2025, charges an MER of 0.95%....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Germany needs to free itself of a number of constraints

For decades Germany was considered to be the economic growth engine of Europe generating growth between 2% to 4% per year. But growth has slowed sharply since 2000, averaging about 1% per year. In the 2024 IMD World Competitiveness Report, Germany continued to slide and is now ranked 24th out of 67 countries.

The relative stagnation of the German economy is due to various factors:

• Bureaucratic obstacles—complex regulatory frameworks and lengthy approval processes are stifling entrepreneurial initiatives, making it difficult for businesses to adapt swiftly to changing market conditions.

• An aging population—this poses significant challenges for its workforce and productivity....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Germany has a solid outlook despite challenges

Germany was the only country in the Group of Seven (G7) wealthy nations to suffer an economic contraction in both 2023 and 2024. One reason was the country’s “debt brake.” In place since 2009, it sharply limits the government’s ability to borrow and run economy-stimulating deficits.

However, newly elect German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has now secured backing to remove the debt brake and pave the way for a massive increase in state borrowing.

This will spur a boom in defence and security spending as well as 500 million euros ($545 billion U.S.) in infrastructure investment....

4 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Buy a low-cost ETF for exposure to Europe’s top companies

ISHARES MSCI EUROPE IMI INDEX ETF $31.30 (Toronto symbol XEU; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Conservative; Market cap: $396.1 million) invests in European companies. The ETF is not currency-hedged but there is a hedged version available (symbol XEH)

The ETF aims to track the MSCI Europe Investable Market Index....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Pass on this ETF

ARK Genomic Revolution ETF $20.56 (CBOE symbol ARKG) invests globally in companies it expects to benefit from the development of products and services meant to improve the quality of life. Those firms are involved in molecular diagnostics, gene therapy, targeted therapeutics, agricultural biology, and stem cells.

The ETF launched in October 2014 and has built up a substantial asset base of $943.0 million....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Five ETFs for the five main sectors

A key rule of our three-part Successful Investor strategy is to spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; and Utilities).

This has two main benefits: a) It keeps you from investing too heavily in any industry or sector that is headed into a period of big losses; and b) By spreading your investments out more widely, it also improves your chances of latching onto a market superstar—a stock that will wind up producing two or five or 10 times more profit than average.

ISHARES S&P/TSX GLOBAL BASE METALS ETF $16.86 (Toronto symbol XBM; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $230.9 million) tracks the S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index....

6 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Here’s our CWA ETF Portfolio for April 2025

You Can See Our CWA ETF Portfolio For April 2025 Here.

Index funds are mutual funds that invest so as to match market-index performance....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Vietnam on the upswing

VANECK VECTORS VIETNAM ETF, $12.70, is a buy for aggressive investors. This emerging-markets ETF (New York symbol VNM) taps the country’s leading firms as well as foreign firms that get a significant share of their revenue from this Southeast Asian nation....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Buy Taiwan’s top firms

ISHARES MSCI TAIWAN INDEX FUND, $48.48 is a buy for aggressive investors. The ETF (New York symbol EWT; buy or sell through brokers) gives you direct exposure to some of the top public companies of this East Asian powerhouse economy.

The fund’s largest holding is Taiwan Semiconductor at 20.9% of assets....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

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Browse Premium Topics

Cannabis

Spinoffs

One of the ways a company can try to unlock its own hidden value is by creating a separate company out of a corporate subsidiary. The parent company can either sell stock in the new company to the public, or spin it off—hand the stock out to its own investors.

Dividend Stocks

Dividend stocks make cash payouts that serve as a way for companies to share the wealth they’ve accumulated. These payouts are drawn from earnings and cash flow and paid to the shareholders of the company. Typically, these dividends are paid quarterly, although they may be paid annually or even monthly as well.

ETFs

What are ETFs?

ETF is an acronym for exchange traded fund. These exchange traded funds are used to track indexes as closely as possible, since investors cannot actually buy an index outright.

Value Stocks

What are value stocks?

One of the sweetest and most profitable pleasures of successful investing is to buy high-quality “value stocks” (or stocks that are reasonably priced, if not cheap, in relation to its sales, earnings or assets), then hold on to them as mainstream investors recognize the value and push up the share price.

Blue Chip Stocks

Blue chip stocks are big, well-established, dividend-paying corporations with strong business prospects. These are companies that also have sound management that should be able to make the right moves to keep competing successfully in a changing marketplace.

Penny Stocks

A penny stock in general trades for under five dollars a share, and as the name implies, sometimes for pennies. Most of the time they’re young companies, or start-ups in speculative markets like mining or technology.

Growth Stocks

Growth stocks are companies that are likely to have sales and earnings growth well above market average. Frequently they pay few, if any, dividends. Instead they typically reinvest any extra cash flow to promote further growth. Chosen wisely—according to Pat McKeough’s advice—high-quality growth-oriented stocks can be worthwhile additions to most well-diversified portfolios.

Wealth Management

Wealth management is the practice of putting your savings to work so that it continues to grow over your lifetime and will also benefit your heirs. Wealth management encompasses many different areas of investing like long term investment planning and retirement planning.

Mining Stocks

Mining stocks are investments in companies that produce or explore for minerals. Some of these minerals include uranium, coal, molybdenum (which is used in steelmaking), copper, silver and gold. They are affected by fluctuating commodity prices in addition to their own business and operating risks.

How To Invest

Pat McKeough has been making investing for beginners simple—and profitable—by helping investors make big gains for more than 25 years. His advice to beginning investors is the same as it is for all investors: buy high-quality, mostly dividend paying stocks (or ETFs that hold these stocks) and evenly spread your investments over the five main economic sectors (Resources, Manufacturing, Finance, Utilities and Consumer). Pat also believes investors should avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight and focus on those with hidden or little-noticed assets.

Energy Stocks

What are energy stocks?

Businesses that work in the extraction, refining and delivery of energy sources such as natural gas, oil, uranium and coal, are considered energy stocks.