ETFs

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:

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

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ETFs Library Archives
Precious metals should let you profit over the next few years if interest rates begin falling (a clear possibility). That lowers the appeal of the U.S. dollar and increases the appeal of gold—and other precious metals—as a store of value. Here we look at three ETFs that aim to benefit from the long-term positive trends in precious metals (see the supplement on page 59 for more on precious metals and their role in your portfolio).


SPROTT PHYSICAL GOLD AND SILVER TRUST $29.44 (Toronto symbol CEF; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $6.2 billion) invests in physical gold and silver bullion held in the vaults of the Royal Canadian Mint....
ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND, $67.11, is a buy. The ETF (New York symbol EWJ; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) aims to mirror the return of the Morgan Stanley Capital International Japan Index.


The fund’s top holdings include Toyota, 6.3%; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, 2.9%; Tokyo Electron (computer chips), 2.7%; Sony Corp., 2.7%; Keyence (sensors), 2.3%; Hitachi (conglomerate), 2.1%; Mitsubishi Corp....
Most top international markets have rebounded since their big drop at the start of the pandemic. Going forward, we think the outlook remains positive for quality stocks in those markets. One way to profit from their growth—while cutting your risk—is to invest in top ETFs.


Here’s a look at four international funds we see as suitable for your new buying....

You Can See Our Exchange-Traded Funds Portfolio For May 2024 Here.


ETFs in brief


Exchange-traded funds are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or sub-index....
A key aspect of our TSI investment philosophy is portfolio diversification across the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; and Utilities).


That way, investors can avoid overloading their portfolios with stocks in one sector that are about to slump simply because of industry conditions or changes in investor fashion....
Fidelity recently boosted its Canadian ETF roster by adding seven new ETFs covering Canadian, U.S., and international equities. Below we highlight a fund that holds long and short positions in a portfolio of global equities, as well as an ETF that invests indirectly in public companies outside of North America.


FIDELITY GLOBAL VALUE LONG/SHORT ETF $8.53 (CBOE Canada symbol FGLS) invests globally by taking long positions in companies that the manager believes are undervalued; at the same time it takes short positions in overvalued companies.


The ETF launched on February 1, 2024, as just one of several share classes of a mutual fund operating since October 2020....
BHP Group is the largest mining company in the world by market value, ahead of Rio Tinto, Vale, and Anglo-American.


Iron ore is its main product, with the Pilbara mines in Western Australia representing its core asset. Production costs from those mines are among the lowest in the world.


Copper is another major product....
The Australian economy rebounded strongly in the wake of the pandemic. In the near term, though, it now faces challenges from still-high inflation, which is hurting consumer spending. In addition, it faces uncertain global growth amid still-elevated interest rates....
This section is the second part of our discussion on ETFs that represent each of the five main economic sectors. Here we cover ETFs in the Consumer, Manufacturing and Finance sectors.


Please see the supplement section starting on page 49 for more information on our five-sectors approach.


BMO GLOBAL CONSUMER STAPLES HEDGED TO CAD INDEX ETF $22.97 (Toronto symbol STPL; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Conservative; Market cap: $36.6 million) tracks the FTSE Developed Consumer Staples Capped Index and invests globally....
VANGUARD FTSE GLOBAL ALL CAP EX CANADA INDEX ETF $56.71 (Toronto symbol VXC; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $1.8 billion) tracks the FTSE Global All Cap ex Canada Index. Companies located in the U.S. make up the largest component (63.4%), followed by Japan (6.6%), the U.K....