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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ISHARES S&P/TSX REIT INDEX ETF, $15.83, is a hold. The ETF (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) lets investors tap all 16 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX REIT Index....
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This month we highlight two new funds: the first is a global equity ETF from a large Canadian asset manager with a considerable number of ETFs already in place; the second is a long-short equity ETF from a Canadian hedge fund manager.
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The COVID-19 pandemic caused a massive decline in Brazil’s tourism industry as international visitors declined from over 6 million in 2019 to less than 1 million by 2021.
But the tourists are now returning with estimates indicating that 6.7 million tourists visited in 2023.
Tourism is a sizeable business in Brazil, but it could be much bigger....
The country has great long-term growth potential, although in the near term, it needs to get its economy back on track. Here is one ETF that provides exposure to the top Brazilian publicly listed companies for investors who want to tap the country’s long-term prospects.
ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL ETF $33.99 (New York symbol EWZ; TSI Network ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $6.0 billion) tracks the performance of the largest publicly listed Brazilian companies.
Basic Materials and Energy account for 38% of the ETF’s assets, while Financials (23%), Industrials (12%), Utilities (10%), and Consumer Defensive (6%), are other key segments.
The ETF holds a portfolio of 48 stocks; the top 10 make up a high 56% of its assets....