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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

Vietnam on the upswing

VANECK VECTORS VIETNAM ETF, $19.00, is a buy for aggressive investors. This emerging-markets ETF (New York symbol VNM) lets you tap leading Vietnamese companies as well as foreign firms that get a significant share of their revenue from this Southeast Asian nation....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Here are some ways to assess an ETF’s risk

Investors looking for ETF gains—but with the least amount of risk—should ask these three key questions:
Is the ETF well diversified?

ETF portfolios that are well-diversified typically are less volatile and have a lower risk of capital loss.

There are three common ways that equity ETFs can diversify their risks....

3 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

U.S. housing: strong demand, low supply

The U.S. housing market—and homebuilders—recovered strongly from early 2020 when fears of a major COVID-19-induced catastrophe hung over the U.S. economy.

Multi-decade low mortgage rates, limited housing supply, and a recovering job market helped the recovery along....

3 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Two new ETFs for Canadian investors

This month we highlight an ETF that targets “technology innovators” at a challenging time. We also look at a Canadian-listed ETF that invests in the U.S. corporate preferred securities market.

TD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY INNOVATORS INDEX ETF $6.77 (Toronto symbol TECI) aims to invest in “technology innovators” that it sees as having high growth rates and are more profitable than their peers....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Here’s a look at the Brazil ETF’s two biggest holdings

Vale SA and Petrobras are the two largest holdings in the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF, with a combined weight of over 30%. These companies are also among the largest companies in Brazil and rank among the top 150 on the Forbes Global 2000 list.

Vale is the world’s largest producer of iron ore and a key supplier to the global steel industry.

Iron ore makes up about 85% of the company’s earnings; and a base-metals division that produces nickel and copper contributes another 15%....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Challenges ahead for this riskier Brazil ETF

Brazil is one of the top 10 global economies, and is richly endowed with a range of basic commodities. Still, the country currently faces significant challenges.

Elevated inflation—amid supply disruptions—has driven up prices for food and other goods....

4 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Tech looks to bounce back from its losses

Many technology stocks has seen strong growth over the past couple of years as the pandemic unfolded. The reasons included: the rapid expansion of productivity and cybersecurity technology as COVID-19 forced many people to work from home, and the shift to online shopping....

4 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Pass on this ETF

ISHARES CANADIAN FINANCIAL MONTHLY ETF $8.06 (Toronto symbol FIE) invests in the common shares, preferred shares, corporate bonds and income trusts of firms in the Canadian finance sector.

The fund has an MER of 0.82%, which is high by ETF standards....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Bright outlook for U.S. housing ETFs

As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in early 2020, U.S. homebuilding stocks took a big drop, along with the overall market. However, they quickly rebounded, and most homebuilding stocks went on to hit new all-time highs in December 2021.

Since then, they have fallen around 20% from those highs....

2 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

EVs add to copper’s outlook

GLOBAL X COPPER MINERS ETF, $43.86, is a buy. The ETF (New York symbol COPX; buy or sell through brokers; www.globalxfunds.com) lets you track the Solactive Global Copper Miners Index, with 30 global mining and exploration firms....

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.