ETFs - The Successful Investor Inc

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

Computer chip outlook remains very positive

The current supply shortfall in the global semiconductor industry is creating major problems for many manufacturers of vehicles, computers, and other connected devices. While the imbalance will resolve itself as the supply chains return to normal and demand stabilizes, the longer-term demand trend for computer chips remains strong....

5 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Pass on this ETF

BMO COVERED CALL CANADIAN BANKS ETF $20.73 (Toronto symbol ZWB) holds shares of Canada’s six largest banks (CIBC, TD Bank, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank and National Bank) either directly or through units of the BMO Equal Weight Banks Index ETF.

The fund started up in January 2011....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Tap into the future of global health

The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed shares prices for many healthcare stocks—and the ETFs that hold them—to today’s all-time highs. Despite that, the underlying growth trends remain strong as the global population grows older and emerging economies spend more on healthcare....

3 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Buy this for solar exposure

INVESCO SOLAR ETF, $86.03, is a buy for aggressive investors. The ETF (New York symbol TAN; buy or sell through brokers) tracks solar-related companies (including technology firms and utilities) listed on global exchanges.

The fund’s top holdings are Enphase Energy (U.S.: home solar systems) at 11.4%; SolarEdge Technologies (Israel: solar-power batteries), 11.1%; Xinyi Solar (China: solar panels), 8.0%; First Solar (China: solar panels), 6.8%; and Sunrun (U.S.: solar panels), 6.0%....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Here are two bond ETFs if you need them

The Bank of Canada cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.25% in early 2020. That was meant to support economic activity after COVID-19 hit. Whether the bank continues to hold that rate steady, cuts it further or raises it depends on Canada’s economic growth and employment levels....

2 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Hold on to this REIT ETF

ISHARES S&P/TSX REIT INDEX ETF, $20.33, is a hold. The ETF (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) lets investors tap all 21 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX REIT Index.

Investors pay an MER of 0.61%, and the REIT fund gives you a 2.7% yield....

1 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Their very low fees protect your ETF returns

Generally speaking, Canadians are blocked from buying mutual funds that are registered in the U.S. unless those funds are also registered with provincial securities commissions. (Moreover, some Canadian mutual funds are only available in a limited number of provinces.)

Investors in this country can, however, buy exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, listed on U.S....

2 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

E-commerce still has lots of room for growth

Commerce conducted online exploded in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic limited consumers’ access to shopping malls and other traditional shopping outlets. However, online shopping had been growing rapidly well before 2020 and the upward trend is expected to continue....

2 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

Online crime continues to fuel cybersecurity

Hackers, organized crime, and even state-sponsored actors are increasingly targeting government and business infrastructure as well as individuals to gain access to confidential information. The list of targets is endless but any entity that is digitally connected is vulnerable.

Online transactions, commercial supply management and payment systems, energy infrastructure, medical records, credit card numbers, passwords, tax data, and intellectual property are potential targets of cybercriminals.

A growing threat

With the increasing use of digital files and the reliance on digital data by governments, corporations and individuals, data breaches have become common in the past decade....

2 min read

Pat McKeough

ETFs

New ETFs for Canadian investors

This month we look at a space exploration ETF from ARK Invest that targets rising investor interest in space and related stocks. We also look at an ETF from Horizons that invests globally in semiconductor (computer chip) companies.

ARK Invest recently launched the ARK Space Exploration and Innovation ETF $20.78 (New York symbol ARKX).

The fund aims to select companies that launch or make satellites and/or launch vehicles, or that stand to benefit from space exploration technologies such as precision agriculture, Internet service providers, drone operators and so on.

The ETF invests globally, but the bulk of the assets are allocated to U.S....

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.