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
The month of November saw strong gains for stocks, commodities, and energy. This comes after the conclusion of the U.S. Presidential election and promising announcements from several pharmaceutical companies regarding COVID-19 vaccines.


At the broad market level, the Vanguard Total World Stocks ETF (VT) gained 10% in the month, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) climbed 7.5%, and the iShares MSCI Canada Equity ETF (EWC) rose 10.9%....
Despite the renewed growth in new COVID-19 cases worldwide, investor sentiment has perked up over the past couple of weeks as several pharmaceutical companies announced promising vaccine testing results.


If all goes according to plan, the first approved vaccines could be made available to high-risk groups and healthcare workers as early as the end of this year, but more generally in the first half of 2021....
Nokia is probably the most famous of the large Finnish companies, with a history that dates back to 1865 when it started operating a single paper mill.


Over the years, Nokia has ventured into different markets and emerged as a global leader in the early days of the mobile phone industry.


In fact, Nokia was the leading mobile phone vendor in the world up to early 2012....
This month we look at two new ETFs. The first invests in the units of an actively managed mutual fund from Franklin Templeton. The second is an ETF that aims to capture the performance of the 100 companies just outside of Nasdaq’s top 100.


THE FRANKLIN GLOBAL GROWTH ACTIVE ETF $21.63 (Toronto symbol FGGE) invests in companies with growing revenues and profits, located anywhere in the world....
Finland has a small but competitive economy. Several of its major companies are among the global leaders in their industries. Meanwhile, despite a relatively old population, the country has coped well with the COVID-19 pandemic and is well-positioned to benefit from a global post-COVID recovery.


Here is an ETF that provides exposure to the top Finnish public companies.


ISHARES MSCI FINLAND ETF $44.13 (New York symbol EFNL; TSI Network ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $26.7 million) tracks the performance of the largest publicly listed companies in Finland.


Industrial companies account for 27.3% of the fund’s assets....
While some businesses—and especially “work-from-home” stocks like Zoom—have thrived during the pandemic, others continue to suffer. This includes airlines, hotels, movie theatres, automakers, oil and gas producers and many brick-and-mortar retailers.


Here’s a look at several ETFs that generally hold stocks that have underperformed in the past year, mostly due to COVID-19....
In Canada, stock market ETFs continue to attract new money—almost $20 billion flowed into these products this year through to the end of October. Most of that money went to funds focused on international markets, excluding Canada and the U.S.


Fixed-income ETFs also attracted strong inflows of more than $11 billion so far this year....
CI FIRST ASSET TECH GIANTS COVERED CALL ETF $20.16 (Toronto symbol TXF) invests in what it sees as 25 of the most innovative U.S. technology companies. These include Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Nvidia, Adobe and Amazon.


First Asset Tech Giants has a very high 9.3% yield....
The best ETFs have several advantages over traditional mutual funds. Still, their generally lower fees are a major plus. One reason for those lower fees is the simple index-tracking approach of traditional ETFs while many mutual funds are actively managed.


Those lower fees are the primary reason investors are opting for the cheaper ETF alternatives....
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the global economy. Some businesses—like online retailers and video conferencing providers— have thrived. Many others have suffered, with their demand disappearing overnight. However, as businesses and consumers continue to adjust—and vaccines are distributed—these funds aim to strongly benefit from that recovery....