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.
[text_ad]
This month we consider two new high-interest savings ETFs, which compete with money market funds. We also offer you a look at a hedge fund ETF from AGF.
In our August 2019 issue, we initially analyzed high rate savings ETFs from Purpose Investments....
Tulips first arrived in Western Europe in the late 1500s from Turkey; they were considered as exotic as eastern spices and oriental rugs....
The Netherlands has recovered well from the financial crisis a decade ago and is now one of the best performing economies in Europe....
WISDOMTREE US MIDCAP DIVIDEND FUND ETF $38.20 (New York symbol DON; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $4.2 billion) presents you with a portfolio of mid-sized U.S....
The fund’s highest-weighted stocks offer a lot of appeal for investors: Apple, 4.7% of assets; Microsoft, 4.5%; Alphabet, 3.1%; Amazon.com, 3.0%; Facebook, 1.9%; Berkshire Hathaway, 1.7%; JPMorgan Chase, 1.6%; Johnson & Johnson, 1.4%; and Visa, 1.2%.
But the ETF also gives you a solid 1.7% yield, while charging you a very low 0.10% MER....
The first of your five buy recommendations is an international ETF focused on dividend payers....
VANECK VECTORS VIETNAM ETF, $15.99, is a buy for aggressive investors. The emerging market ETF (New York symbol VNM) lets you tap into Vietnamese companies and foreign firms that get a significant share of their revenue from the Southeast Asian nation.
The ETF’s top holdings for its investors are Vinhomes (real estate), 8.3%; Vingroup (conglomerate), 7.4%; Vietnam Dairy, 6.8%; Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, 6.4%; No Va Land Investment Group, 5.8%; and Mani Inc....
Of course, you pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell these ETFs....
Investors pay a reasonable MER of 0.61%, and it currently gives you a high 4.1% yield.
In Canada, ETF assets under management have grown by 150% over the past five years, from $77 billion to $192 billion. At the same time, the number of ETFs has doubled. Robust growth was also evident in the U.S....