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.
How Successful Investors Get RICH
Learn everything you need to know in ‘The Canadian Guide on How to Invest in Stocks Successfully’ for FREE from The Successful Investor.
How to Invest In Stocks Guide: Find 10 factors that make your investments safer and stronger.
You Can See Our Exchange-Traded Funds Portfolio For December 2024 Here.
ETFs in brief
Exchange-traded funds are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings of that index or… Read More
To succeed as an investor, you need to overcome the temptation to think that you can succeed as a fairweather investor. That’s one who is in the market when prices are going up, and out of the market during the inevitable downturns.
If you try to… Read More
Demand for uranium is forecast to increase 30% by 2030 and to more than double by 2040. The ramp-up in nuclear power capacity to meet the growing electricity demand from AI datacentres and to lower greenhouse gas emissions should drive those gains.
However, the capacity to… Read More
This month we highlight a natural resources ETF actively managed by a team with a strong track record. We also consider an ETF that invests in smaller U.S.-listed companies that are considered high-quality and pay regular dividends.
Mackenzie Core Resources ETF $20.97 (Toronto symbol MORE) invests mainly in the… Read More
With 240,000 employees and a market value of $92 billion U.S., Infosys is one of the largest, and best-performing Indian companies. The company operates globally in 56 countries and is considered to be among the top global IT consulting firms.
Software services provide the bulk of… Read More
The Indian economy continues to expand rapidly and increased consumption among a growing middle class is expected to support that growth over the medium term. The Indian stock market has also performed well over the past five years, easily beating the emerging markets index and… Read More
The Canadian ETF market experienced another strong month in September 2024, with $5.8 billion in new money flowing into Canadian-listed ETFs. That brought the total inflow for the first nine months of the year to $48.8 billion—62% higher than the same period in 2023.
The total… Read More
Over the long term, most stock markets move up. But there are times when sharp declines inflict heavy losses on investors’ portfolio holdings. For example, in 2008 to 2009, U.S. stock markets declined by 51%; in 2020, they dropped by 34%; and in 2022, they… Read More
VANGUARD TOTAL STOCK MARKET ETF $112.67 (Toronto symbol VUN; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $9.65 billion) invests in U.S. publicly listed companies. That broader mandate gives this fund a wider reach than the typical U.S. large-cap ETF focused on the top 500 companies.
This Vanguard ETF tracks… Read More
Closed-end funds work with a fixed asset base invested in a portfolio of securities. The value of their assets rises and falls depending on how they invest. Their units trade like stocks, and most often on a stock exchange. They may trade above the per-unit… Read More
Uranium prices have retreated lately but are still at 16-year highs. The gain has been fuelled by rising demand and constrained supply. Demand growth is supported by several factors: commitments provided by major world governments to increase the use of uranium in electricity production; the… Read More
GLOBAL X COPPER MINERS ETF, $43.85, 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 38 global mining and exploration firms. It started up in April 2010.
Canadian firms make up 38.2% of the… Read More
ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND, $69.38, is a buy. The ETF (New York symbol EWJ; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) aims to mirror the return of the Morgan Stanley Capital International Japan Index.
The fund’s top holdings include Toyota, 5.3%; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, 3.2%; Sony Corp., 2.8%; Hitachi (conglomerate),… Read More
We think foreign stocks can safely make up 10% of a conservative investor’s portfolio. One way is through exchange traded funds (ETFs) with an overseas focus. The best of those ETFs charge you very low management fees yet offer you well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high-quality… Read More
Most precious-metal stocks dropped, along with the market, in March 2020. They then quickly reversed that trend to soar for investors, in part because of gold’s appeal as a “safe harbour” in times of economic uncertainty. In fact, in August 2020, gold jumped to over… Read More
You Can See Our Exchange-Traded Funds Portfolio For November 2024 Here.
ETFs in brief
Exchange-traded funds are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings of that index or… Read More
Collectively, U.S. banks and insurance companies have performed well over the past year, beating the S&P 500 by a comfortable margin. Canadian financials also produced a strong performance. Still, banks generally have high debt, which occasionally can cause significant share price drops. We’ve always said… Read More
Prominent investor Warren Buffett once remarked that “Common yardsticks such as dividend yield, the ratio of price to earnings or to book value, and even growth rates have nothing to do with valuation except to the extent they provide clues to the amount and timing… Read More
This month we focus on high-income, leveraged single-stock ETFs; one was launched by Harvest and another, focused on physical gold bullion, was launched by BMO.
HARVEST ELI LILLY ENHANCED HIGH-INCOME SHARES $12.04 (Toronto symbol LLHE) invests in the shares of Eli Lilly & Co. (symbol LLY on New York)… Read More
From its bottom in March 2020 until mid-2021, the Korea Exchange advanced 120% on the back of a retail trading frenzy. Retail investors (locally known as “ants”) became large-scale participants in Korean stocks. Social media played a large role in fuelling speculative trading activities.
Large, global… Read More
