Canadian Capitalist

Canadian investors who want to passively track our equity markets through ETFs have two choices - the iShares CDN Large Cap 60 Index Fund (XIU) or the iShares CDN Capped Composite Index Fund (XIC). As the name suggests, the XIU tracks the performance of a capitalization-weighted index of 60 large, liquid stocks that trade on [...]

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Vanguard recently introduced a ETF to capture exposure to the world’s major equity markets weighted by their market capitalization. The ETF, which started trading last week on the NYSE Arca exchange under the ticker symbol VT, charges a MER of 0.25%. While the ETF is an interesting addition to the Vanguard stable, it is hard [...]

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Norm Rothery (also featured in this video interview with Jon Chevreau) recently wrote that the ultra-low commissions offered by the discount brokers allow investors with large portfolios to buy the stocks that comprise an index directly and avoid the fees involved in holding ETFs. The concept is interesting but small investors who want to faithfully [...]

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Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) are great products for investors only if: (1) they have rock-bottom fees, which means that investors keep what they don’t pay and (2) they have low turnover, which allows investors to create portfolios that are highly tax efficient. While they can nominally be called “ETF-based”, two new products fail to sport either [...]

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The following question is from Ed, who wants to switch from index mutual funds to ETFs:
Many years ago I set up my RRSP using TD’s low MER e-Series index mutual funds. I learned quite awhile ago that most actively managed funds cannot beat the indexes over the long haul. I’m now thinking of [...]

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Many readers are interested in learning more about the possibility of capturing exposure to most world markets in one fund through the Vanguard FTSE All-World Ex-US ETF, which trades on the AMEX under the ticker symbol VEU. The Vanguard website says that the FTSE All-World Ex-US Index tracks the performance of approximately 2,200 stocks in [...]

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The following question is from AJ:
I am wondering about an online article titled ETF Sector: Slop du jour published in the summer 2007 issue of Canadian Business magazine. The relevant section says: ‘The other building block advisers typically recommend is an emerging markets ETF. John De Goey, a senior adviser at Toronto-based Burgeonvest Securities, cautions [...]

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While Claymore has introduced some novel ETFs, plain-vanilla indexers such as myself have been content to give their offerings a wide berth. But, Claymore’s two new offerings, reported by Rob Carrick in The Globe and Mail, are certainly worth checking out.
The Claymore Premium Money Market ETF, which invests in a mix of T-bills and [...]

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The following question is from Andre:
In your blog, you mentioned buying VEA ETF. I thought Canadians could not buy Vanguard funds. How do you buy Vanguard ETFs?
It is true that Canadians cannot normally buy the low-cost index mutual funds available directly through Vanguard. Fortunately for us, we can easily buy Vanguard ETFs such as their [...]

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A Real Estate Investment Trust or REIT is an asset class that allows you to get exposure to real estate in your portfolio. Real estate is an interesting asset class because historically it has offered a higher return than bonds (but less than equities) albeit at a higher risk (again less risk than equities). Also, [...]

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