ETF investors have long clamoured for Currency unhedged funds traded on the TSX for reasons outlined here, here and here. While it is true that Canadian investors can get direct access to foreign stocks through a long list of ETFs that trade in the US exchanges, these funds have one drawback that cannot be overcome [...]
Advantaged ETFs refers to exchange-traded products that use derivatives such as forward agreements to transform one form of distributions (often interest income) into another (such as capital gains or return of capital) that is lightly, if at all, taxed. For example, an investor holding the iShares Advantaged Canadian Bond Index Fund (TSX: CAB) in a [...]
BMO launched its Covered Call Canadian Banks ETF (TSX: ZWB) in January 2011. The ETF immediately started attracting investor attraction. Investors were mesmerized by the initial annualized yield of 10% and piled money into the fund: among ETFs launched in 2011, ZWB ranked first by Assets under Management by a wide margin. Interestingly, the second [...]
Background I started the Sleepy Portfolio in 2005 to benchmark my personal portfolio, which at that time was mostly invested in individual stocks. The portfolio started off with an initial outlay of $100,000 but no new money has been added since. This is not simply a model portfolio; it reflects investment returns that can be [...]
It is now more than one year since Vanguard came to Canada by launching its first set of Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). Last week, I had a chance to chat with Atul Tiwari Chief of Vanguard Canada. I asked him a few of my questions and those of Canadian Money Forum members (here) about Vanguard’s plans [...]
Recently, Vanguard announced that it will be switching the benchmark index for many of its Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF). In an earlier post, we took a closer look at what the benchmark change means for the Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) and found a significant difference in past performance. In this post, we’ll take a closer [...]
Vanguard’s US-listed ETFs such as Vanguard Total Stock Market Index ETF (VTI), Vanguard MSCI EAFE ETF (VEA) and Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) are popular among Canadian index investors because they offer a cheap way to diversify into global stock markets. Investors in these ETFs should take note of a recent announcement by Vanguard [...]
Vanguard Canada appears to have been listening to ETF investors. The fund company known for its low-cost, plain vanilla index products will shortly be adding five new ETFs to its existing line up of six ETFs. The new ETFs are: Vanguard FTSE Canadian High Dividend Yield Index ETF (TSX: VDY) The ETF will track an [...]
Horizons recently launched two new Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) that provide passive exposure to the Canadian and US stock markets while overlaying an active options strategy that seeks to take advantage of sudden downward movements in stock prices. The two ETFs are: Horizons Universa Canadian Black Swan ETF (TSX: HUT), which will provide exposure to the [...]
In a recent column, The Globe & Mail’s Rob Carrick (see Beware the limitations of buying the index, May 11, 2012) pointed out that investing in just the TSX Composite index might leave an investor with an unbalanced portfolio because of the index’s concentration in just three sectors: financials, energy and materials. The criticism is [...]
