Back in February, writing about the newly launched Vanguard’s asset allocation ETFs, I asked why it had taken so long for someone to create an ETF version of the traditional balanced index mutual fund. Now, just 10 months later, Canadian investors who want to build an ETF portfolio with a single trade can choose between two excellent options.
This month, BlackRock Canada launched two one-fund solutions of their own: the iShares Core Balanced ETF Portfolio (XBAL) and the iShares Core Growth ETF Portfolio (XGRO). Like the Vanguard products, these new funds hold several underlying stock and bond ETFs to create a fully diversified portfolio.
Unlike their Vanguard counterparts, however, the new iShares funds are not brand new products. Rather, they’re a reboot of two older funds: the iShares Balanced Income CorePortfolio Index ETF (CBD) and iShares Balanced Growth CorePortfolio Index ETF (CBN). These ETFs had been around since 2007, but they never gained meaningful assets, probably due to their relatively high fees (about 0.75%) and confused strategy (non-traditional indexes, sector funds).
The revamped versions are far more appropriate for Couch Potato investors, as they include only cap-weighted index funds covering the major asset classes. XBAL has a long-term target of 40% bonds and 60% stocks, while XGRO is more aggressive with 20% bonds and 80% stocks. The overall asset mix is broken down as follows:
| Asset class | XBAL | XGRO |
|---|---|---|
| Canadian bonds | 32% | 16% |
| US bonds | 8% | 4% |
| Canadian stocks | 15% | 20% |
| US stocks | 27% | 36% |
| International stocks (developed) | 15% | 20% |
| Emerging markets stocks | 3% | 4% |
| 100% | 100% |
Source: BlackRock Canada
According to the funds’ literature, “it is not expected that frequent changes would be made to [the ETFs’] long-term strategic asset allocation and/or asset class target weights,” which suggests there will be no tactical shifts based on market conditions. That’s good news, since these shifts usually add no value.
Popping the hood
Let’s take a look at how these two ETFs are built, including their individual components and the strategy used to combine them into a diversified portfolio.
The underlying ETFs used to get this exposure includes a combination of Canadian and US-listed funds:
| Canadian bonds | iShares Core Canadian Universe Bond Index ETF (XBB) |
| iShares Cdn Short-Term Corporate + Maple Bond Index ETF (XSH) | |
| US bonds | iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF (GOVT) * |
| iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (USIG) * | |
| Canadian stocks | iShares S&P/TSX Capped Composite (XIC) |
| US stocks | iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT) * |
| International stocks (developed) | iShares MSCI EAFE IMI Index ETF (XEF) |
| Emerging markets stocks | iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF (IEMG) * |
* = US-listed ETF
None of the foreign currency exposure is hedged on the equity side, so any appreciation in the Canadian dollar will negatively affect the ETFs’ returns, while a falling loonie will give them a boost. This is a good long-term strategy: the research is clear that in Canada equity portfolios with exposure to foreign currencies actually have lower volatility than those that try to hedge this risk.
On the bond side, however, all of the US-dollar exposure is hedged. This, too, is the right strategy to use with fixed income. (For more on why it’s important to hedge currency exposure in fixed income, listen to my recent podcast interview with Todd Schlanger, one of the architects behind Vanguard’s asset allocation ETFs.)
As for rebalancing, this will likely be done regularly using new cash flows, which are likely to be significant as the revamped ETFs attract new investors. If that’s not enough, BlackRock says the ETFs “would not be expected to deviate from the asset class target weights by more than one-tenth of the target weight for a given asset class.” In other words, if the target for Canadian bonds is 32%, the fund would be rebalanced if that asset class was over- or underweight by 3.2 percentage points.
iShares vs. Vanguard: How do they differ?
If you’re already familiar with Vanguard’s asset allocation ETFs, you’ve noticed that these new iShares offerings are quite similar to the Vanguard Balanced ETF Portfolio (VBAL) and the Vanguard Growth ETF Portfolio (VGRO), right down to the names and ticker symbols. But the iShares ETFs have a few differences in strategy:
No international bonds. The fixed income allocation of the iShares ETFs is made up of 80% Canadian and 20% US bonds, with no allocation to international bonds. The Vanguard asset allocation ETFs, by contrast, include a blend of Canadian, US and global fixed income.
More corporate bonds. The Vanguard ETFs use only broad-market bond funds, which include mostly government bonds and a smaller amount of corporates. The new iShares funds tilt more toward corporate bonds by adding XSH as about 20% of the Canadian fixed income allocation, and by splitting the US component equally between Treasury bonds and corporates. This makes the iShares funds slightly more risky than their Vanguard counterparts, though all of the bonds are investment grade (no high-yield bonds).
A different mix of Canadian, US, and international equities. XBAL and XGRO allocate a greater share to US stocks (45% of the overall equity allocation) compared with their Vanguard counterparts (40%). The share allotted to Canadian stocks is correspondingly lower at 25% of the overall equity target, compared with 30% in the Vanguard funds.
In both the iShares and Vanguard products, overseas stocks make up about 30% of the equity allocation, but emerging markets make up a smaller proportion in XBAL and XGRO compared with VBAL and VGRO.
Here is the approximate breakdown in each fund:
| Equity asset class | XBAL | VBAL | XGRO | VGRO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 15% | 18% | 20% | 24% | ||
| US | 27% | 24% | 36% | 32% | ||
| International (developed) | 15% | 14% | 20% | 19% | ||
| Emerging markets | 3% | 4% | 4% | 5% |
Lower fee. iShares has always been very competitive on fees, and with these new ETFs they have undercut Vanguard by four basis points: the new funds both have a management fee of 0.18%, compared with 0.22% for VBAL and VGRO. (This includes the fees on the underlying ETFs: there is never any double-dipping on fees in “funds of funds.”) Once taxes are added to that management fee, expect the MER of the iShares funds to be about 0.20% or 0.21%.
Before you buy
I’ve done my best to help investors compare the strategies of the iShares and Vanguard all-in-one ETFs, which leads to the obvious question: which one is a better choice?
Based on what we know about their strategies and costs, I have no strong preference for one over the other. They are all excellent products, and they’re likely to perform very similarly over time, with any variance being the result of randomness and not any structural feature.
If you’re doing more comparison shopping, here’s an important thing to be aware of: because XBAL and XGRO are new mandates for ETFs with a relatively long history (their predecessors were launched 11 years ago), their past performance history is entirely meaningless. As of November 30, 2018, for example, XBAL’s webpage reports an annualized return of 7.41% over the last 10 years. But this performance was what the old CBD racked up with a completely different strategy, so it has zero relevance going forward.
If you’re interested in seeing how the XBAL and XGRO strategies would have performed in the past (using index data minus the ETFs’ current fee), my colleague Justin Bender has backtested both the iShares and Vanguard asset allocation ETFs and published the results on his Model ETF Portfolios page.
Justin’s backtest suggests you can spare yourself any hand-wringing over the iShares vs. Vanguard decision. Over the 20-year period ending November 30, the performance of the comparable ETFs was within a couple of basis points in both returns and volatility.
Avoid a New Year’s surprise
Just one more caveat: if you’re attracted to XGRO and you’re planning to invest in a taxable account, do not buy this ETF until January 2019. That’s because the new mandate of the fund resulted in significant capital gains being realized as the old holdings were sold and replaced. When ETFs and mutual funds realize gains, they pass these along to unitholders at the end of the year. That means if you buy these ETFs in late December, you’ll pay taxes on the capital gains realized before you owned the units—it’s like being handed the bill for dinner at a restaurant even though you showed up after dessert.
iShares has estimated that the capital gains distribution for XGRO will be a whopping 6.84% of its net asset value. If that number is accurate, a $10,000 purchase (about 500 shares) could result in a capital gain distribution of $684, half of which would be taxable at your marginal rate. You can avoid this tax trap by waiting until the new year to purchase the ETF. (iShares does not expect there to be a similar capital gain distribution for XBAL.)
@Kel: There is very little advantage to investing $30K gradually, unless you are very nervous and feel more comfortable spreading it out in two or three installments. Just make sure you make all of the installments on schedule and don’t try to time the market.
Withholding taxes apply on the dividends only, and they are subtracted at the fund level before the dividends are paid to you. So if the yield on the fund is 2% and the withholding tax rate is 15%, the overall drag from withholding taxes would be 2% x 15% = 0.30%.
There is no reason to pair VGRO or XGRO with XAW. VGRO and XGRO are complete portfolios that do not need to be paired with anything.
Thanks for prompt detailed response. Could you please shed light on Vanguard new VIC100, VIC200, VIC300 and VIC400.Does this will fixed in couch potato statergry. I believe those funds are like mutual funds with lower expenses from renowned provider. This might be option to index investing. Hope to hear back from you. Thanks in advance.
@HAT: These are actively managed funds, and they are Series F versions, which are typically available only through fee-based advisors, not DIY investors.
Thanks for quick response. I could be able to order funds through QT however min first time 5K only.
My point how you could evaluate in terms of quality and total cost to investor for those funds.Alternative options.
Regards,
Hey there – I read some of the previous comments RE: saving for down payment. If I expect to make one in the near future (2-4 years), would you advise a ETF with something like a 80/20 bond/equity split, or should I straight up buy a GIC. I have 50k + contribution room in my TFSA. Thanks!
@Ann: In my view, any money need within 2 to 4 years should be all in cash or short-term GICs. It’s far too short a time horizon to take any risk with stocks, or even bonds.
Because of the foreign content of these etf’s, are they suitable for TFSA’s?
@Jan: Yes, these funds are suitable for TFSAs. There will be withholding taxes on the foreign dividends, but this is always the case when foreign equities are held in TFSAs, no matter what type of fund you use, and it’s an acceptable trade-off.
Thanks for your quick answer but over 50% of VBAL is in foreign securities which seems to miss the point of a TFSA . It would be nice if Vanguard made a TFSA friendly asset allocation fund with all Canadian content.
I’m puzzled by the difference in some of the fundamentals between VGRO and XGRO.
I’m seeing VGRO with a 2.13% yield and a .25% expense ratio, while XGRO has a yield of 6.68% and an expense ratio of .84%
If these are basically the same package, why the disparity. Now I still don’t know which is the better choice.
@Chris: Not sure where that yield data comes from, but it’s simply inaccurate. XGRO’s yield is nowhere close to 6.68%.
RE: the high MER for XGRO/XBAL, this is a common misunderstanding. XGRO and XBAL are not new funds: they evolved from two older iShares ETFs that had much higher fees. Regulatory filings and published MERs are backward-looking: they tell you what the MER of the fund was over the previous 12 months. So that 0.82% is what investors would have paid last year. Going forward, the new management fee is 0.18%, so any investor holding these ETFs will pay that much lower fee. Once the new funds have a full year under their belts, the published MER will be updated to reflect this.
Bottom line, both VGRO and XGRO are excellent funds, and very similar in cost and strategy, so flip a coin and pick one.
Hello, I’m new to investing, and I’m currently only investing in VGRO in my TFSA. I am wondering, do I have to pay taxes on any dividend I make? I read in the comments that there is a withholding tax on foreign securities…what does this mean? Thanks for the help
Also, how do I go about paying this tax? Very new to all of this.
@Rachel: Foreign withholding taxes may apply on dividends paid by US and international stocks. These taxes (like fees) are deducted by the funds, so there is nothing you need to do if you hold VGRO in a TFSA. The taxes are relatively modest and cannot be avoided in TFSAs, so don’t let them distract you from your long-term plan!
Thanks for another great article. I was wondering, how risky are new types of investment products? Vanguard’s “fund of funds” ETFs have been around for less than 1.5 years, and these iShares less than a year. What is the chance that everyone is missing some fatal flaw to this new fund of funds product type, a flaw that will cause people to lose lots of money? Not being able to see fatal flaws with any sort of new product until the product is actually implemented doesn’t sound impossible
@Kyle: The asset allocation ETFs are nothing truly new, in the sense that “funds of funds” have been around for a very long time, and there is nothing inherently risky about this structure. They’re not like the infamous “CDOs” that packaged together risky subprime mortgages and then presented them as AAA-rated debt during the financial crisis. They’re just plain old (exchange-traded) mutual funds that hold plain old stocks and bonds.
I’m seeing conflicting costs for these two new I-shares ETFs, depending where I look. Take XBAL (for example) – management fee of 0.18%, but a conflicting MER of 0.76%. Is this because the MER is backward looking and represents the cost of the old fund before the intent was switched?
@Brad: Yes, exactly. The MER of the former versions of XBAL and XGRO was 0.76%, but the fee for all current investors is 0.18%. This should be updated once the new funds have a full year under their belts.
I am a 25 yr old Canadian. I have been investing with Edward Jones for 4 years but am looking to DIY invest and switch to Questrade to avoid the 1.6% commission I am charged. Because my advisor did everything for me, I’m very new at trying to understand all this financial talk. Are you saying that I can put all 130k that I currently have invested in about 15-20 different stocks into one ticker (XGRO for example) and receive an average return of 4% annually? I only one one account (TFSA) that I’ve maxed out (it has 55k in it after 4 years of returns). I want to keep earning dividends too. Any advice?
@Newbie: You can certainly put all of your portfolio in one of the “asset allocation ETFs” from iShares or Vanguard, as these are designed to be fully diversified portfolios. Whether XGRO is right for you depends on your risk tolerance: it’s 80% stocks, which is quite an aggressive portfolio. All of the funds pay dividends, which can be set up to automatically reinvest.
As for expected returns, over the long term 4% seems very conservative for a portfolio of 80% stocks. But remember that your annual returns will vary dramatically from year to year:
https://www.canadianportfoliomanagerblog.com/ask-bender-expected-returns-for-the-vanguard-asset-allocation-etfs/
https://canadiancouchpotato.com/2012/06/25/what-are-normal-stock-market-returns/
Hi
I am thinking about buying XEQT. Do I need to pay extra fee or taxes because XEQT is a new ETF that was release?
I am worry about it because you said the following about XGRO another ETF that’s less than a year old.
“Avoid a New Year’s surprise
Just one more caveat: if you’re attracted to XGRO and you’re planning to invest in a taxable account, do not buy this ETF until January 2019. That’s because the new mandate of the fund resulted in significant capital gains being realized as the old holdings were sold and replaced. When ETFs and mutual funds realize gains, they pass these along to unitholders at the end of the year. That means if you buy these ETFs in late December, you’ll pay taxes on the capital gains realized before you owned the units—it’s like being handed the bill for dinner at a restaurant even though you showed up after dessert.
iShares has estimated that the capital gains distribution for XGRO will be a whopping 6.84% of its net asset value. If that number is accurate, a $10,000 purchase (about 500 shares) could result in a capital gain distribution of $684, half of which would be taxable at your marginal rate. You can avoid this tax trap by waiting until the new year to purchase the ETF. (iShares does not expect there to be a similar capital gain distribution for XBAL.)”
@Canucks: The issue does not apply to VEQT. It was only an issue with XGRO because this fund evolved from an existing fund, which had to sell all of its holdings after it changed strategies.
Hi
thank you for answer my question so promptly.
I’ve another question. Which ETF is more tax efficient VEQT or XEQT (Ishare version of VEQT) to hold in a RDSP account?
An RDSP account is for person with a disability and there is no special tax treaty with the US like an RRSP does.
I will be tax whenever I withdraw money for my RDSP otherwise no tax.
I am aware of the followings:
1. Have to pay US withholding tax for US equities.
2. Canada stock market is only count 3% of global market and are heavily weighted in banks and resources sector.
For these reasons, I choose XEQT from Ishare instead of VEQT from Vanguard. But I really about the US withholding tax.
Thanks Again.
@Canucks: There is no meaningful difference between the two funds when it comes to foreign withholding taxes. Even the differences in asset allocation are small and unlikely to have much impact over the long term. The RDSP is a valuable tool for people with disabilities, and I would encourage you to take advantage of it without worrying about small costs like foreign withholding taxes, as they only way to avoid these would to be to avoid all US and international equities, which of course would be a poor decision.
Thanks Dan, You are awesome!
Hi CCP,
Can you comment if the New Years surprise applies to Jan 2020 as well? Interested in XGRO (or VGRO) for RRSP, TFSA and non-registered. If I’m going to buy, and given it is nearly mid-November, wondering if caution was a one-time thing, or if it applies annually (i.e. should I wait out the next month and a half before purchasing in Jan 2020)? In addition, did this just apply to XGRO or VGRO too? Many thanks
@Lou: A capital gains distribution could happen any year, in theory, but the one I refer to in this post was specific to 2018 and applied only to VGRO. I would not worry about this for 2019. The ETF companies publish an announcement in late November or early December with estimates about which funds may have a capital gains distribution for the year.
Hi CCP
I have a LIRA amount of 170k$ and I still have a long ways to go before retirement (25 years). I want this money to grow
I wondering which one is the best choice Vanguard or IShares? (VGRO/VBAL or XGRO/XBAL I still don’t decide if I go with 80/20 or 60/40?
And should I buy all at once or over time (an amount each month) ??
Many thanks
Hi CCP,
I currently own XAW and XIC (in RRSP) and XQB (in TFSA). I have maxed out my contributions on registered accounts so additional investments will have to be done in taxable non-registered accounts. Would XBAL (XGROW might be too aggressive for my risk tolerance) make sense for non-registered accounts in terms of dividend tax implications?
Thank you for your kind advise.
I have a similar question to Maxwell. I would like to use VBAL in my RRSP and TFSA accounts but wonder if it is a good choice for an unregistered account mostly because of the ACB.
Would it be better to use TD’s e-series mutual funds in a taxable unregistered account?
My understanding is that the e-series mutual funds take care of calculating the ACB for account holders whereas with ETFs you have to do your own calculations. Is this correct thinking? I am looking for the simplest solution in a taxable account. I like the VBAL approach because there is no rebalancing to do but if it requires more work to calculate the ACB maybe the e-series is better.
Also can you confirm that when using ETFs in a taxable account you should not use DRIPs?
Is either e-series mutual funds or VBAL better than the other with regard to withholding taxes on foreign investments?
@Darby: This is really a trade-off. e-Series funds don’t require you to track ACB, but if you are holding three or four of them in a taxable account, then yo