How to Set Up a Hands-Off ETF Portfolio
For DIY investors, asset allocation ETFs may be the greatest gift to come along in decades. It’s never been easier or cheaper to build a globally diversified portfolio that needs almost no maintenance [...]
How T+2 Settlement Affects ETF Investors
These days we’re used to financial transactions that happen instantly. Buy groceries with your debit card and you see your bank account updated immediately. Send a friend money with an Interac transfe [...]
The ETF Volume You Can’t Hear
Most investors prefer using ETFs that are bought and sold frequently. Although thinly traded ETFs are not always less liquid, experienced investors will tell you that they do tend to have wider bid-as [...]
Taking ETF Trades to the Next Level
Experienced investors know the theory: ETFs are supposed to trade very close to their net asset value (NAV). And most of the time they do. But this week my PWL Capital colleague Justin Bender and I en [...]
An ETF Creation Story
The Couch Potato strategy thrives on simplicity, but advanced index investors (geeks) should understand what goes on under the hood of ETFs. One of the most important concepts is how ETF shares are cr [...]
A DRIP in the Bucket
One of the downsides of using ETFs—as opposed to index mutual funds—is that dividends and interest are not automatically reinvested. Instead, they are paid in cash, where they often sit idly in your b [...]
Reducing the Cost of Currency Exchange
Yesterday’s post looked at whether US-listed ETFs are really a good deal for RRSP investors. Although ETFs from Vanguard and other American providers have dramatically lower annual fees, Canadians may [...]
Are US-listed ETFs Really Cheaper?
Last week reader W.B. asked why I recommend US-listed ETFs from Vanguard for the US and international equity components. His brokerage charges a 1.5% currency conversion fee, and W.B. argued that this [...]
Should You Use Index Funds or ETFs?
[Note: A more up-to-date discussion of this idea, including a spreadsheet to help you with the math, can be found here.] This week I got an email from a reader who is in the process of firing her advi [...]
Tips for Trading ETFs
I happened to have Google Finance open on my computer last week when the “flash crash” happened. While the market's whipsaw on May 6 affected almost all stocks, it seems that ETFs were particularly ha [...]
