BEST ETF?

[sasha520]

About to open a questrade account and want to buy something for retirement/long term (25+ years)  Is VFV or VTI a good option?
What ETFs are Canadians buying?

[Heckler]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

[sasha520]

Tell me what to buy lol

[GuitarStv]

What are your investment goals?

[Heckler]

Tell me what to buy lol

Already did in your learn how to invest thread.

[sasha520]

But I still can’t decide on specific funds.

Just wondering that the most popular ones for Canadians are.

This is hard, ok?
Lol

[Heckler]

yes, it's hard.  that's what your 3% financial advisor at the bank wants you to believe.

Without knowing your level of investment knowledge, goals, risk level and background, it's impossible to tell you the "best ETF" for you.

But lots of reading recommendations (already made) on self directed low cost investing sites lead to VBAL, VGRO, VEQT or the similar XBAL, XGRO, XEQT, depending on what's BEST FOR YOU.

https://canadiancouchpotato.com/getting-started/

https://www.finiki.org/wiki/Main_Page

https://www.pwlcapital.com/teams/bender-bender-bortolotti/

[Heckler]

Tell me what to buy lol

PS.  We don't own any of the above, but I did guide my sibling into one of them for their TSFA.  We do own a mix of the constituents of VGRO and XGRO, plus cash HISA  to make a growth portfolio of individual ETFs that are rebalanced through contributions and directed dividend reinvestment. 

Confirmation bias says anyone you ask will tell you what they buy, which may not be BEST FOR YOU.

[sasha520]

Constituents of the fund…. So you are DIY-ing your own index fund?

Thanks! I’ll dive into those.

[Heckler]

These are managed funds of funds. So much has been written about them already.

See Allocation to underlying Vanguard Funds

https://www.vanguard.ca/en/advisor/products/products-group/etfs/VGRO

[Heckler]

https://youtu.be/rSn2CT6lDlA?si=EIkSYQiE8RM4P7Hu

I would suggest you skip watching the 3:30 to 8:00 discussion about taxes.   Too much information at this time.

[Heckler]

  Is VFV or VTI a good option?

Not as a single holding if you understand global and asset diversification and getting plain old boring average returns.  VFV is shown as Large Cap Equity and VTI is Large Cap plus Small Cap Equity.

https://www.callan.com/research/2023-classic-periodic-table/

[Heckler]

And truly, you need to make your own investment plan (aka an IPS) for your house cash out to travel a year money.

The BEST ETF if you want to buy another house in a year is different than if you want to invest for passive income for the rest of your lives.

https://www.finiki.org/wiki/Investment_policy_statement

[sasha520]

Thanks! We’ve allocated 200k to retirement, so the etf I’m after is for that. I will check out all the things you posted. Looks like we are keeping the house down payment money in a safe 5% savings account.

Nothing we cashed out on our house (the 650k) is going to be allocated for travel. That’s a separate fund/income along the way

[Rockies]

Not as a single holding if you understand global and asset diversification and getting plain old boring average returns.  VFV is shown as Large Cap Equity and VTI is Large Cap plus Small Cap Equity.

I guess I dont understand. Seems like VTI is a good diversified holding. Care to explain further?

I was going to say the answer to the original question is: It doesnt matter too much if you are just getting into investing because being invested in any of the popular stock funds is 99% better than not being invested. Anything further than that is just getting nit picky.

[sixwings]

I hold about 50% in VEQT, 10% in VFV, and 40% in VGT/TEC.TO. I'm bullish on tech which is why I hold those 2 tech ETFs. I'm very happy with the performance.

I don't hold much Canada specifically, VEQT holds about 25% Canadian equities, that's more than enough canadian exposure for me. I'm not bullish on the long term prospects of Canada's performance.

[JAYSLOL]

I don’t recommend specific funds to people, I think it’s a good idea to do lots of research into the options as well as know your risk tolerance and then pick based on those.  Personally I hold VEQT and VGRO in Questrade (both are .TO because you want the fund traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange rather than a US Exchange for the most efficiency).  I did some basic research before picking those, but I didn’t avoid getting started for too long and let analysis paralysis set in.