Tweaking Investment Exposure

He often gets questions whether it's a good time to invest now, and it's usually new money coming off the sidelines. Right now, the US equity market's at all-time highs. One of the ways you can be a bit more conservative at times, or aggressive at times, is by looking at different ways to get exposure to the US large-cap area. And you can do that by using factors.

He brought along a chart of 5 different ETFs as ways to play:  SPHB, SPLV, SPHQ, SDY, and SPY. 

SPY -- low-cost MER, broad S&P 500 exposure.

SPHB -- S&P, high beta. Rebalanced a couple of times a year into the higher-volatility names. Typically exposed to ~20% of the index.

SPLV -- S&P, low volatility. About 20% of the index, typically higher yield. In the long run, similar returns to the broader market.

SPHQ -- his favourite factor. High quality. In the long run, uses filters to give you 20 names of the highest-quality companies in the S&P. Good balance sheets, less sensitive to the economic cycle. Some dividends, some growth. High-performing names. If you can handle the ride, this is the one to buy and hold.

SDY -- a way to play the S&P with a dividend basket.

Reality is that depending on what kind of investor you are, there's a different solution for everyone. Right now, with markets at all-time highs, he's not comfortable telling people to take $$ out of the bank and put it in the market. If you did right now, he'd say to go low volatility or high dividends. Because...look at his next chart.

The next chart shows that, during volatile periods over the years, when it's bad (as it was during Covid or 2015-2016) the low volatility and higher dividend options give you a better experience. They keep you invested, with more yield and less downside. But after a correction (typically about 13%), you want to pivot and shift into high-beta names for more growth, the broad S&P, or high-quality names. But do this when markets are cheap, not when they're expensive.

Learn which tools work in which environment, but there's an ETF for just about every person out there. Always stay fully invested for the long run, as it's really the best thing people can do. But tweak your exposure, so if we go through an adverse period, it's a little bit less bad. We can't time markets perfectly.

He sold it and that was a big mistake. Sold because the Justice Department deemed GOOG a monopolist, which would lead to a break up of the company. But if you believe that the parts hold value, then it's fine. He has seller's remorse. Waymo is way ahead of Tesla in self-driving cars, and Waymo could have a huge impact on GOOG. He wants to re-buy GOOG. 

Market Update:

President Trump imposed 25% tariffs on goods from Japan and South Korea, starting on August 1. In addition, the copper market is currently in turmoil as President Trump announced a higher-than-expected 50% tariff on copper imports. The Canadian dollar was 73.04 cents USD. The U.S. S&P 500 ended the week up 0.4%, while the TSX was slightly down 0.1%.

A lot more greens this week than reds. Consumer discretionary and industrials gained 1.8% and 1.7%, respectively. Real estate and consumer staples added 1.5%, each, while energy edged up by 0.7%. Financials ended the week up 0.4%. Technology and materials ended the week down 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively. The most heavily traded shares by volume were TC Energy (TRP), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) and National Bank of Canada (NA).
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He doesn't typically tend to have a ton of commodities exposure. He owns a bit of gold and a bit of energy, but overall his firm is not a heavy commodity investor. It is the time for defensive businesses with good cashflow generation, and value investing should have a bit of a comeback. He favours Canada over the US right now for equities.