Opinions
Larry Berman CFA, CMT, CTA
Vanguard FTSE All-World ex Canada
VXC-T
BUY ON WEAKNESS
Aug 11, 2025
Stock price when the opinion was issued
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Global Dividend ETF, X-Canada. He does not use ETFs because he can diversify naturally. He would recommend for younger investors this one. It is diversified, 55% US, global and very little Canada. It has a low MER. Always be conservative at first. But some blue chip Canadian to go along with it.
TFSA vs RRSP, and examples of ETF’s that would be more suitable? For the large majority of people, the TFSA money is the money that you can be a little more aggressive with because there is more flexibility because the growth you have will be pulled out tax-free. If you want things that are going to grow, and hopefully will be a little more aggressive as a result of seeking that growth, he would use things like iShares MSCI World Index Fund (XWD-T) or Vanguard FTSE All-World ex Canada (VXC-T), both global broadly diversified equity positions that are trying to get you exposure around the world.
This would effectively be Canada, US, Asia and the Far East. In this you are probably going to have 300 shares in the underlying ownership, and you will have the top performing companies in those markets. He is concerned that it is very weighted towards technology and you are not getting any exposure to the parts of the market that have not performed. You are not going to have any exposure to commodities and very little exposure to energy, which are the segments that have done very poorly in the last couple of years.
XAW-T vs. VXC-T. Both are good ETFs. XAW-T is cheaper. They are great one-ticket solutions. He has an extremely high bias in Canada.
US, large cap, mid cap, rest of the world, EMs, but no Canada. Good completion index for Canadians looking to overseas. Not the most tax efficient because it owns US ETFs wrapped up in it, and with international markets there's a double-withholding tax.
If it's money you have sitting on the sidelines, don't go in now. The rest of the world is still pretty richly priced; cheaper relative to the US, but not "cheap". Wait for a correction. If you already have the money invested, and you're rotating out of Canada and into this, then he's OK with that trade today.