Vanguard FTSE All-World ex Canada (VXC.TO)

Best ETF in a child’s RESP? Assuming the child is fairly young and has a long ways to go, he would recommend an equity ETF, and his favourite is Vanguard FTSE All World EX-Canada (VXC-T). Recommends this because he is kind of bearish on Canada because of its oil exposure. This gives you stocks from around the world.

This is a FTSE ex-Canada product. He doesn’t like this kind of thing. It’s sort of an omnibus “Let’s throw the money in this and see what happens.” ETF. Basically a dog’s breakfast of currencies, countries and REITs. You have to be a lot more strategic when investing as to which market you want to be in and which ones you want to avoid.

(A Top Pick Nov 5/14. Up 13.1%.) There is a need to minimize home bias, and this is a product that gets you stocks globally, and conspicuously and deliberately avoids the 4% of the world that is Canada. Something he would recommend for people who have a TFSA or an RESP for a young child. If you have only enough money to put into one thing, this is an example of the one thing you would buy.

(A Top Pick Sept 2/14. Up 20.03%.) A way to reduce exposure to Canada. You are getting your stocks, but you are getting out of those rocks and trees which is such a big part of the Canadian economy.

He would urge anybody to try to get more money out of Canada. Thinks people are woefully over invested in our domestic economy. This has a great MER of about 25 basis points, but keep in mind that this has close to 3000 names in it. It is the most passive you could possibly buy. It’s up 10% year-to-date, outperforming both US and Canadian markets. You have to be fully committed to investing in something like this, because there is no protection on the downside. If you are going to buy this, you should have a time horizon of 5 years or more.

Vanguard FTSE All-World ex Canada (VXC-T) or iShare Core MSCI World of Canada (XAW-T) for an RRSP? You have to focus on global investing. Canada is only 4% of the world. A Canadian’s portfolio, on average, is going to have 50% or more exposure to Canada, and that makes sense only when energy is doing well. That is the biggest swing factor in the Canadian marketplace. These are 2 great ETF’s. They give you basically the entire world outside of the US. This one is a little more focused on larger caps where the Ishare version is all-inclusive.

The world yields about 2.3%. There are dividend focused world ETFs. He is not sure focusing on dividends only makes sense. Dividends on average tend to underperform. VXC-T is everything in the world except for Canada. Foreign dividends don’t get preferential tax treatment, but that tax break is insignificant compared to what you would give up if you only invest in Canada.

Canada is less than 4% of the world market. Canada has almost none of the sectors that have lead the recovery. He loves investing globally. The only reason to have more than 4% in Canada, is for the dividend tax credit.

The entire world except Canada. Great for diversifying outside of Canada. Recommends 10-15% of a portfolio for this one.

The rest of the developed world has stronger seasonality than both the Canadian and US markets. The Hang Seng index is the best for seasonal strength. From mid-Feb. until end of May it tends to outperform the Canadian market.

This is a product that just recently came out. It invests in 96% of the world outside of Canada. Canadians are guilty of home country bias. As investors, we need to find ways to get out of Canada and into other parts of the world.

There is a question based on tax. You should talk to your accountant based on foreign holdings rules. Fine in a registered account.

Canada is 1/25th of the entire world market and this ETF gives you access to the rest of the world. This is the sort of product that he likes and that he will use. Most people have just too much money in Canada.

Home buying is obviously a big problem in Canada. People have typically way too much. He definitely would have no argument against this one. It is going to be up and down with the whims of what is going on in a macro environment.