Stockchase Opinions

Mike Philbrick iShares Core Bal. ETF XBAL-T BUY Nov 15, 2022

All-purpose ETF for a retired senior, non-RRSP XBAL holds US, Canadian, emerging stocks and Canadian & US bonds. It's globally diversified. In addition to XBAL, he also suggests HRAA (which he manages--disclosure) which is a globally balanced portfolio of stocks, commodities and bonds plus a managed futures overlays. HRAA offers alpha and beta to mitigate downside like the present.
$24.450

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TOP PICK
You buy it once and you don't have to do anything else if you buy it in a registered account. You don't have to think. MER is 18 basis points. Very cheap.
BUY
A simple single-ticket solution instead of buying a basket of ETFs. It's cheap and diversified. This may be too simple and not for everyone. It's good for people who find investing unsavoury.
DON'T BUY
XBAL-T or XGRO-T. Can either of these be a one-stop portfolio? They are good for a starting point but he could never recommend one for a retiree. Their views are not aligned with his firm's views. The weightings around the world are not aligned with what he calls his 'super-trend' views.
PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Jan 07/19, Up 13%) 40% fixed income, and 60% equity in Canadian, US and international. This portfolio is passive, and is rebalanced quarterly. It would be great in RRSPs. You can just own this and just continue.
COMMENT
A 60-40 portfolio. They are theoretically designed to provide a 7% total return. He would recommend investors to look at portfolio returns as a whole. Capital gains is also a component of an investment strategy.
DON'T BUY
Not yet. Investors can re-balance their portfolios. If you aimed for one percentage of equities and another for bonds, you can move money to maintain that balance. That is one of the most prudent things people can do. The bottoms are not in yet.
BUY
Balanced ETFs for a long-term hold?

VBAL and XBAL are great, one-stop shops for smaller accounts. Leave it and forget it. Typically has about 40% fixed income, which would have had a tough run up till about a year ago. 

VBAL costs about 25 bps for the MER, XBAL costs about 20 bps. VBAL is 41% Canadian content, XBAL is about 45%. XBAL has outperformed for the last 3 and 5 years.