Take the STI ETF for example. If I lose my entire capital invested, this would literally translate to DBS, UOB, OCBC, SIA, Singtel trading at zero dollars. For that to happen, I think putting money anywhere will mean total loss anyway.
Besides, STI ETF pays regular dividends as well. Historically, the dividends are about 4-6 cents per unit, which translates to miserable yield of 2%. Well, don’t expect Singpost or SPH dividends payout if you are buying STI ETFs. People mainly buy it for capital appreciation.
The sales charge is equal to brokerage charges (0.2%), management fee of about 1% and that’s it. No need to rebalance portfolio as fund manager does that for you, daily.
I have been through the Lehman crisis and it’s terrible to see my stock holdings bleed day after day. Fortunately, I was holding on to pure blue chips and that gave me conviction to hold. Dividends came in timely as I repurchase other even badly battered mid cap stocks that gave me more than 100% returns on hindsight.
Today as I looked back, I might not have fare much better if I invested in STI ETF. However, I definitely would have slept better during the crash in 2008. This is what portfolio theory explains: Invest according to risk tolerance and you will get an optimal portfolio that gives you the highest return based on your risk profile.
I want to blog more about ETFs as this is the next direction I am getting into. No more single large stock purchase, mainly diversified portfolio in different regions.
In Singapore, we can access to the worlds markets just by buying ETFs and paying the minimum brokerage of 0.2%. However for a start, I would like to constrain myself to buy plain vanilla ETFs instead of exotic new generation ETFs.
From SGX website:
Plain vanilla ETFs (as I termed it) are cash based ETFs that adopt either full replication methodology or representing sampling methodology
Full replication methodology
The ETF holds the same stocks in the same proportion as the weights of the constituent stocks in the benchmark index.
Representative sample methodology
The ETF holds a selected number of constituents stocks of the underlying index according to their degree of historical correlation with such index. In other words, the ETF holds a sample of constituent securities that statistically represents the index.
In other words, my invested captial is backed by shares of companies as underlying assets.
List of cash based ETFs
Cash-based ETFs | ||
SGX Stock Code | ||
ABF Singapore Bond Index ETF | A35 | |
CIMB FTSE ASEAN40 ETF | M62 | |
Daiwa FTSE Shariah Japan 100 ETF | F1F | |
DBS Singapore STI ETF | G3B | |
iShares Dow Jones US Technology Sector Index ETF | I21 | |
iShares MSCI Singapore Index ETF | I19 | |
iShares S&P 500 Index ETF | I17 | |
SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF | D07 | |
SPDR® Gold Shares | O87 | |
SPDRs® S&P 500® ETF | S27 | |
streetTRACKS® Straits Times Index ETF | ES3 |
As I am only interested in investing in cash based ETFs, options to me are still quite limited. I have invested in STI ETF and will probably look into gold etf (O87, S27), American markets (I17, I21), ASEAN markets (M62).
Asean 40 ETFs invests mainly in Singapore stocks (40%) and the rest in Malaysia (31%), Indonesia (17%) and Thailand (11%). Quite an interesting combination.
As for exotic ETFs which I termed that myself because I don’t quite like the fact that I am not holding on to actual securities but rather options/notes of the underlying assets. If you want more info on this, check this link out: http://www.sgx.com/wps/portal/marketplace/mp-en/products/securities_products/etfs
Though counterparty risk may be low, but I still traditionally believe that investment should be simple and direct. I don’t mean to put new generation ETFs down, but it is just a personal preference to keep my investments simple. Even though that means I am losing out on buying Brazil, Russia, China index funds. Well, I may invest in an emerging market unit trust instead to ride the new commodities and BRIC wave.
