Care to share what ETFs you've invested in?

excitementcity

Hi All

Thanks for the advice provided so far on ETFs. I've now got to grips with the tax rules of investing in ETFs - US v Non US.

I'm looking into investing in ETFs through a PRSA currently (so the above tax implications will not apply) and also potentially investing in ETFs outside of my PRSA through Degiro, so I'm now trying to get a handle on what type of portfolio to build. A home index, international index and a bond index.

There are just so many to choose from. Just wondering for those of you who have built simple portfolios would care to share what ETFs you invest in?

Thanks so much in advance.

drunkmonkey

I’m only in 1 etf, ticks along nicely every day bought back in January and have added more to it bit by bit.
http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/etf/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=0P00014IK3

Robo Global Robotics and Automation ETF on the London stock exchange.


I’ve no idea why I bought it on the LSE and whether I should sell it and buy back on a different exchange, if anyone could help me out on that one? Or just keep adding to it.

keane2097

VTI and VXUS.

Dardania

Love to share my ETFs - after searching and refining them for so long, I'm quite proud of my selection
In PRSA (from highest weight to lowest):
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Vanguard EUR Gov Bond Index Ins EUR[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]iShares Core S&P 500 ETF USD Acc USD[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]SPDR® MSCI EMU ETF EUR[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DBXT MSCI Emerg Mkts ETF (DR) 1C Unhd...[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]iShares MSCI Canada ETF USD Acc[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Source JPX-Nikkei 400 ETF EUR[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]iShares FTSE 100 ETF GBP Acc GBP[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]iShares Core MSCI Pac ex-Jpn ETF USD ...[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DBXT S&P Select Frontier ETF 1C[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ComStage HSI ETF EUR[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]XACT Nordic 30 ETF SEK[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ComStage SPI® ETF EUR[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]iShares TA-35 Israel ETF USD Acc[/font]

When it comes time to rebalance next Autumn, I will try to reduce USD ETFs (e.g. buy a Candian ETF in CAD$, rather than USD$) - it annoys me that the value of my portfolio changes not due to the underlying change in the ETF, but rather currency exchange rate changes...
I will also check  each fund to see if there's a lower TER fee equivalent that I didn't find when I bought them all originally (e.g. with the Israel ETF, there is talk of Israeli financial regulations changing to allow proper ETFs rather than ETNs as at present- I would feel comfortable buying an ETF direct from Israel in that case).
I'm also strongly considering dumping that bond - just can't see the relevance of it at the moment, particularly if I'm well diversified globally, and have decades to go until retirement...
If you haven't bought your ETFs yet, be cognisant of trading costs - I estimate I spent about €200 in trading costs buying the above ETFs from European bourses - so while the TERs are low and some of the ETFs are nicely in EUR, there's still ~€60 of a loss on each considering buying/selling costs to overcome over my time with them...

For my speculative degiro account:
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]XBT Provider Bitcoin Tracker EUR ETN[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF[/font]
Etherum tracker ETN
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]AI Powered Equity ETF[/font]
Bitcoin is doing well at the moment. Lithium too. So far, Etherum tracker and AI powered equity are at a loss, but I'm in no rush...

excitementcity

keane2097 wrote: »

VTI and VXUS.

Keane2097 thank a mil. Just wondering if you can buy those ETFs in the UK or Irish Exchanges? Sorry if that's a silly question....that's what I was thinking of buying.

excitementcity

Dardania wrote: »

Love to share my ETFs - after searching and refining them for so long, I'm quite proud of my selection
In PRSA (from highest weight to lowest):
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Vanguard EUR Gov Bond Index Ins EUR[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]iShares Core S&P 500 ETF USD Acc USD[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]SPDR® MSCI EMU ETF EUR[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DBXT MSCI Emerg Mkts ETF (DR) 1C Unhd...[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]iShares MSCI Canada ETF USD Acc[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Source JPX-Nikkei 400 ETF EUR[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]iShares FTSE 100 ETF GBP Acc GBP[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]iShares Core MSCI Pac ex-Jpn ETF USD ...[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]DBXT S&P Select Frontier ETF 1C[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ComStage HSI ETF EUR[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]XACT Nordic 30 ETF SEK[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ComStage SPI® ETF EUR[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]iShares TA-35 Israel ETF USD Acc[/font]

When it comes time to rebalance next Autumn, I will try to reduce USD ETFs (e.g. buy a Candian ETF in CAD$, rather than USD$) - it annoys me that the value of my portfolio changes not due to the underlying change in the ETF, but rather currency exchange rate changes...
I will also check  each fund to see if there's a lower TER fee equivalent that I didn't find when I bought them all originally (e.g. with the Israel ETF, there is talk of Israeli financial regulations changing to allow proper ETFs rather than ETNs as at present- I would feel comfortable buying an ETF direct from Israel in that case).
I'm also strongly considering dumping that bond - just can't see the relevance of it at the moment, particularly if I'm well diversified globally, and have decades to go until retirement...
If you haven't bought your ETFs yet, be cognisant of trading costs - I estimate I spent about €200 in trading costs buying the above ETFs from European bourses - so while the TERs are low and some of the ETFs are nicely in EUR, there's still ~€60 of a loss on each considering buying/selling costs to overcome over my time with them...

For my speculative degiro account:
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]XBT Provider Bitcoin Tracker EUR ETN[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF[/font]
Etherum tracker ETN
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]AI Powered Equity ETF[/font]
Bitcoin is doing well at the moment. Lithium too. So far, Etherum tracker and AI powered equity are at a loss, but I'm in no rush...

Wow super detailed portfolio. Thanks so much for the reply and taking the time to do so. I missed the replies on this thread. Yeah super aware of the costs alright.

I'm hoping to buy after tax EFT's through Degiro which seems to be the sensible thing to do but I'm looking into Davy for doing the purchasing of ETF's through my pension (PRSA). The charge with Davy is 0.75% dealing charge + ETF charge. But if you buy ETF's outside of the UK or Ireland exchanges you're charged 0.1% + 25 Euro charge each time. Which seems mad. So wondering if I can buy any of the Vanguard VTI and VXUS through those exchanges?

Sabre Man

QQQ, SCHD and VEUR

Dardania

A handy website to drill down to ETFs is:

https://www.justetf.com/uk/find-etf.html?assetClass=class-equity&groupField=index&region=World&distributionPolicy=distributionPolicy-accumulating&dc=IE

If buying for your pension, you should look for ones which are
accumulating (so any dividends paid get reinvested to the fund, raising its value - the whole compound interest idea)
Domiciled in Ireland (makes the tax situation much easier as the PRSA is tax sheltered)
Traded in London (to avoid that purchase fee you refer to)

The two Vanguard ones are US domiciled (so there will be tax issues to resolve) and as they are US domiciled, you can’t have them accumulate don’t dividends (so distribute the dividends to you meaning it’s hassle to reinvest)

keane2097

excitementcity wrote: »

Keane2097 thank a mil. Just wondering if you can buy those ETFs in the UK or Irish Exchanges? Sorry if that's a silly question....that's what I was thinking of buying.

Just the states. There are probably EU alternatives but the Irish tax treatment of ETFs is preferable for me.

excitementcity

Sabre Man wrote: »

QQQ, SCHD and VEUR

Oh deadly thanks a mil

excitementcity

Dardania wrote: »

A handy website to drill down to ETFs is:

https://www.justetf.com/uk/find-etf.html?assetClass=class-equity&groupField=index&region=World&distributionPolicy=distributionPolicy-accumulating&dc=IE

If buying for your pension, you should look for ones which are
accumulating (so any dividends paid get reinvested to the fund, raising its value - the whole compound interest idea)
Domiciled in Ireland (makes the tax situation much easier as the PRSA is tax sheltered)
Traded in London (to avoid that purchase fee you refer to)

The two Vanguard ones are US domiciled (so there will be tax issues to resolve) and as they are US domiciled, you can’t have them accumulate don’t dividends (so distribute the dividends to you meaning it’s hassle to reinvest)

Ah a person after my own heart. That was exactly all my own thoughts. That's exactly what I'm trying to do. Have accumulating, domiciled in Ireland and traded in London. To avoid the fees and avoid the dividend tax issues. OK thanks for letting me know that those ones are the distributing ones.

I have been searching on JustETF. It's brilliant. I was just getting a bit lost. Would VWRD be one that meets those rules then?

excitementcity

keane2097 wrote: »

Just the states. There are probably EU alternatives but the Irish tax treatment of ETFs is preferable for me.

Yes, totally get you. I was potentially thinking of taking that approach outside my PRSA however, taking the opposite approach within the PRSA as the other tax rules shouldn't apply and accummulating would be better within the PRSA .

Dardania

excitementcity wrote: »

Dardania wrote: »

A handy website to drill down to ETFs is:

https://www.justetf.com/uk/find-etf.html?assetClass=class-equity&groupField=index®ion=World&distributionPolicy=distributionPolicy-accumulating&dc=IE

If buying for your pension, you should look for ones which are
accumulating (so any dividends paid get reinvested to the fund, raising its value - the whole compound interest idea)
Domiciled in Ireland (makes the tax situation much easier as the PRSA is tax sheltered)
Traded in London (to avoid that purchase fee you refer to)

The two Vanguard ones are US domiciled (so there will be tax issues to resolve) and as they are US domiciled, you can’t have them accumulate don’t dividends (so distribute the dividends to you meaning it’s hassle to reinvest)

Ah a person after my own heart. That was exactly all my own thoughts. That's exactly what I'm trying to do. Have accumulating, domiciled in Ireland and traded in London. To avoid the fees and avoid the dividend tax issues. OK thanks for letting me know that those ones are the distributing ones.

I have been searching on JustETF. It's brilliant. I was just getting a bit lost. Would VWRD be one that meets those rules then?

I may be reading the wrong one, but from what I can see, VWRD is distributing rather than accumulating.

For your sort of criteria (Irish domiciled, accumulating, all world, trading in London) I’d look at:

https://www.justetf.com/uk/etf-profile.html?dc=IE&region=World&groupField=none&sortField=ter&sortOrder=asc&from=search&distributionPolicy=distributionPolicy-accumulating&assetClass=class-equity&isin=IE00BJ0KDQ92

Or

https://www.justetf.com/uk/etf-profile.html?dc=IE&region=World&groupField=none&distributionPolicy=distributionPolicy-accumulating&assetClass=class-equity&sortField=ter&sortOrder=asc&from=search&isin=IE00B4L5Y983

And choose from the Listing tab the specific listing in USD in London. They both seem pretty similar

It seems all of these funds have USD as their base currency - which may be an issue in future if the intent is to retire in EUR (and if the USD is heavily devalued in the coming decades)

excitementcity

Dardania wrote: »

I may be reading the wrong one, but from what I can see, VWRD is distributing rather than accumulating.

For your sort of criteria (Irish domiciled, accumulating, all world, trading in London) I’d look at:

https://www.justetf.com/uk/etf-profile.html?dc=IE&region=World&groupField=none&sortField=ter&sortOrder=asc&from=search&distributionPolicy=distributionPolicy-accumulating&assetClass=class-equity&isin=IE00BJ0KDQ92

Or

https://www.justetf.com/uk/etf-profile.html?dc=IE&region=World&groupField=none&distributionPolicy=distributionPolicy-accumulating&assetClass=class-equity&sortField=ter&sortOrder=asc&from=search&isin=IE00B4L5Y983

And choose from the Listing tab the specific listing in USD in London. They both seem pretty similar

It seems all of these funds have USD as their base currency - which may be an issue in future if the intent is to retire in EUR (and if the USD is heavily devalued in the coming decades)

Ok brilliant makes sense. Thanks again. I'll look at those..Agree re the currency issue alright. I have to think more on that alright. But this is a good starting point

Dardania

excitementcity wrote: »

Dardania wrote: »

I may be reading the wrong one, but from what I can see, VWRD is distributing rather than accumulating.

For your sort of criteria (Irish domiciled, accumulating, all world, trading in London) I’d look at:

https://www.justetf.com/uk/etf-profile.html?dc=IE®ion=World&groupField=none&sortField=ter&sortOrder=asc&from=search&distributionPolicy=distributionPolicy-accumulating&assetClass=class-equity&isin=IE00BJ0KDQ92

Or

https://www.justetf.com/uk/etf-profile.html?dc=IE®ion=World&groupField=none&distributionPolicy=distributionPolicy-accumulating&assetClass=class-equity&sortField=ter&sortOrder=asc&from=search&isin=IE00B4L5Y983

And choose from the Listing tab the specific listing in USD in London. They both seem pretty similar

It seems all of these funds have USD as their base currency - which may be an issue in future if the intent is to retire in EUR (and if the USD is heavily devalued in the coming decades)

Ok brilliant makes sense. Thanks again. I'll look at those..Agree re the currency issue alright. I have to think more on that alright. But this is a good starting point

It’s likely I’m overthinking the currency issue - much of the world bases their own currencies off the dollar anyway, so the issue may not be as bad as I am concerned about. But it is why I never went for one of those all world funds, and instead built my own allocation trying to keep in EUR as much as possible (or directly in each regions dominant currency) - us Europeans don’t seem to be given such easy choices compared to the US.

excitementcity

Dardania wrote: »

It’s likely I’m overthinking the currency issue - much of the world bases their own currencies off the dollar anyway, so the issue may not be as bad as I am concerned about. But it is why I never went for one of those all world funds, and instead built my own allocation trying to keep in EUR as much as possible (or directly in each regions dominant currency) - us Europeans don’t seem to be given such easy choices compared to the US.

You're sure right there

Dardania

Evidentally, boards' PM system is beyond my abilities, so:

excitementcity wrote:

Dardania wrote:

excitementcity wrote:

Hi Dardania

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post about ETF funds. I really appreciate it. 

I'm thinking of investing in a PRSA with Davy's myself and I'm just wondering how you're finding it?

Do you find the fees expensive?

Do you find it's possible to stay out of the extra 0.1% +25 Euro charge for ETF's outside the UK and Irish exchanges? In reality what is the total cost really like for the funds. Do you find you have to add much costs on in addition to the 0,75%?

Thanks so much.

Hi Dardania just got this reply from you. Not sure if you meant to include other information in it...email just seemed to be blank with my message in it...cheers :)

Rats, I did actually type a response but it looks like it never sent - I'm not presently in Ireland and the connection is intermittent at times...
Davy PRSA seems to be one of the best options at the moment. I believe there is some EU legislation int he works that wil create a common market for pension products, coming out in the next few years, so I may change to a better provider in fture, as they start competing with each other.
With the fees, they are actually not bad to my mind considering the alternatives. I think all PRSAs have to be less than 1.5% annual fee - I did a weighted average calc of the TERs for the funds I'm invested in, and it's 0.24%. Add to that Davy's 0.75% and I'm at 0.99% all in - so I'm at least beating the alternatives.
With the purchase costs, sometimes it's not always possible to avoid buying from European exchanges. Of the 13 funds I'm invested in, 9 of them were bought from Europe. The reason I chose some of those funds was they have low TERs (so I can at least maximise "compound interest" type gains) - and I don't really plan on buying more shares in those funds. Indeed, considering all of the 9 funds that I paid purchase fees on, in the 3 or 4 months I've owned them, I've made that around back by now in capital appreciation. So, take the pain now, and realise the gains over time...
Of the 4 other funds I bought, on the London Stock Exchange, these are the funds that I will purchase more of whenever I deposit money in my PRSA.
D

excitementcity

Thanks so much really appreciate all that insight. Its hard to get a handle of the true costs when you don't have the account open and its great to be able to talk to someone who's a bit further down the same road.

I've gone ahead and completed the forms anyway so I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again for all the help.

Dardania

excitementcity wrote: »

Thanks so much really appreciate all that insight. Its hard to get a handle of the true costs when you don't have the account open and its great to be able to talk to someone who's a bit further down the same road.

I've gone ahead and completed the forms anyway so I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again for all the help.

If nothing else, Davy themselves offer a fund for which they waive the 0.75% fee (although the fund itself has I think a 1.5% charge - so basically same as a standard PRSA):

https://lt.morningstar.com/tor8cmbuuh/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=F00000PZOH&SecurityToken=F00000PZOH%5D2%5D1%5DFOALL%24%24ALL_1118&ClientFund=1&LanguageId=en-GB&CurrencyId=EUR&UniverseId=FOALL%24%24ALL_1118&BaseCurrencyId=EUR
you could buy that after opening the account, and then move to your own investment choices as you gain confidence

excitementcity

Yeah, I saw that alright. Ah no I'm good with the other option. Just was getting boggled with choices and trying to make sure about the exact costs.

The other good option was a Standard Life PRSA at 0.95% but it's not self directed and I really want to go that route. I already have some on a DB and DC scheme from a previous employment but want more control over this one.