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Critique my ETF portfolio


SaurusDNA

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I think this is a really good mix now. Looks well balanced with great potential.

 

I think this year will be an excellent one for STXQUA, STXEMG and INDI25 in particular, so I like the higher percentages that you've allocated to these right now. You could always buy more property in the future when it starts to pick up.

 

I had the same thought on the property front, keep it in the mix with the potential of increasing it in future.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, another quick thought.

 

I have some extra funds in my bond and I am contemplating taking out R33k and filling up my wife's TFSA account. I think there is a bit more longterm benefit and I plan to replace the funds I take out of my bond in a relatively short period after Feb.

 

So, this is the split in my account:

Local:

INDI25 - 20%

STXQUA - 20%

PTXTEN - 5%

 

International:

STXWDM - 20%

STXEMG - 20%

SYG4IR - 10%

GLPROP - 5%

 

The idea is to build up something slightly different in the second account which will allow for even more diversification. From some of my old notes I am somewhere here:

 

CTOP50

ASHT40 (or satrix)

PTXTEN

 

ASHGEQ

SYGWD

 

I am looking for some more international ones though. Think the two that I have selected overlap too much. Maybe I should keep ASHGEQ and add STXEMG, even though it is in my portfolio as well I think it is a great ETF.

 

Any thoughts or recommendations?

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Great idea. The market has returned roughly 15% year on year since forever, which is higher than the average bond rate. That, together with the tax savings, in my opinion, topping up your wife's TFIA is the way to go.

 

It's an interesting mix you've chosen there. I think I see what you're trying to do. You've matched the market cap weighted indexes with the equal weight indices to balance growth vs risk. The portfolio you've chosen for your wife is rock solid, and should certainly match the market. I like the way you're thinking with your choices - I haven't actually thought of mixing ETFs up this way before.

 

With the choice between ASHT40 and STX40, ASHT40 is much cheaper than STX40 for the exact same index. The TER for ASHT40 is 0.19% and for STX40 it's 0.45%. That means SATRIX is more than double the costs for the same index! Compounded over 25 years, the difference equates to a lot of money. For this one, ASHT40 beats STX40 hands down. Plus, you already have a lot of SATRIX in your portfolio, and it's always good to balance your brokers too, just in case...

 

To compliment your own portfolio, which already has STXWDM, I'd definitely go for ASHGEQ. ASHGEQ basically tracks the global market 100% and is the most solid of all the global ETFs and will match the global market pretty much 100%, However, to beat the market just a little, and since you already have STXWDM in your portfolio, I think I'd add STXEMG and STX500 (the S&P500 index, which has outperformed the global market for years) to add some extra USA exposure. Since 2015, emerging markets have had better growth than developed markets, with EMs having 4.5% GDP and DMs having only 2.25%. Much of the EMG success is due to China. Some analysts think China won't be able to sustain their growth, but others say China is the way of the future. I think your choice of adding EMG here as well should depend to some extent on how you think China will do.

 

Maybe consider:

 

Local

CTOP50

ASHT40 (NOT satrix in this case)

PTXTEN

 

Global

Some global mix suggestions:

 

Mix 1:

ASHGEQ (Globally balanced + some emerging markets)

STX500 (USA S&P500)

STXEMG (Emerging Markets)

 

Mix 2:

SYGWD (60% USA + some global)

STXEMG (Emerging Markets)

SYGJP (Japan) and/or SYGEU (Euro stocks)

 

Mix 3:

ASHGEQ (Globally balanced + some emerging markets)

SYGWD (60% USA + some global)

SYGJP (Japan) and/or SYGEU (Euro stocks)

 

Mix 4:

Only ASHGEQ, since it really is well balanced.

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There's no point having both ASHT40 and CTOP50 in the same portfolio. CTOP50 contains all of ASHT40 plus 10 extra. You'll be paying duplicate trading costs etc. for the same stuff. Of those, I'd keep CTOP50.

 

You can have more diversification buy adding ASHMID to the mix.

 

Although a bit more different I feel the same about STXWDM and ASHGEQ. Rather pick both STXWDM+STXEMG or just ASHGEQ.

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Today is a perfect example of why CTOP50 is better than STX40.

 

The all-share index gained 0.10% today, but the top 40 index dropped by 0.03%, purely because Naspers dropped 1.41% during the day. 

 

On the other hand, the CTOP50, which has a cap of 10% on any stock, gained 0.28%. Same shares as T40 (+10) but with more equal weightings.

 

With Asian markets faltering in the last few weeks, I'm so glad I have CTOP50!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok so I think I have made up my mind to finish the tax year. As said earlier, my TFSA looks like this:

 

Local:

INDI25 - 20%

STXQUA - 20%

PTXTEN - 5%

 

International:

STXWDM - 20%

STXEMG - 20%

SYG4IR - 10%

GLPROP - 5%

 

In my wife's account the plan is to split it as follows:

 

CTOP50

PTXTEN

STXDIV

 

ASHGEQ

GLODIV (The new Coreshares Global Dividend Aristocrats)

 

The main idea is to diversify this from my own TFSA. I have not decided on percentages yet but it will probably be 50/50. I'd like to get some big chunks into the dividend ETFs in hoping that they will make up in dividends what they might lack in growth. All dividends will be reinvested.

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I've just had a look how my ETFs fared during the market crash of the past two weeks. We have been on an extended bull run for quite some time now and this sudden volatility and crash has made me re-assess my portfolio, as I now have some evidence of what happens in down market as well as an up market.

 

My ETF portfolio from best to worst performance:

 

Satrix Quality SA Port        (STXQUA)    + 2.11 %

CORESHARESTOP50         (CTOP50)    - 4.05 %

Satrix MSCI EMG Markets   (STXEMG)    - 4.12 %

Ashburton Gbl 1200Eq      (ASHGEQ)    - 6.43 %

Satrix INDI Portfolio           (STXIND)    - 8.57 %

CoreShares Global Prop     (GLPROP)    - 10.63 %

Sygnia Itrix 4Ind Rev Gb   (SYG4IR)    - 11.84 %

 

My thoughts on the results:

 

STXQUA was the top performer in the crashing market and the only one that stayed green. Although this is not strictly a high dividend ETF, dividend yield are used to determine the quality of the companies in the ETF, so it's kind of a hybrid. But the performance in this rout has confirmed the theory of the importance of a high dividend yield ETF as part of a balanced portfolio as a bear-market hedge and convinced me it is a crucial part in my TFIA portfolio. I shall therefore be adding STXDIV as well over the next few months.

 

Globally, emerging markets performed better than developed markets, even in the crash. Its ability to outperform developed markets in both bull and bear markets has convinced me that I was wise to have equal holdings in both ASHGEQ and STXEMG. I'll carry on buying these two in equal proportions.

 

STXIND: Just as Bandit has always warned about Market Cap distribution, a 16% drop in Naspers has totally hammered this ETF, which is comprised of roughly 40% Naspers. This is a perfect example of the dangers of both market-cap-distributed and industry-specific ETFs. That being said, it has been the top performer over 10 years, so I won't sell it, but I think I'll keep it capped at 10% of my portfolio.

 

SYG4IR: Yeah, yeah, what can I say? I knew this would be a gamble, and so far my pile of chips is way down.  Should I sell out or go all-in? The trouble with this one is that I think the rewards will be seen in the very far distant future (maybe 10 years), so it's a massive risk to keep buying this one for 10 years. If I'm wrong, I've wasted 10% of my TFIA, but if I'm right, my pile of chips will become mountains of chips. Tough call...

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  • 1 month later...

Hi guys

 

Recently just started with this. I submitted an order for the following:

 

Please tell me what you think about this.

 

 

GLPROP about 15%

NFEMOM about 35%

SYGWD about 50%

 

My biggest critique is that you're only looking at developed markets and not emerging markets, which have been outperforming developed market for years in terms of growth.

 

I'd want to add at least 15% emerging markets on the offshore mix. So maybe:

 

GLPROP about 15%

NFEMOM about 35% (Although I personally prefer CTOP50)

SYGWD about 35%

STXEMG 15% (May boost your offshore growth a little)

 

Otherwise, it's a good mix!

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

Hi All

 

 

 

Bit late to the party, but would like some critique of my portfolio. Currently as follows:

 

 

 

PTXTEN 10%

 

GLPROP 10%

 

CTOP50 30%

 

STXEMG 10%

 

STXWDM 40%

 

 

 

Thinking of adding some STXQUA for more local exposure.

 

 

Thoughts?

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I'd definitely add some STXQUA. It's had a bit of a rough year, particularly because of TBS and AVI, but the plus side is that it's cheap at the moment.

 

In a bearish market, high dividend stocks almost always outperform momentum stocks, and STXQUA is full of high dividend companies, so if the fears of recession come true, the STXQUA should shine. Plus, it's got SLM, TRU and CML as major components, and these three are set to skyrocket, in my opinion.

 

I've got 11% of my ETF portfolio in STXQUA, and despite its recent slide, it's still my favourite ETF due to its amazing fundamentals. If I were you, I'd definitely go 10% STXQUA, and take that percentage from STXWDM or CTOP50 depending on how much local/offshore exposure you want.

 

I'd keep your GLPROP, PTXTEM and STXEMG percentages exactly as is for now. These are being slaughtered at the moment, but if you're in it for the long haul, these should outperform the market average substantially.

 

The only other change I might suggest is buying some GLODIV (take the percentage from STXWDM) to balance the global quality/value ETF (GLODIV) against your momentum ETF (STXWDM). In a bullish global market, STXWDM should excel, but if the market goes bearish, GLODIV should do much better.

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  • 9 months later...

Haven’t seen a post under here for a while nor have I said anything for a while...

Anyways- I’ve decided to give my ETFs some serious thought and this is what I’ve come up with (I’m open to all suggestions).

I want my overall exposure to be 70% local and 30% offshore. Then, under both local and international holdings I was thinking about having 70% equities, 20% property and 10% dividends. Or not including the dividends because most of these would be under equities anyways and then having maybe a 80/20 split?

For local:
Satrix Top 40 and maybe the Coreshares Smart (equally weighted) - I know these are basically the same, but I don’t want over exposure to one share nor do I just want equally weighted, so I thought that mixing the two would give a bit of a better mix.

Then for local property Coreshares PropTrax10

And if dividends perhaps Coreshares Aristocrats?

International I’m a bit confused about because I’d still like a bit of emerging markets as well.

So maybe:

1) Ashburton global 1200
2) Sygnia S&P 500 (I know Ashburton would have quite a few American companies in it already)

For international property I’m thinking about Coreshares S&P Global

And dividends would be Coreshares again or maybe an ETF from Satrix.

Is this too complicated of a mix and should I rather just aim for 1 or 2 ETFs for local and international?

I am trying to keep the portfolio moderately simple!

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1 hour ago, SlimArchi said:


I want my overall exposure to be 70% local and 30% offshore. Then, under both local and international holdings I was thinking about having 70% equities, 20% property and 10% dividends. Or not including the dividends because most of these would be under equities anyways and then having maybe a 80/20 split?

 

The 70% equities, 20% property and 10% interest bearing is the classic split. But yes, I suppose 10% dividends would make it 80% equities. But there's certainly nothing wrong with 80% equities!

 

1 hour ago, SlimArchi said:


For local:
Satrix Top 40 and maybe the Coreshares Smart (equally weighted) - I know these are basically the same, but I don’t want over exposure to one share nor do I just want equally weighted, so I thought that mixing the two would give a bit of a better mix.

Then for local property Coreshares PropTrax10

And if dividends perhaps Coreshares Aristocrats?

 

I'm torn between STX40 and SMART. I really like a 50/50 split between these two.

 

PTXTEN is now merging with PTXSPY to create a new ETF (tentatively coming into effect from end July 2019). The new one is pretty much the same index as the Satrix STXPRO. Coreshares has promised to lower the relatively high TER with the merge (probably to compete with STXPRO). But you may as well flip a coin here between PTXTEN or STXPRO or watch the TERs once the new Coreshares ETF has settled in.

 

For the dividend ETF, both DIVTRX and STXDIV are decent choices. DIVTRX targets more consistent yields in the longer term whereas STXDIV targets higher yields in the shorter term. And then again, although STXQUA is not strictly a dividend ETF, it's dividends are usually excellent.

 

1 hour ago, SlimArchi said:

International I’m a bit confused about because I’d still like a bit of emerging markets as well.

So maybe:

1) Ashburton global 1200
2) Sygnia S&P 500 (I know Ashburton would have quite a few American companies in it already)

For international property I’m thinking about Coreshares S&P Global

And dividends would be Coreshares again or maybe an ETF from Satrix.

 

In my opinion, STXEMG has the most long term potential (although high risk), possibly even more so than tech shares. If you have a bit of appetite for risk, why not do 10% STXEMG, and then leave the ASHGEQ and go for STXWDM and/or S&P500.

 

GLODIV has been doing really well lately and is likely to continue. Not so great in a TFIA though as the unpleasantly high foreign withholding tax on dividends negates a large chunk of the tax benefits though, but it still does have excellent capital gains, so maybe still even worth having in a TFIA.

 

1 hour ago, SlimArchi said:


Is this too complicated of a mix and should I rather just aim for 1 or 2 ETFs for local and international?

I am trying to keep the portfolio moderately simple!

 

I personally like having a bit of a mix in my ETF portfolio.  If I were you, I'd mix it up a little and make it a bit more exciting.

 

What about something like:

 

Local equities: 20% STX40 and 20% SMART

Local property: 20% PTXTEN

Emerging markets: 10% STXEMG

Offshore: 15% CSP500 and 15% STXWDM (or alternatively 10% CSP500, 10% STXWDM and 10% GLODIV)

 

Or if you don't like STXEMG but prefer slightly less emerging markets exposure, but still want some:

 

Local equities: 20% STX40 and 20% SMART

Local property: 20% PTXTEN

Local dividends: 10% DIVTRX

Offshore: 30% ASHGEQ

 

 

Edited by SaurusDNA
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"GLODIV has been doing really well lately and is likely to continue. Not so great in a TFIA though as the unpleasantly high foreign withholding tax on dividends negates a large chunk of the tax benefits though, but it still does have excellent capital gains, so maybe still even worth having in a TFIA."

 

 

are the dividends taxed in a tax free savings account? foreign and local?

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For local ETFs, capital gains, distributions (dividends) and REIT income is tax free.

 

For foreign ETFs, capital gains are tax free, but distributions (dividends) and REIT income is taxed by that country, so the only tax benefit to us within a TFIA is on capital gains.

 

Thus, in order of tax benefits in a TFIA (from biggest to smallest):

 

Local property ETFs have the biggest tax saving

Local income ETFs (high dividends)

Local equities

Foreign equities

Foreign income ETFs (high dividends)

Foreign property ETFs have the lease tax benefit

 

Edited by SaurusDNA
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Thanks Saurus, most definitely take what you have said into consideration!

I like emerging markets but I feel like with most of my exposure to SA I should probably not put as much as I like into them.

Doing some research now into the other funds you mentioned!

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  • 11 months later...
20 hours ago, Anesu said:

How about a 2020 update? 

 

So this year, the markets have gone crazy, but not altogether bad from an ETF point of view. However, the more the markets do wild things, the more I've been inclined to go for vanilla ETFs.

 

I think I've only made one or two big changes since last year, namely selling my Coreshare's SMART ETF in favour of the Satrix Top 40, and then reducing my allocation of property (CSPROP) from 25% to 15% (I didn't sell - I'm just not buying at the moment until it's less than 15% of my total portfolio.) I used the extra 10% allocation from property to buy Satrix Nasdaq (STXNDQ).

 

So at the moment, most ETFs are doing really well, especially the foreign ones. My Tax Free investment portfolio and it's performance (total return) looks as follows:

 

Local ETFs (Total 45%):

10% Satrix Top 40 (STX40) - Performance in my portfolio: +0%

10% Newfunds Momentum (NFEMOM) - Performance: +7%

10% Satrix Quality (STXQUA) - Performance: -10% (Even though this is currently down, I don't want to sell this because I love the shares in this basket and see long term potential.)

15% Coreshares Property (CSPROP) - Performance: -22% (Would be much worse if not for the massive dividends).

 

Foreign ETFs (Total 55%):

25% Ashburton Global 1200 (ASHGEQ) - Performance: +22%

10% Satrix Emerging Markets (STXEMG) - Performance: +27%

10% Satrix Nasdaq (STXNDQ) - Performance: +44%

10% Sygnia 4th Industrial Revolution (SYG4IR) - Performance: +51% ( I know Simon Brown always slams this one as just being popular rather than having actual merit, but it's been my best performing ETF and continues to perform, despite the measly dividends. I don't think I'd be comfortable with it being more than 10% of my portfolio though.)

 

Things that I've noticed that have happened in my portfolio this year:

Foreign markets have vastly outperformed local markets this year.

Emerging market are outperforming developed markets this year, despite COVID (to be expected in the long term, but surprising given the current pandemic.)

Tech ETFs are outperforming everything else by far.

 

Changes that I'm going to make: I'm going to buy some Satrix China (STXCHN) after its launch tomorrow, but I don't think I'll put it in my TFIA, as it would go against my diversification policy within my TFIA. But I'm definitely going to buy a fair amount of this ETF outside of my TFIA.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So let's see:

 

TFSA +28%

ETF5IT (42%)

ASHGEQ (55%)

STXEMG (3%)

 

The growth here was helped by timing the crash and dip earlier this year and time.

 

Portfolio #1 +8%

SYGWD (27%)

SYG4IR (42%)

STXCHN (31%)

 

Portfolio was started after the crash, so gains are partly due to the recovery (maybe?) and the recent growth we've seen over the last week.

 

Portfolio #2 +77%

ETFRHO (95%)

DCX10 (5%)

 

Ah yes, portfolio 2. Otherwise known as my **** around portfolio. Growth is largely from past performance of ETFRHO and it's been stuck in the +70 range for a while. I reckon the party is over but scared of capital gains.

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16 hours ago, Bandit said:

 

He's probably right but who cares - it's making me money 😛

 

Agreed.

 

SYG4IR invests in companies like Tesla, that has never had a profitable year and constantly loses money, but is growing at an amazing rate due to massive investment in the company. It may be true that it is not sound to invest in companies that are making a loss, but the growth potential here is phenomenal, and if Tesla becomes profitable one day, it may become the world's No. 1 company. I guess as long as this type of ETF doesn't make up the bulk of one's portfolio, or unless you have discretionary funds that you are willing to expose to some risk, it's definitely worth having some, in my opinion.

 

 

Edited by SaurusDNA
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