Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. has expanded into balanced categories of exchange-traded funds with the launch of three portfolio ETFs. Vanguard Conservative ETF Portfolio (VCNS), Vanguard Balanced ETF Portfolio (VBAL) and Vanguard Growth ETF Portfolio (VGRO) opened for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Feb. 1.
For the conservative portfolio, the strategic asset allocation is 60% fixed income and 40% equities. For the balanced, it's a 60-40 split in favour of equities, and for the growth portfolio the equity allocation is 80%.
The portfolios each start out with holdings in the same seven Vanguard index ETFs, but with different weightings. The four underlying equity ETFs provide broad exposure to Canadian, U.S., international developed markets and emerging markets. The three fixed-income ETFs cover Canadian, U.S. and international bonds.
The portfolio ETFs are among the low-cost providers in their respective balanced categories. The management fee for each ETF is 0.22%, which also covers most operating expenses.
There is no duplication of management fees. However, the management fees charged by the portfolio ETFs represent a modest mark-up of about five to seven basis points over the weighted averages of the fees of the underlying ETFs.
