Best Canadian ETFs for 2018

Overview Canadian U.S. International Fixed-Income All-in-one ETFs

All three of our 2017 Canadian equity picks have returned:

VCN, mentioned above;
XIC: the iShares Core S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF; and
HXT: Horizons S&P/TSX 60 ETF.

The panel was unanimous in retaining all three of these picks, since the trio maintain the lowest management fees among the segment, and HXT is particularly tax efficient and low cost for non-registered portfolios. But the panel agreed with Forstrong’s recommendation to add a fourth ETF, the BMO S&P TSX Capped Composite IDX ETF (ticker ZCN), which has the same rock-bottom annual fee of 0.05% as VCN and XIC. Investors seem to agree: ZCN now has more assets than VCN.

CANADIAN EQUITIES	Ticker	Management Fee	# of Holdings	Description
Vanguard FTSE Canada All Cap Index ETF	VCN	0.05	212	Exposure to Canadian small, medium and large caps, ultra low fee
iShares Core S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF	XIC	0.05	250	Tracks Canada's best known index with a very low fee
Horizons S&P/TSX 60 ETF	HXT	0.03	60	Tax-efficient; rock-bottom 0.03% fee to extend at least till September 2018
NEW! BMO S&P TSX Capped Composite IDX ETF	ZCN	0.05	251	Fee as low as VCN and XIC; more assets than VCN

About Jonathan Chevreau

As MoneySense’s Investing-Editor-at-Large, he is also author of Findependence Day and co-author of Victory Lap Retirement. Reach him at [email protected], where he is the founder of Financial Independence Hub.