Weekend Reading – Best ETFs in Canada
Well hello!
I hope you had a great week.
Welcome to my latest Weekend Reading edition: the Best ETFs in Canada.
Just in case you missed last week’s edition and some recent posts, well, here they are!
Last weekend I wrote about largely doing nothing with our portfolio – less selling and less tinkering should build more wealth over time.
Hard to argue with the above given this recent income update!
Weekend Reading – Best ETFs in Canada
Headlining my Weekend Reading material, a big shoutout and thanks again to the MoneySense team for including yours truly once again in this year’s Best ETFs in Canada edition.
In that edition you’ll find the:
- Top Canadian ETFs to own – to invest in our Canadian market.
- Top ETFs to invest in for the U.S. market.
- Top ETFs to consider for international returns.
- Some fixed-income ETFs to select from.
- The best cash-alternative ETFs to own, and finally,
- Some outstanding all-in-one ETFs to own, including one we own in our portfolio.
I look forward to your feedback on that post and the selections from all the panelists! Do you own any?
Reader Questions:
Over the last few months, I’ve received more emails and questions from readers about how we invest and subsequently what is planned for any semi-retirement or retirement years; including the impacts of potentially not working at all on our portfolio. Here are those questions and my answers…
Mark, I enjoy your monthly dividend income updates but aren’t you going to need much more income than just about $50k per year? Can you expand on that?
Sure can!
First of all, you are correct. We will be spending more than $50k per year in retirement as of early spring 2026. (Tentative date.)
Yet it’s important to remember we have other assets and it’s all part of our more robust drawdown plan…
You read about our drawdown plan here which is in the order of “NRT” for short.
By tracking our spending fairly diligently back in 2024 and now throughout 2025 year to date, we figure we’ll be spending about $70k-$75k per year (after-tax) in 2026 as our forecast and we’ve included a 10% margin for error there too.
Mark, I noticed your TD webinar coming up. I look forward to your debate next week. For those new to dividend investing, how might you explain why you invest in dividend paying stocks, in Canada at least?
Great question.
As readers will know, I have used a hybrid investing strategy for about 15-years now that has helped me/us realize financial independence.
I enjoy and have therefore benefitted from owning many Canadian stocks that pay dividends (about 25+ in my current portfolio) but I also own thousands of units of low-cost ETFs that focus on total return (distributions and growth) beyond Canada. I’m pretty much an “ETF guy” for investing beyond Canada.
That’s the total return argument and more to come during this webinar!
Book the Date! Thursday, May 22, 2025 @ 2:30 PM ET
Get ready for my battle: a pure income investor vs. yours truly on this subject.
I’m taking some time off work this day to engage with you – so register here for the event for free!
Back to your question, my simple reply is I like the optionality provided from many Canadian stocks.
- Dividends paid to shareholders like me provide investors “optionality”. Dividends are paid from the company’s earnings and cash flow – so investors can decide to spend those dividends, reinvest those dividends for a more total return approach, or use the money to invest in other ways, as they please.
- Dividends are therefore just part of a total return approach.
- Dividends are never magical, they don’t fall from the sky, but they are beneficial ways to increase shareholder value and retention (including for folks like me).
- Dividends can help investors psychologically and emotionally and financially – stay the investing course – so I’ve essentially built my own Canadian dividend ETF per se from about 25 or so Canadian stocks and I invest beyond that in mostly low-cost ETFs for total returns.
Very simple and very successful to date too!
I wouldn’t be financially independent without this hybrid approach and this mindset over the years.
Mark, are you going to buy more stocks or ETFs this year? If so, what ones?
I might!
I have a bias to buying more iShares Core MSCI All Country World ex Canada Index ETF (XAW) in our portfolio for global, ex-Canada diversification like I wrote about above. I will buy more XAW in my registered accounts later this year if I have the money to do so.
I also like owning my Canadian stocks in our taxable accounts so if I have more money to invest this year, I am tempted to keep buying more Brookfield (BN) and/or more Tourmaline (TOU) stock from our energy sector. Both companies offer us a mix of dividend growth and overall stock price growth. My multi-year returns in both companies have been great!
Mark, I think I read you have about 10% of your portfolio in fixed income, is that correct? Can you share more details?
Correct and I will!
Let me update that financial independence budget post soon. See link above. 🙂
I think most investors should consider owning some fixed income or at the very least keeping some cash handy throughout retirement for a few reasons. I know I will. You can read a bit of an opposing view on that subject here from my friend: Dividend Growth Investor.
Need help with your retirement math?
You’ve got a few options below!!
Here are some free retirement calculators to try!
You can also hit me up with an email or a comment at Cashflows & Portfolios, a site dedicated to helping you manage your cashflow and portfolio wisely including any drawdown plans.
After visiting the site, flip to our Contact page to find out more about our services.
With my partner Joe, I help answer questions like:
- Do you have enough to retire?
- When can you retire?
- How much can you spend?
- Should you take CPP at age 65 or 70?
- How do you minimize the OAS clawback?
- And more and more!
The best part: because I’m not in the business of providing any direct financial advice, the cost of these services is well below what any financial advisor would charge!
All my best and I look forward to sharing more updates next week.
Mark
Mark
My name is Mark Seed – the founder, editor and owner of My Own Advisor. As my own DIY financial advisor, I’ve reached financial independence. Now, I share my lessons learned for free on this site. Find out what I did and how I reached financial independence to tailor your own path. Join the newsletter read by thousands.
