MONEY-SAVING TIP #3

DALE ROBERTS > STOCK MARKET AND INVESTING COLUMNIST BLOG: CUT THE CRAP INVESTING | CUTTHECRAPINVESTING.COM

INVESTMENT FEES are wealth destroyers, and many Canadians pay some of the highest fees on the planet, forking over as much as 2.5 per cent of total investment assets every year. You can build your own exchange-traded fund (ETF) portfolio for about 0.15 per cent in total annual fees. There are also well-diversified, allin-one ETF portfolios –

called asset allocation ETFs or one-ticket ETFs – where the costs are about 0.25 per cent. To purchase ETFs, you would open a discount brokerage account. If you want advice and financial planning, you can look to Canadian robo advisers like WealthSimple or Justwealth, where the portfolio options range in price from 0.40 per cent to 0.70 per cent.

> Bottom Line: Thanks to ETFs, you can own a well-diversified, global portfolio for about 10 per cent to 40 per cent of the cost of traditional mutual funds.