Which type of ETF to go for

February 1, 2008 8:12 AM

I have $2000AUD to spend on Exchage-Traded Funds and I can't decide what to go for.

My initial idea was to put $1k in something blue chip/stable and the other $1k in something high-growth/risky.

I am based in Australia.

For the blue chip/stable investment, I was thinking:

SPDR S&P/ASX 50 Fund (ticker: SFY)
or
SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund (ticker: STW)

more info here: www.streettracks.com.au

Out of those two, what should I go for? Would a top 200 fund be considered more reliable?

For the other $1k, I'm thinking something available from iShares. I'm not sure if going for any U.S. flavoured ETF's are a good idea right now, so I thought either something based in Asia or the iShares MSCI EAFE (ticker: IVE).

It's quite confusing trying to determine which world market is going to provide future growth and returns.

What do you think?
I know, it's probably a big ask, but I'd appreciate any opinions.
Thanks all

posted by Jimmeh to work & money (2 comments total)

All my US-based ETFs are significantly down in the past six months. (Here's a previous question I asked about them). Before I'd recommend any of them, I'd ask what your risk-level is and if you consider them long-term or short-term investments. If you want to look at a couple of international funds, I'd recommend WASCX or WASAX.
posted by mattbucher at 9:13 AM on February 1

If you think, as I personally do, that we're going to see a market correction coming in the near future, you might want to go for one of the inverse ETF's. ProShares makes a few that look good -- SH tracks the inverse of the S&P500, SKF is "ultrashort" the financial sector, SRS is "ultrashort" commercial real estate (note: not residential!), etc. They swing up and down a lot, but you can hold them for a long time.
posted by Asparagirl at 4:49 PM on February 1