Compare ETFs that invest in the same thing, by what they cost.
Say what you want to invest in and how much. We list every fund on the ASX that invests there, with its fee, what it costs to buy, its size and its record.
Common questions
From the ASX’s Investment Products report, which the exchange publishes each month for every exchange traded product it lists: the management fee from each fund’s PDS, its size and flows, the average bid/ask spread, the distribution yield and total returns (the returns and spreads are Bloomberg’s). We read each edition when it comes out, early in the month, so the figures are for the month before.
Like for like. You say what you want to invest in — Australian shares, the S&P 500, bonds, gold — and we list only the funds that invest there, so an S&P 500 fund sits beside other S&P 500 funds, not beside a cash fund. Then we sort them by whatever you choose: the management fee, the spread, the fund’s size or past returns. Funds that track the same index are marked, since that’s where the comparison is closest to exact.
Two things the fund charges you: the management fee (MER) on your average balance over the year, and half the bid/ask spread on everything you buy, which is what a market order pays above the fund’s value. It leaves out your broker’s brokerage, which depends on the broker, and the transaction and operational costs the MER doesn’t cover, which each fund’s PDS lists.
They’re here because they’re part of the record, but past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Between two funds on the same index, a gap in returns mostly reflects fees and how closely each tracks the index. Between funds that invest in different things, it mostly reflects what those markets did. We never rank a top three on returns.
Complex products — geared funds, short funds and others that use derivatives or borrowing — are left out unless you ask for them, since they can rise or fall faster than what they follow, or move the other way. Funds listed only on TMX Australia (formerly Cboe) aren’t in the ASX’s report, so they aren’t here yet.