RetireJapan

Hi all,

I’m thinking about buying ishares 1655 S&P500 ETF.Does anyone have any opinions on this compared to other offerings?
It’s listed on the TSE, so I presume this one might get around any currency and tax issues??

Thanks

There's a new eMAXIS Slim fund which tracks the S&P500. It might be a better bet.

Mojo wrote: ↑Tue Jul 03, 2018 1:01 pm I’m thinking about buying ishares 1655 S&P500 ETF.Does anyone have any opinions on this compared to other offerings?
It’s listed on the TSE, so I presume this one might get around any currency and tax issues??

Hi,

Does the e maxis slim have lower management fees?
I’m having trouble finding the fees + I can’t seem to find this ETF on Rakuten.Am I looking in the wrong place?
The ishares S&P ETF seems to have fees of up to or less than 0.15.Although their information is not very clear.

I want to buy S&P but I’m not sure which is best.

Thanks

The total ER on the iShares ETF is 0.162%, and 0.172% for the emaxis slim. You can get detailed information from the prospectuses. I'm not sure if Rakuten has prospectuses for ETFs, but you can always find them on the iShares website.

Personally, I can't see the point of having ETFs in Japan. They're not particularly cheap compared to mutual funds and some of them have quite large spreads. Also you have to deal with the dividends. Reinvesting them is a pain, especially if you've used up your NISA allowance for the year. Many mutual funds reinvest the dividends internally, so they're much more efficient. You can also set them up so that you can pay into them monthly or even daily.

Mojo wrote: ↑Fri Jul 06, 2018 10:49 pm Hi,

Does the e maxis slim have lower management fees?
I’m having trouble finding the fees + I can’t seem to find this ETF on Rakuten.Am I looking in the wrong place?
The ishares S&P ETF seems to have fees of up to or less than 0.15.Although their information is not very clear.

I want to buy S&P but I’m not sure which is best.

Thanks

Hi,

Thanks for your thoughts on ETFs here in Japan.At the moment I like the idea of ETFs for their simplicity.I know the dividend reinvestment is a bit of a pain but I’m unlikely to use up my NISA allowance this year, so that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
As far as mutual funds go I’m a little bit wary.Having Read Andrew Hallam’s book and the differences in active and passive funds I’m a bit put off.I do still see myself as a complete novice to investing and may change my mind over mutual funds in the future though!

Mojo wrote: ↑Sun Jul 15, 2018 7:50 am Hi,

Thanks for your thoughts on ETFs here in Japan.At the moment I like the idea of ETFs for their simplicity.I know the dividend reinvestment is a bit of a pain but I’m unlikely to use up my NISA allowance this year, so that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
As far as mutual funds go I’m a little bit wary.Having Read Andrew Hallam’s book and the differences in active and passive funds I’m a bit put off.I do still see myself as a complete novice to investing and may change my mind over mutual funds in the future though!

Hi Mojo

One quick qualification: ETFs and mutual funds are two different ways to organise the same thing. You can get active and passive versions of each

Mojo wrote: ↑Sun Jul 15, 2018 7:50 am Hi,

Thanks for your thoughts on ETFs here in Japan.At the moment I like the idea of ETFs for their simplicity.I know the dividend reinvestment is a bit of a pain but I’m unlikely to use up my NISA allowance this year, so that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
As far as mutual funds go I’m a little bit wary.Having Read Andrew Hallam’s book and the differences in active and passive funds I’m a bit put off.I do still see myself as a complete novice to investing and may change my mind over mutual funds in the future though!

ETF is literally short for "Exchange traded Fund". The difference is the way they get regulated and taxed. Also because ETF's are exchange traded they can be selling below or above their Net asset value, namely the value of the funds contained.

I do not think ETF's are simple at all. You could end up buying it above value and selling below, something that won't happen with funds which are straight up sold at the calculated nav at the end of the trading day.

ETF's SHOULD be cheaper(because of the tax advantages in the way they're structured), but if they're not the management company is pocketing the difference and you're not really getting any benefit.

If you want an S&P ETF, just buy the vanguard ones which are excellent. Buying an us only etf from a utf broker has the same tax consequences as buying a japanese domiciled one. You will have to pay currency exchange fees(but with a good setup these should be small). Currency risk exists whether you buy a japanese listed etf or US. The underlying stocks are still tied to the US$

Hi all,

Thanks for the input.It gives me a few things to think about.I was thinking about keeping it Warren Buffet simple.90% S&P ETF and 10% short term treasury ETF.According to Mr Buffet, the average investor would do ok over time.
I was considering something like 70% S&P,10% treasuries and the remaining 20% a mixture of Topix,J REIT and kokusai(ex Japan).Does this sound like a good or bad idea?

There's not much wrong with a 90% S&P portfolio though it's more something an american investor would do since they don't have the currency risk. You have to remember the context of Buffett and Bogles writing: they're writing for american investors. To an american investor, the S&P 500 has no currency risk.

It's really a personal choice.

I personally have my doubts about the US's future so I decided that I wouldn't overweight them in my portfolio despite the best returns having come historically from the US.