Welcome to Fear and Greed Summer investing series, brought to you by vanta specialist in compliance lead growth. I'm Sean Almer. Exchange traded funds or ETFs have boomed in recent years. Many investors see them as a low cost way of diversifying their investments, as these funds usually track the performance of an index of a particular asset class or commodity. So today we're looking at the five ETFs to watch this year. As always, its general information only. You should seek independent advice before making investment decisions. Chris Breichy is the founder and CEO of online investment advisor stock Spot, a great friend of our podcast. Chris, welcome back.

Welcome to Fear and Greed Summer investing series, brought to you by vanta specialist in compliance lead growth. I'm Sean Almer. Exchange traded funds or ETFs have boomed in recent years. Many investors see them as a low cost way of diversifying their investments, as these funds usually track the performance of an index of a particular asset class or commodity. So today we're looking at the five ETFs to watch this year. As always, its general information only. You should seek independent advice before making investment decisions. Chris Breichy is the founder and CEO of online investment advisor stock Spot, a great friend of our podcast. Chris, welcome back.

Thank you, Sean.

Thank you, Sean.

You're in the hot seat. You've got about four minutes, that's what fifty seconds each? Five ETFs to watch, all.

You're in the hot seat. You've got about four minutes, that's what fifty seconds each? Five ETFs to watch, all.

Right, let's give it a go. Well, I think the first one for me, Sean this year would be the SMP Global Dividend Fund, which is WDAV. And the reason I like this one is that one it's pretty unloved. Over the last few years. Everyone's jumped towards the Nasdaq ETF NDQ and the Global one hundred ETF which is another one we offer clients IOO because they have the Magnificent seven and n Video and all these high growth stocks. Dividend stocks have been pretty unloved, but I think it won't take a lot. It could be a slowing of the US economy, a return of inflation, or disappointing earnings from some of these big tech stocks that could really switch expectations from high growth to dividends. So that's the first one. The next one I like is the emerging markets ETF. Now this is really another story of an unloved ETF. Like everyone's been fleeing China and emerging markets for the last few years, and certainly the Trump election hasn't helped the situation now that everyone believes there's going to be pretty harsh tariffs on a lot of these countries as well. So it's a very unloved ETF. But again, expectations are so low it won't take a lot to turn things around. We've already seen China pump some stimulus into their economy. If it starts to take whold next year, I'd be backing the emerging markets ETF over developed market ETF. Third one, I know we've talked about it before Sean, but the gold ETF has always been one of my favorites, and this year I think will be an interesting one after in twenty twenty four it was up thirty two percent. It was its best year in decades. But I still think most advisors and asset allocators have way too small allocation to gold, and many have zero. So I think they did a survey recently and found the average allocations about one percent to gold. We allocate about fifteen percent to our clients to gold, so much bigger allocation. I think we will struggle to do another thirty percent year, but I think over the next ten years you'll see gold do very well compared to other asset classes. The fourth one Seoran I think is the bond etf IAF. Obviously, Australia was one of the few economies not to cut interest rates in twenty twenty four, but with inflation coming down and most of our jobs that we created last year just been in the public sector and very few private sector jobs being added, I think we're likely to see the bond etf do well as our economy slows next year. And then finally, you know, commodities had a great run after the COVID stimulus came out from governments and central banks around the world, but really have slowed down over the last couple of years. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a bit of a comeback in twenty twenty five. The two ones that I've got on my watch list and are in our stockspot portfolios are O z R and B com B com One is investing in the stocks that have commodities and the others investing into the commodities themselves. I think inflation is here to stay from a secular perspective, and commodity ETFs are a good one to keep in your portfolio.

Right, let's give it a go. Well, I think the first one for me, Sean this year would be the SMP Global Dividend Fund, which is WDAV. And the reason I like this one is that one it's pretty unloved. Over the last few years. Everyone's jumped towards the Nasdaq ETF NDQ and the Global one hundred ETF which is another one we offer clients IOO because they have the Magnificent seven and n Video and all these high growth stocks. Dividend stocks have been pretty unloved, but I think it won't take a lot. It could be a slowing of the US economy, a return of inflation, or disappointing earnings from some of these big tech stocks that could really switch expectations from high growth to dividends. So that's the first one. The next one I like is the emerging markets ETF. Now this is really another story of an unloved ETF. Like everyone's been fleeing China and emerging markets for the last few years, and certainly the Trump election hasn't helped the situation now that everyone believes there's going to be pretty harsh tariffs on a lot of these countries as well. So it's a very unloved ETF. But again, expectations are so low it won't take a lot to turn things around. We've already seen China pump some stimulus into their economy. If it starts to take whold next year, I'd be backing the emerging markets ETF over developed market ETF. Third one, I know we've talked about it before Sean, but the gold ETF has always been one of my favorites, and this year I think will be an interesting one after in twenty twenty four it was up thirty two percent. It was its best year in decades. But I still think most advisors and asset allocators have way too small allocation to gold, and many have zero. So I think they did a survey recently and found the average allocations about one percent to gold. We allocate about fifteen percent to our clients to gold, so much bigger allocation. I think we will struggle to do another thirty percent year, but I think over the next ten years you'll see gold do very well compared to other asset classes. The fourth one Seoran I think is the bond etf IAF. Obviously, Australia was one of the few economies not to cut interest rates in twenty twenty four, but with inflation coming down and most of our jobs that we created last year just been in the public sector and very few private sector jobs being added, I think we're likely to see the bond etf do well as our economy slows next year. And then finally, you know, commodities had a great run after the COVID stimulus came out from governments and central banks around the world, but really have slowed down over the last couple of years. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a bit of a comeback in twenty twenty five. The two ones that I've got on my watch list and are in our stockspot portfolios are O z R and B com B com One is investing in the stocks that have commodities and the others investing into the commodities themselves. I think inflation is here to stay from a secular perspective, and commodity ETFs are a good one to keep in your portfolio.

Really interesting all five of them. A couple of them are very valuation driven, so the dividends and the emerging companies. Others are a little bit more cyclical, so maybe goal cyclical, and the bond ETF that's certainly a cyclical play. So I mean, I suppose the point is not all ETFs are the same. You kind of have to use those same disciplines that you might do investing in inequity or commodity or something. When you think about ETFs.

Really interesting all five of them. A couple of them are very valuation driven, so the dividends and the emerging companies. Others are a little bit more cyclical, so maybe goal cyclical, and the bond ETF that's certainly a cyclical play. So I mean, I suppose the point is not all ETFs are the same. You kind of have to use those same disciplines that you might do investing in inequity or commodity or something. When you think about ETFs.

Well, that's right, you want it diversified portfolio, and actually you don't want them to all perform well in the same year. Last year, we saw ETFs like the Gold and Global one hundred ETF pump up over thirty percent, but equally bond ETFs and other more cash driven ETFs didn't do as well. It's nice to see that because you know that there'll be a year that bonds actually is the one that's capturing the returns and some of these other asset classes don't do as well.

Well, that's right, you want it diversified portfolio, and actually you don't want them to all perform well in the same year. Last year, we saw ETFs like the Gold and Global one hundred ETF pump up over thirty percent, but equally bond ETFs and other more cash driven ETFs didn't do as well. It's nice to see that because you know that there'll be a year that bonds actually is the one that's capturing the returns and some of these other asset classes don't do as well.

Chris, thanks for joining us this morning.

Chris, thanks for joining us this morning.

My pleasure. Thanks Sean.

My pleasure. Thanks Sean.

That's Chris Brick, founder and CEO of online investment advisor Stockspot. This is Fear and Greed Summer Investing series, brought to you by vant Van to automates compliance for frameworks like ISA twenty seven one two, CPS two three four and Essential eight, saving time and money while building trust. Join over eight thousand companies like at Lassian, Dovetail and Fireant managing real time risk. Get one thousand dollars off at vanter dot com. Slash Fear and Greed. I'm Sean a Elmer. Enjoy your day.

That's Chris Brick, founder and CEO of online investment advisor Stockspot. This is Fear and Greed Summer Investing series, brought to you by vant Van to automates compliance for frameworks like ISA twenty seven one two, CPS two three four and Essential eight, saving time and money while building trust. Join over eight thousand companies like at Lassian, Dovetail and Fireant managing real time risk. Get one thousand dollars off at vanter dot com. Slash Fear and Greed. I'm Sean a Elmer. Enjoy your day.