Buy Hold Sell: 5 ETFs to help you sleep at night

While sleep - or lack thereof - was already a major talking point in Australia prior to the pandemic (I mean, the government funded a national sleep health inquiry in 2018), things haven't exactly gotten better since. 

In fact, research out of Medibank found that almost 1-in-4 Australians (or nearly 5 million people) said their sleep had been impacted by the COVID-19 in 2021. 

Meanwhile, a 2021 report from Deloitte Access Economics found that poor sleep sets Australians back around $14.4 billion each year in financial costs, while knackered employees racked up productivity losses of $11 billion. 

So in this episode of Buy Hold Sell, Livewire's Ally Selby was joined by two talented financial advisers - Felicity Thomas from Shaw and Partners and Ben Nash from Pivot Wealth - for their thoughts on three of the best set and forget ETFs so investors can rest easy at night. 

Plus, we also asked our financial advisers to each name one ETF that they believe every single investor should have in their portfolios right now. 

Note: This episode of Buy Hold Sell was shot on Wednesday 13th April 2022. You can watch the video, read an edited transcript or listen to the podcast below.

Edited Transcript 

Ally Selby: Hey, how're you doing, and welcome to Livewire's Buy Hold Sell. I'm Ally Selby, and I don't know about you, but I have not been sleeping well lately. So today we're going to be talking about five set-and-forget ETFs so that you and I can rest easy at night. Plus, we'll also be asking our guests to name one ETF that they believe every single investor should have in their portfolios. To do that, we're joined by Felicity Thomas from Shaw and Partners and Ben Nash from Pivot Wealth.

Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (ASX: VAS)

Ally Selby: First up we have a crowd favourite. You may know it. It's VAS, or the Vanguard Australian Shares ETF. It tracks the return of the S&P/ASX 300. Ben, I might start on you. Is it a buy, hold or sell?

Ben Nash (BUY): It's a buy from me. I think this one's rock-solid, nice and cheap. It's got a good yield and a nice inflation protection in the growth element of the ETF. Definitely a buy.

Ally Selby: It actually has $10 billion in net assets, and as Ben mentioned there, it's very cheap. It has a management fee of only 0.1%. Felicity, over to you. Is it a buy, hold or sell?

Felicity Thomas (HOLD): It's a hold for me at the moment, even though the ASX 300 index is trading at 14 times. I actually think the share price is quite high, and I'll wait for a dip like Jan, Feb to buy back in.

BetaShares Global Sustainability Leaders ETF (ASX: ETHI)

Ally Selby: Next up we have the BetaShares Global Sustainability Leaders ETF. It provides investors with exposure to some of the world's biggest climate leaders, has more than $2 billion in net assets. Felicity, staying with you, is it a buy, hold or sell? 

Felicity Thomas (BUY): This is one of my favourites, so it's definitely a buy for me. I really like that they do positive carbon screening. They also pay a 5.7% distribution yield, which is great.

Ally Selby: Over to you, Ben. It has a management fee of 0.59%. Is it a buy, hold or sell?

Ben Nash (BUY): Look, it's a buy from me. It's not the cheapest fund in the market, but when it comes to sustainable investing, it's not just about the dollars. As Felicity said, there are some really positive screens in this ETF. And I think that the sustainable space is something that's getting more and more attention, more and more inflows, which decreases the cost of capital for those companies and means that they'll perform better over the longer term.

VanEck MSCI International Quality ETF (ASX: QUAL)

Ally Selby: Next up we have VanEck MSCI International Quality ETF. This is another global ETF, and it tracks around 300 high quality companies. Ben, staying with you, is it a buy, hold or sell? 

Ben Nash (SELL): Look, it's a sell from me. When I look at the composition of that ETF, it's very similar to the S&P 500, but it's missing the confidence that I think you get from buying the index, so just a little bit uncertain from my perspective.

Ally Selby: It costs around 0.4% for what Ben says is index-like returns. Felicity, is it a buy, hold or sell?

Felicity Thomas (BUY): So for me, it's actually a buy. With rising interest rates and the war that's going on in Europe, I actually think it's important to invest in quality companies with high revenue growth and a solid balance sheet, which QUAL provides.

ETFs for every investors' portfolio

Ally Selby: Okay, we asked our advisers to bring along one ETF that they believe every single investor should have in their portfolios right now. Felicity, what have you brought for us today?

BetaShares Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK)

Ally Selby: Over to you, Ben. What have you brought for us today?

Betashares Australian Geared Share Fund (ASX: GEAR)

Ben Nash: For me, it's another BetaShares one, GEAR, the Australian Geared Share Fund. I love index investing generally and I think that this one is certainly not for the faint of heart, but by introducing borrowing to amplify returns you pick up all of the companies as they increase in size. Like with any index investment, the costs are reasonable and the performance is quite strong, with the focus on dividend yield. I think it's a good one for growth investors.

Ally Selby: Well, that's all we have time for today. We hope you enjoyed that episode of Buy Hold Sell and can now rest easy at night. I know I will. If you enjoyed that episode, give it a like, and remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We're adding great content every week.

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