# Where are the index funds?



## RustyShackleford (16 January 2013)

I've been looking at some of the Index Funds available to US citizens:

Vanguard
Charles Schwab
Fidelity

They all have very small minimums (~$1,000 with $100 a month deposits), with very small expense ratios (~0.25%)

But when I try and find literally ANYTHING available to Australian's, all I can turn up is Vanguards own Australian site, it's $5000 minimums for all funds, AND, your expense ratios are around 0.9%!

Am I missing something here?

Whenever the topic of index funds gets brought up people seem to just keep mentioning ETFs. I don't want to be paying brokerage fees every time I want to buy in, I want an index fund in Australia that doesn't have outlandish fees and minimums, does anything like the U.S. funds exist?


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## banco (21 January 2013)

How often are you moving in and out of index funds that brokerage is much of an issue?  You could always use igmarkets they have an $8 a side minimum and just buy stw (yes an etf).


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## sinner (21 January 2013)

There are lots of managed funds in Australia.

I have Managed Fund access through Comsec and Rabo Direct also.

https://funds.comsec.com.au/Public/SearchForFunds/SearchForFunds.aspx


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## RustyShackleford (21 January 2013)

banco said:


> How often are you moving in and out of index funds that brokerage is much of an issue?  You could always use igmarkets they have an $8 a side minimum and just buy stw (yes an etf).




I'm looking to do monthly deposits, or even bi-monthly deposits. Rather than lump sums. Plus I can spread my risk over time this way.

I guess it also depends on how long I want to be in the fund, compared to how many trades I want to make.

Actually, thinking about it, I could probably buy an etf once every 3 months and still come out well.


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## RustyShackleford (21 January 2013)

sinner said:


> There are lots of managed funds in Australia.
> 
> I have Managed Fund access through Comsec and Rabo Direct also.
> 
> https://funds.comsec.com.au/Public/SearchForFunds/SearchForFunds.aspx




Yes, but the MER is murder on a lot of those funds. For me, anything over 0.5% is too much.


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## Murd (17 April 2013)

Rusty,
My understanding is that Vanguard lower their ER's as the fund grows. They kept this promise and at their 15 year anniversary in Australia, they reduced ERs accordingly.
Compared to the states, it's expensive here, but still pretty good compared to other managed funds.
The ETFs are of course the cheaper option, but unless your going to hold them a long time, the buying chunks of less than 5k make it less attractive.
What did you go with in the end?
Murd


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## skyQuake (17 April 2013)

VAS - Vanguard Aus 300 fund has only a 0.15% expense ratio


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## RustyShackleford (17 April 2013)

Murd said:


> Rusty,
> My understanding is that Vanguard lower their ER's as the fund grows. They kept this promise and at their 15 year anniversary in Australia, they reduced ERs accordingly.
> Compared to the states, it's expensive here, but still pretty good compared to other managed funds.
> The ETFs are of course the cheaper option, but unless your going to hold them a long time, the buying chunks of less than 5k make it less attractive.
> ...




That's what I figured. At the moment I haven't dived in yet. I'm still consolidating some other ventures.

In all likelyhood I would spread 50/50 between Vanguard ® Index Australian Shares Fund and the Vanguard ® Index International Shares Fund


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## Murd (18 April 2013)

Rusty, 
I reckon that's a good spread, and one I've considered.
I'm avoiding the international one though due to no franked dividends, making it not as tax efficient.
Putting superannuation money into it would be more appealing, but not an option for me at present.
Murd


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