STW - SPDR S&P/ASX 200 Fund ETF

[So_Cynical]

STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund.

Company Summary

• Security type: EXCHANGE TRADED FUND UNITS (7)
• Market Cap: 949,725,630
• Issued Shares: 30,350,351
• First listed: 27 Aug 2001
• 52-wk High: 58.4700
• 52-wk Low: 30.8700
• Div Yield: 10% + (approx)
• Full & interim dividends partly franked
• Dividend Reinvestment Plan

I figure its a good time to look at this index tracking fund....this fund trades just like
any stock....u buy and sell through your normal stock broker and can use conditional
orders etc.

The Share price is not as volatile as many other high volume stocks and typically trades
in a smaller range, as would be expected from a true index tracking fund. I would think
trading in this fund is a great way to trade with a high degree of safety as your never
exposed totally to disasters that impact individual company's or sectors...however your
also not 100% exposed to the upside of any commodity or sector move, like the current
Gold rush etc.

Anyway have a read

http://www.spdrs.com.au/library/aus...ong_Term_InvestmentCCRI1228829844.pdf?dtype=2

http://www.spdrs.com.au/etf/fund/fund_detail_STW.html

Interesting to see that STW held 15624 BHP shares on 20/11/08 with the BHP SP at around
$22, and how hold 14668 BHP shares with BHP's SP at $31.50...so sold as the SP went up.

 

[Judd]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund.

Have been using them for ages. For a person not concerned about capital gains, preferring to go fishing, art galleries, camping and generally living the one life we have rather than worrying about the market, then these, iShares (O/s index funds) and some LIC's (AFI, ARG, CHO, MIR, CHO, MLT, PMC and the like) probably suit.

Just be aware of one small oddity. STW is a fund so distributions need to be declared in the tax return in the year they are earnt, eg a distribution received on 2 July needs to be declared in the previous tax year. For iShares and LIC's you need to declare the dividend in the tax year in which they are received.

 

[Bill M]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund.

I am a long term investor in this fund. Pays top dividends (around 11% grossed up) and follows the ASX 200 near perfectly. If you want diversification in the Australian market then this fund could be for you. Rather than trying to pick winners it's just as easy to mirror the ASX top 200 companies and collect all the dividends on the way through. I am very happy with this fund and it would be the last stock I will ever sell out of my portfolio. Very useful for retirees like myself needing a steady dividend income, good luck to all investors.

 

[So_Cynical]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund.

If you want diversification in the Australian market then this fund could be for you. Rather than trying to pick winners it's just as easy to mirror the ASX top 200 companies and collect all the dividends on the way through.

Yes Bill...also i would think that using STW as a portfolio base and then putting money into
sectors or company's that your keen on, would be a great way to invest with a degree of
safety while also having some more targeted exposure to other sectors/commodity's/industry's.

I reckon that trading in and out of STW, with a long term conservative outlook would be easier
than with individual stocks and much less risky...the objective of any long term investor is to
"beat the index" so with 2 or 3 successful in and out trades in STW over a 4 or 5 year period,
u would do just that...long term.

Just be aware of one small oddity. STW is a fund so distributions need to be declared in the tax return in the year they are earnt, eg a distribution received on 2 July needs to be declared in the previous tax year.

Judd are dividends and distributions 2 different things?

 

[Judd]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund.

Judd are dividends and distributions 2 different things?

Yep. Managed funds, listed or unlisted, are tax entities which pass on the full income received after expenses. Dividends are declared from the profit of a companies activities.

 

[Gordon Gekko]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund.

Hi All,

I also invest in STW, in fact it is my core holding.
I started late last year and have averaged down over then past 8 months. All in all I am showing a loss of 17%. I am considering another large investment to average down but was thinking to myself the other day what are the chances the State street, the US bank that is the holding company, what if they go bust??
I mean is that really an option? I know its a possibility but Im not to sure if Im being paranoid. I buy the ETF for it diversification but its 1 company holding the lot, what if they go broke?

Any thoughts on that would be great.

All the Best

G

 

[Bill M]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund.

Good question Gordon Gekko, I have wondered this too. In this environment any fund, any company, any bank can collapse. There is no guarantees in anything these days except for Rudds 3 year guarantee on bank deposits. I am owning 2 different index funds right now mitigate this problem. Does anyone else have any comment on this question?

 

[bbegg]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund

Yes this does raise a good question. Are the holdings of STW held in a trust or can the fund collapse owning money? How secure is the STW holdings? On another matter, the current yield is approx 11% which I believe about 1/2 of this historically is capital gains. Is there somewhere I can see what the average yield is on a basket of ASX 200 shares? i.e. what yield would I expect assuming no capital gains/losses were passed on in the distributions.

What do people see as the advantages of this fund over say the Vanguard ASX 300 Index Fund? I know the entry costs are higher on STW and the management fee is lower..both would trade quite a bit though wouldn't they to maintain their alignment with the index?

What levels of cash are held in the STW fund? any? or is the fund always fully invested?

 

[So_Cynical]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund

What do people see as the advantages of this fund over say the Vanguard ASX 300 Index Fund? I know the entry costs are higher on STW and the management fee is lower..both would trade quite a bit though wouldn't they to maintain their alignment with the index?

What levels of cash are held in the STW fund? any? or is the fund always fully invested?

Is the Vanguard ASX 300 Index Fund, exchange traded...via an online broker?

Cos it don't look like it is, reading through there web site and searching the ASX site.
http://www.vanguard.com.au/Personal...guard_Index_Australian_Shares_Fund/index.aspx

This is the big Advantage with STW for me.....the ease and low cost of managing my
position via my online broker for $19 a trade, i can buy/sell the ups and downs and build.

And just look at the fees of Vangard

Investment requirements and fees: Switch/withdrawal $1,000
how can that be justified.

---------------

Took a while to find but here is a full list of ASX traded ETF's (Exchange Traded Funds)

http://www.asx.com.au/products/managed_funds/types/classical_etfs.htm

 

[Pager]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund.

Hi All,

I also invest in STW, in fact it is my core holding.
I started late last year and have averaged down over then past 8 months. All in all I am showing a loss of 17%. I am considering another large investment to average down but was thinking to myself the other day what are the chances the State street, the US bank that is the holding company, what if they go bust??
I mean is that really an option? I know its a possibility but Im not to sure if Im being paranoid. I buy the ETF for it diversification but its 1 company holding the lot, what if they go broke?

G

I also hold STW, looking at the parent company STT in the US, the share price was holding up pretty well until January this year then it got hammered down from about $43 to around $15 in a week due to them announcing a huge cut in there dividend plus a possible capital raising, they have since recovered to be about $23 but who knows how secure they are, look at Macquarie Bank, they keep saying they are ok but still there SP is being hammered.

In this environment nothing is safe even with government guarantees etc, was watching CNBC when in Asia last week and one analyst was raising the prospect of maybe a sovereign bank going belly up

 

[So_Cynical]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund.

I also hold STW, looking at the parent company STT in the US, the share price was holding up pretty well until January this year then it got hammered down from about $43 to around $15 in a week due to them announcing a huge cut in there dividend plus a possible capital raising, they have since recovered to be about $23 but who knows how secure they are, look at Macquarie Bank, they keep saying they are ok but still there SP is being hammered.

In this environment nothing is safe even with government guarantees etc, was watching CNBC when in Asia last week and one analyst was raising the prospect of maybe a sovereign bank going belly up

The parent STT also got 2 billion in the first rescue package, so have the US Govt
as a shareholder....however the CEO is on record as saying they do not require any
more assistance and will not be participating in the current rescue.

http://www.boston.com/business/arti...treet_stock_plunges_59_on_fears_about_losses/


State Streets core business is financial services NOT BANKING.

 

[Gordon Gekko]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund

Hi All,
Another question that comes to mind is what happens to the voting rights with ETF's?
Normally when you own a share you have a vote but with an ETF the holding company keeps them in trust for us.
Do they vote with the shares they hold? And if so is it in our interests? Or do we as ETF holder wave our votes away?

Best regards,


GG

 

[Bill M]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund

Is the Vanguard ASX 300 Index Fund, exchange traded...via an online broker?

No it is not, it is a managed fund.

This is the big Advantage with STW for me.....the ease and low cost of managing my
position via my online broker for $19 a trade, i can buy/sell the ups and downs and build.

I like that aspect of it too.

And just look at the fees of Vangard

Investment requirements and fees: Switch/withdrawal $1,000
how can that be justified.

Nup, wrong, look carefully, the $1,000 you refer to is "The Minimum Investment Amounts" not the fee. In other words you can not take out $200 you must take out $1,000 or more.

 

[osmosis]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund

So_Cynical said: Is the Vanguard ASX 300 Index Fund, exchange traded...via an online broker?

No, not in Austrlia. VG has ETF's in the US.


So_Cynical said: Investment requirements and fees: Switch/withdrawal $1,000
how can that be justified.

I think you have misinterpreted this -- what this means is that if you switch or withdraw from a fund, then the minimum amout you can switch/withdraw is 1k. 1k is not the fee.

--

 

[So_Cynical]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund

Nup, wrong, look carefully, the $1,000 you refer to is "The Minimum Investment Amounts" not the fee. In other words you can not take out $200 you must take out $1,000 or more.

So_Cynical said: Investment requirements and fees: Switch/withdrawal $1,000
how can that be justified.

I think you have misinterpreted this -- what this means is that if you switch or withdraw from a fund, then the minimum amount you can switch/withdraw is 1k. 1k is not the fee.
--

OK so im new at this funds stuff....i mean the header clearly says investment
requirements and fees...if its a minimum, isn't it best to state that?

Ok so the fee's are down the bottom in blue.

 

[Bill M]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund

Today was a classic example of why I like STW. Some stocks crashed 20% plus and other jumped up 4 or 7%.

However STW just tracked the ASX 200 as it should and barely moved. It's an easy way of investing in the ASX 200, you pay 1 brokerage fee and you cover the top 200 all at once.

 

[So_Cynical]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund

Today was a classic example of why I like STW. Some stocks crashed 20% plus and other jumped up 4 or 7%.

However STW just tracked the ASX 200 as it should and barely moved. It's an easy way of investing in the ASX 200, you pay 1 brokerage fee and you cover the top 200 all at once.

Yep its rock solid even though the volume can be quite heavy, very small range
too...i really though my 29.98 order would get filled today, but STW just refuses
to tank. perhaps tomorrow.

 

[Judd]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund

An observation. Yesterday, while the ASX 200 closed at 3327.5, STW closed at $31.25, a difference of 200 points, so it does not exactly track the ASX 200 but closely follows its movements.

In regard to the fees for Vanguard, I believe that while the MER for $50k+ is declared at 0.50%, this is achieved by allocating additional units rather than actually reducing the MER.

 

[So_Cynical]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund

Another quirk of STW is that Commsec treats the Stock like a warrant...so u cant leave a
buy order just sitting there for a month...its day by day only, i assume the other brokers
would do the same. :dunno:

 

[Pager]

Re: STW – SPDR ASX 200 Fund – Index tracking fund

Another quirk of STW is that Commsec treats the Stock like a warrant...so u cant leave a
buy order just sitting there for a month...its day by day only, i assume the other brokers
would do the same. :dunno:

Yes this happens to me too

Ive been accumulating STW and often do so via a limit order, if my order isn't filled during the day it cancels once trade finishes, get a email message saying the ASX has purged my order

It is a good stock/fund to use as a core for a portfolio and mirrors the ASX 200 very well, also at current price has a very good yield, although i guess as various company's drop there dividends this yeild will fall, you basically have bit of everything, i then weight my portfolio to the sectors i favour with individual stocks.


Commonwealth Bank use it as well for there Capital series and offer it with 80% capital protection if you wish, you must hold for 5 years though.