The BetaShares Australian Sustainability Leaders ETF (ASX: FAIR) and VanEck Vectors Australian Property ETF (ASX: MVA) are Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) operating in the Australian shares sector, and aiming to make investing as simple as possible.
How would an investor add FAIR to a portfolio?
The BetaShares FAIR ETF provides exposure to the largest Australian shares and focuses on companies which operate ethically. FAIR has been certified by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA), as part of the Responsible Investment Certification Program.
According to our most recent data, the FAIR ETF had $1346.15 million of money invested. With FAIR’s total funds under management (FUM) figure over $100 million, the ETF meets our team’s minimum investment criteria for FUM levels. As a general rule, our team draws the line at $100 million for ETFs in the Australian shares sector because we believe that, relative to smaller ETFs, achieving this amount of FUM lowers the chance that the ETF issuer will close the ETF.
Fees to consider
According to our numbers, the annual management fee on the FAIR ETF is 0.0049. The issuer, BetaShares, collects this fee automatically.
Meaning, if you invested $2,000 in the FAIR ETF for a full year you could expect to pay management fees of around $9.80. This fee is different from the fee you pay to your brokerage provider (e.g. CommSec, NabTrade, SelfWealth, etc.), which is the fee to buy or sell the ETF. In addition to a management fee charged by the issuer, be mindful to check the ‘spread‘ for the ETF.
A fee comparison
Fees aren’t the only key consideration for ETF investors, but it’s an easy thing to do. To understand if the ETF you’re looking at is too costly, compare it with other ETFs from the same sector, and against the industry average. For example, the average management fee (MER) across all of the ETFs covered by the Best ETFs Australia team was 0.51%, which is $10.20 per $2,000 invested. Keep in mind that small changes in the fees paid can make a big difference after 10 or 20 years. You should read the FAIR Product Disclosure Statement (PDS), available on the ETF issuer’s website, because it will detail the fees, tax implications and the latest information.
The FAIR ETF could be one to add to your watchlist. If you want to access our full ETF review, click here to get our full report – it’s totally free.
Getting to know the MVA ETF
The VanEck MVA ETF provides investors with exposure to the Australian property market by investing in a portfolio of ASX-listed property companies and real estate investment trusts (REITs).
With our numbers for December 2021, MVA’s FUM stood at $672.51 million. Since the MVA’s FUM is over $100 million, our investing team would say the ETF has met our minimum criteria for the total amount invested, otherwise known as FUM. A very sustainable ETF in the Property sector should be able to scale well and become profitable for the ETF issuer.
A look at the MVA ETF fee load?
VanEck, the ETF issuer, charges a yearly management fee of 0.0035 for the MVA ETF. Meaning, if you invest $2,000 for a full year from now you can expect to pay a management fee of around $7.00.
This management fee is below the average for all ETFs on our Best ETFs Australia list of ETFs. However, you might still be able to find a cheaper ETF for less.
Picking over ETFs seems too easy to be true: ‘just pick one and put it in your bottom-drawer’. However, it’s important to get it right the first time so that you won’t end up having to chop-and-change positions (and potentially pay extra tax). To make your life a little easier, if you’re looking at the MVA ETF, make sure you click here to access our analyst’s investment report. It’s free.
So how can you actually invest the MVA ETF? By getting a free brokerage account with Pearler. If you join Pearler in the month of May 2022, with your free Pearler account you can buy the MVA ETF and pay $0 in brokerage fees. All you have to do is buy and hold the ETF for 12 months.
You can invest as little as $500 in the MVA ETF to take-up this offer. Sounds pretty good, right? To invest in MVA for $0 brokerage, simply click here to visit Pearler’s website and sign up.
