Here’s how we think about the GEAR and MVB ETFs
BetaShares GEAR Fund is an internally geared fund, investing in the largest 200 companies on the ASX, by market capitalisation.
The VanEck MVB ETF provides focused exposure to Australia’s largest industry, the banking sector. This is a low-cost way to invest in the Australian banking industry through a single fund.
Get our team’s GEAR ETF review, available free when you click this link: access the free investment report.
ASX: GEAR or ASX: MVB performance
To make this article easier to digest, we’ll just study the fees or ‘management expense ratio’ (MER). Using data for December 2021, the GEAR ETF has an MER of 0.80% while the MVB ETF had a yearly fee of 0.28%. So, MVB wins on this metric. Keep in mind, a more useful metric to know is the fee quartiles that these ETFs find themselves in (note: quartile 1 is best). Meaning, we take all the Australian shares ETFs in our database and divide them into 4 quartiles, based on their fees. For example, any ETF which has a fee below 0.3% would be considered in our first (best) quartile.
Performance analysis
Typically, we want to a see ETFs with a three-year track record of good performance. Put another way, when an ETF achieves a three year track record, we score it more compelling than might otherwise be the case. That said, there are exceptions to this rule of thumb. Also, remember that it’s hard to compare an ETF with a hedge fund strategy against other ETFs. Why? Hedge fund ETFs often use inverse or ‘opposite’ strategies which means that they’re designed to move in an opposite direction to the market. Nevertheless, we can see that both ETFs met their three-year performance milestone.
In summary
To keep reading about these two ETFs, be sure to visit our free GEAR ETF report or MVB ETF review.
In summary, the GEAR ETF rates better for our internal scoring methodology but not by much compared to MVB.
Please, keep in mind, there is much more to picking a good ETF. That’s why you should now use these skills to find the best ETF you can. If you want the name of our team’s top ETF pick for 2022, keep reading…
