BankWest Top 200 Index Fund - thoughts?

Tronc · 18-01-2008, 01:44 PM

Hi there

I have been reading about ETFs and Mngd Funds on this site and wanted to know what feedback might be on BankWest's offering. Details at: Top 200 Shares - a low-cost index fund

I have attached the PDS as well, so save anyone having to download it.

Is this just a fancy bank product trying to do the same thing as some of the ETFs. How does the 0.98% management fee compare in the market. Just seems to be an interesting offering and would welcome some other thoughts.

Thanks. Tronc

samaka · 18-01-2008, 01:57 PM

Minimum Investment:
BW - $5000 (or $2500 with $100 p/m)
STW - $500

MER:
BW - 0.98%
STW - 0.28%

Withdrawals
BW - Via post
STW - On ASX

STW already has 70% gearing available through lenders like Commsec.

STW gets my vote for the time being.

AsxBroker · 18-01-2008, 06:52 PM

Hi Tronc,

I agree with Samaka.
0.98% pa is a bit expensive for an index...

Like Samaka said, I'd be leaning towards an ETF if it's what I was looking for.

Cheers,

Dan

PS Before making an investment decision speak to your FPA registered Financial Planner.

AsxBroker · 18-01-2008, 07:03 PM

Hi Tronc,

Page 16 explains why it is such a high MER...

Up to 65% of the Administration Fee can be paid to BankWest and the Administrator for Marketing and Distribution Services...

Does this mean branches? :P

Cheers,

Dan

PS Before making an investment decision speak to your FPA registered Financial Planner.

Insight · 19-01-2008, 02:40 AM

That is a very rich MER for an index fund, at least they are honest about why it's expensive. Gotta pay for their marketing.

arandomperson · 20-01-2008, 10:40 PM

Yeah I pondered this in a blog article which links to a thread on aus.invest which has some good comments on this one last year:
A Random Person’s Random Investments » top200 shares fund
essentially the Vanguard fund, or STW beat it in every possible way, and it appears to depend on the customers not being aware of the costs of features of any other index funds.

MJRoss · 22-01-2008, 09:20 AM

If only more Australians took notice of fees like you lot...

Norak Bastiat · 05-02-2008, 01:22 PM

Quote:

How does the 0.98% management fee compare in the market. Just seems to be an interesting offering and would welcome some other thoughts.

Definitely expensive. Essentially top 200 is the same as the Vanguard Aussie Shares Fund, which tracks the top 300 but Vanguard's MER is 0.70% and if you have over $100,000 then it's 0.35%

STW is still cheaper though.

If you're dollar-cost averaging, use Vanguard. If you're putting it all in at once, use STW.

Insight · 05-02-2008, 05:12 PM

Does anyone have any tracking error stats for STW?

samaka · 05-02-2008, 09:01 PM

What do you want? Try:

SPDRs