VGRO ETF 2024 Review

If you are looking to make things easy in terms of diversification, look no further than ETFs. If you are new to the world of ETF investing, check out our in depth article on the best All-in-One ETFs in Canada. Already know about ETFs and want to know our top picks? Read up on the best ETFs in Canada for 2024. 

VGRO offers investors a clean 80/20 stock to bond split of high performing equities and bonds. With an 80/20 split gaining popularity over the 60/40 split in recent years, VGRO keeps up investment trends, but in a way that mitigates risk. In our VGRO ETF review, we’ll let you know why we recommend this ETF as a solid portfolio option.

What is The Vanguard Growth ETF Portfolio?

The Vanguard Growth ETF Portfolio (VGRO) was created by Vanguard Canada and was built for growth, as the name implies. The VGRO portfolio holds thousands of diverse Vanguard ETFs, including assets from all over the world. 

VGRO is low cost and super simple in that if you own VGRO shares, you won’t need to worry about rebalancing. If you have a passive investment strategy, this will be right up your alley.

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How to Buy VGRO ETF

If you already have an account with an online brokerage, you’re ready to buy the VGRO ETF! 

First, you’ll need to log in, and select the account you would like to purchase from. Remember, it’s always a good idea to max out your registered accounts first so you’ll save on tax later. You can purchase any Vanguard all-in-one ETF with your registered account.

Once you have selected the account, you can head over to the buy ETF section, enter in the ticker symbol VGRO, and input the number of shares you want to purchase. If you are not sure how many shares the money you have will get you, you can use the dollar to shares calculator.

Once you know how many shares you would like, you’re ready to finalize your order! Select market order and submit. Review your order on the next page, and if everything looks good, submit the order and then you are ready to go!

Want to buy VGRO, but don’t have an online brokerage account yet? Sign up for an account with Qtrade, our top online discount brokerage in Canada.

VGRO Holdings

ETFs are a great investment option because they allow you to essentially invest in thousands of stocks from top performing companies. With the VGRO ETF you will be investing in US, Canadian and international stocks as well as bonds. 

The VGRO ETF is more on the aggressive side in terms of growth as it consists of 80% equities and 20% bonds. So, if you have a longer time horizon on this investment, it could be a good choice for you. Although it is more heavy in the equities, it’s considered a low-to-medium risk EFT, so you may find some comfort in that depending on your investment strategy and timeline.

Check out the chart below to see exactly how the funds are allocated.

As you can see, when you invest in a VGRO ETF, you are getting access to 7 different ETFs, each one offering geographic and industry diversification. Having bonds included as well rounds it out well and hedges your risk.

Check out the asset allocation by sector, top equity holdings and fixed income holdings below to see how the funds are allocated.

VGRO ETF Performance

As VGRO has only been around for several years, the performance data is limited. What we can see so far is promising and in the long run, VGRO could continue to produce greater returns. 

Another bonus of VGRO is the quarterly dividend payout of 2.12%. 

ETFs are part of a long-term investment strategy, so you’ll want to consider holding onto this one for a while for maximum returns. 

Because VGRO is an indexed fund, its holdings will track the market, so it is likely that if one or more of the assets are not performing well, they will be replaced with another, better performing one. 

You can see that so far, VGRO’s performance has seen consistent growth since its inception. 

Again, don’t let the recent dip in performance put you off, as markets are down worldwide. History has shown us that over time, the markets will rebound and you’ll still be able to earn a great return in the future.

VGRO ETF Investment Accounts for Canada

Like all of Vanguard’s all in one portfolio ETFs, the Vanguard All-in-One Growth ETF (VGRO) can be purchased in your:

• RRSP
• RRIF
• TFSA
• RESP
• Non-Registered Account
• RDSP
• DPSP

If you are not familiar with all of these acronyms, don’t worry, we’ll explain a bit more later on down. We also recommend checking out our best long term investments in Canada article to get an overview of account types and which you should be using to grow your wealth and when.

VGRO ETF Fees

When it comes to ETFs, the fees are much lower than other actively managed funds, or even robo-advisors. It’s still good investment practice to understand how the fees are calculated.

With any ETF, you will have a management fee of 0.22%. There is also a Management Expense Ratio (MER), which is 0.24%. The good news is that with VGRO, the MER includes the management fee. It will be charged annually as a percentage of the total amount you have invested in the ETF. The payment is made automatically, so you might not even notice it at all if you’re not paying attention. 

The VGRO ETF management expense ratio (MER) is 0.24%.

So, if you’ve invested $10,000 in VGRO, you’ll only pay an MER of $24 dollars each year. 

This is much lower than you would pay for a Canadian equity mutual fund or even one of Canada’s best robo advisors, which charge around 2.5% and 0.70% MER respectively.

To get the ultimate benefit of investing in the VGRO ETF, trade with one of our top Canadian online brokers, and do it for free!

VGRO ETF Review: FAQ

VGRO ETF Review: Final Thoughts

Vanguard has long been a favorite among US investors, and as of 2011, Canadian investors have grown to appreciate its product offerings and simplicity. 

VGRO offers excellent exposure to a wide range of global markets across a variety of sectors. All of this comes at a low cost and with relatively low risk. 

In our VGRO ETF review, we’ve highlighted some of the reasons why we think this would be a solid addition to the long term, passive investment strategy portfolio. While it might not necessarily be the end all be all ETF, it is definitely worth consideration.

To learn more about another popular Vanguard Canada ETF, check out our VEQT ETF review.