# SPY ETF terminatiion date tied to death of the last survivor of eleven millenials



## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

The SPY ETF will cease to be on the earliest of:

1) Jan. 22, 2118

or 

2) twenty years “after the death of the last survivor of the eleven persons”. The eleven persons are kids born between May 1990 and January 1993.


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...iding-on-their-lives?utm_source=pocket-newtab


Apparently it was originally to terminate in Jan 2018 but was amended.
Any bets on whether another amendment extends the time frame again or possibly the requirement to have a termination date will be removed?



Cheers


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

That's unbelievable, thanks for sharing. And I thought I knew SPY pretty well (have even read the prospectus) but this was a complete surprise to me.


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

What is this mumbojumbo?? Can't believe serious businessmen would allow the most prominent ETF to have such an silly structure. Doesn't instill confidence that ETFs in general, instead of stocks and bonds, are "real" investments that don't have sneaky things going on inside them...

I guess HP was right all along.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

January 2118 is a long ways away. Much ado about nothing.


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

Eclectic12 said:


> The SPY ETF will cease to be on the earliest of:
> 
> 1) Jan. 22, 2118
> 
> ...


Interesting, it seems to be a characteristic of US Unit investment trusts. They are supposed to have a definite lifetime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_investment_trust

Other dates are:
SPDR S&P 500 Trust - January 21, 2118
PowerShares QQQ Trust - March 4, 2124

I don't think this sort of limitation would apply to Canadian ETFs.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

peterk said:


> What is this mumbojumbo??
> 
> Can't believe serious businessmen would allow the most prominent ETF to have such an silly structure. Doesn't instill confidence that ETFs in general, instead of stocks and bonds, are "real" investments that don't have sneaky things going on inside them ...


Not sure what the advantage using a pot of eleven kids was perceived to be over setting a termination date.

It seems that some US ETFs are open ended like Mutual Funds (with no requirement for a termination date that I can find) and some US ETFs are Unit Investment Trusts (UIT) that have to have a termination date. It would seem that SPY as well as SPDR S&P 500 Trust and PowerShares QQQ Trust are this type.


Any bets on whether SPY will convert to an open trust, closer to the termination date?
Or that the termination date requirement will be removed from UITs, now that they are broadly popular?



Cheers


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

bgc_fan said:


> ... I don't think this sort of limitation would apply to Canadian ETFs.


I am not finding any reference to a similar requirement for the Canadian ETFs. The references to termination I can find for them are where the Canadian ETF wasn't popular enough or one company bought another (i.e. nothing date related).

The place I can find termination dates are split share corps. The popular ones keep amending to keep running well past the initial five or ten year termination date. Those that had trouble allowed themselves to be wound up at the termination date.


For the US ETFs, I wonder what the advantage is to being a UIT as I can find references to some US ETFs being open ended, the same as MFs.


Cheers


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Eclectic12 said:


> Any bets on whether SPY will convert to an open trust, closer to the termination date?
> Or that the termination date requirement will be removed from UITs, now that they are broadly popular?


No bets. They have almost 100 years to figure it out. I won't worry about it.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Depends on whether someone decides to take out contracts on the eleven kids as to whether the full one hundred years pans out. :biggrin:

Presumably as part of a scheme to make a fortune ... :rolleyes2:



Cheers


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Fun fact: SPY does not have any securities lending. Possibly because of its legal structure.

The financial statements also are clear and easy to read. No signs of futures or securities lending. I like SPY and own some.

Next year I will sell my BRK.B and roll that amount into SPY as well.


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