# VSC vs XCB vs CBO vs ....



## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Doing reallocation and want to buy corporate short-term ETF, in your opinion which one is better VSC vs XCB vs CBO vs ....something else?


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Taxable account?


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

andrewf said:


> taxable account?


rrsp , also multiple trades are not a problem as I gonna get 50 free ones


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

In that case, I'm not sure it matters. Pick one! CBO has lower yield, low duration (interest rate risk), XCB has higher yield, higher duration (more interest rate risk).


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## leeder (Jan 28, 2012)

I like VSC. Lower MER than CBO and the other corporate bond ETFs that I am aware. It performed fairly well last year even with what went on last year.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

CBO has the lowest YTM, highest current yield, 2.76 duration
VSC has medium YTM, lowest current yield, lowest duration 2.7 and lowest MER
XCB has highest YTM, but highest duration 5.63 

So fat my short term bond allocation is about 80% CBO and 20% VSC (bought it last year as liked it more than CBO)...
As leeder, imho, VSC is more appealing...
Also, considering that I have too many free trades, considering:
- moving all CBO to VSC
- moving partially CBo to VSC, to have allocation 50/50.
What do you think? does it worth to have 2 short-term bond ETFs?


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Nope. VSC sounds like the winner.


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## leeder (Jan 28, 2012)

@ gibor: I did see your other thread, but I didn't really comment. Maybe you can consider just adding to your same positions whenever there are dips. Maybe start a 1/4 position in VSC or whatever you choose, and then buy more of it when you feel like it. The free trades will probably hurt more than help when you start using your trades because they are free.

FWIW, I don't think it's worth having two similar products that fulfill the same objective. Keep in mind high yield (i.e., coupon distributions paid monthly) is not how you measure the performance of bond ETFs. Please see this article


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Yes, leeder, I know that I need to look at YTM and not on current yield.... this is why I'm in dillema what to do as majority of my bonds in CBO and CBO YTM much lower than VSC.... on other hand , I don't really feel comfortable to sell all CBO and buy VSC


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## leeder (Jan 28, 2012)

I hope I didn't come off like I was lecturing in my previous post... At least it wasn't intentional...

Knowing VSC is probably the better product and the lower cost and the fact you have free trades, I would sell CBO and buy VSC. That said, the difference in return isn't all that significant. I'm not sure what your time horizon is, but if it's 5-10 years, you might as well go with VAB or XBB.


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## fatcat (Nov 11, 2009)

I have ZCS since I tend to like BMO eft products but VSC looks like the winner to me.
I split between ZCM and ZCS to pop my yield a little but only have about 25k in these. Mostly I am in GIC ladder.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

leeder said:


> I hope I didn't come off like I was lecturing in my previous post... At least it wasn't intentional...
> 
> Knowing VSC is probably the better product and the lower cost and the fact you have free trades, I would sell CBO and buy VSC. That said, the difference in return isn't all that significant. I'm not sure what your time horizon is, but if it's 5-10 years, you might as well go with VAB or XBB.


The point is that in late 40's and your company got outsourced, you never know what is your time horizons  maybe 20 years and maybe 2 , this is why I prefer short term and corporate


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## leeder (Jan 28, 2012)

gibor said:


> The point is that in late 40's and your company got outsourced, you never know what is your time horizons  maybe 20 years and maybe 2 , this is why I prefer short term and corporate


Gotcha


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