ETF Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (VAS)

Discussion in 'Shares & Funds' started by pippen, 19th Dec, 2018.

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  1. pippen

    pippen Well-Known Member

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    Picked up some vas today logging on via latvia! Lifes good!
     
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  2. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    Addict:).
     
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  3. pippen

    pippen Well-Known Member

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    Time difference is abit of a killer especially after a session on the cognac! Set a buy order up and upon rising it was filled easy as! :D
     
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  4. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    Hey I just realised you’re a LIC man, but you bought VAS:eek:. Shame, shame, shame:D.
     
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  5. SatayKing

    SatayKing Well-Known Member

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    Pot. Kettle. Black.
     
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  6. pippen

    pippen Well-Known Member

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    Listened to the old heads on this forum went away and researched and set up a plan FOR ME which will help me stay invested for the next 30 years amid turmoils wars, government changes, natural disasters, financial turmoil, credit cruches etc etc, set and forget dca with bit more tipped in when on the skids! Lics not showing huge discounts so topped up with vas. :p
     
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  7. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    When the likes of @SatayKing and me started investing there were no low fee products around to own broad diversification of ASX other than LICs.

    I still like LICs of course but it just doesn’t seem smart to be paying a premium for them when an alternative like VAS is available. It’s particularly frustrating when ASX tanks but the LICs barely budge pushing those of interest to me further into premium territory. Hence buying VAS on those days is a no brainer for me. Good liquidity is also guaranteed with VAS. So I follow the simple rule of buy LICs when at a discount otherwise buy the index.

    The other reason for not owning all LICs is the future threat to franking credit refunds whether it happens in the near or later future. It’s a rare and extremely generous system compared to most of the rest of the world so at some stage I do think the benefit will go or at least be reduced. For some investors (probably many) the ETF structure would not be disadvantaged to the degree that LICs would be under this change.

    Further owing an ETF like VAS along with LICs is useful for tax loss harvesting. Even though ATO might be ok with an investor say selling ARG at a loss and buying AFI I feel more comfortable selling a LIC to buy an ETF or vice versus. There’s a clearer difference. Probably being paranoid but so be it. And if Labor are successful in halving the current CGT discount being able to adjust the cost base upward for future realisation of capital or to offset other current capital gains could be even more useful.

    There are other reasons as well but just a few thoughts without rambling on too much.
     
    Last edited: 20th Dec, 2018
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  8. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    You’re obviously referring to @SatayKing:).
     
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  9. PKFFW

    PKFFW Well-Known Member

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    After umming and ahhing about VAS Vs A200 I finally decided to dump it all into VAS.

    So I'm on board with just under 11k VAS shares :) WOOT WOOT.

    And while I know the mantra of not worrying about price I was happy to get it at $71 rather than $81 back in August. A $110k saving because I procrastinated and mucked around so long in getting organised was nice. From now on though, it's invest when I have $10k cash.

    Will continue to buy VAS until there's more certainty around franking and the LICs I'm interested in start showing a discount.
    Yep, I used a market order for 10k VAS shares and didn't move the market a single cent.
     
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  10. pippen

    pippen Well-Known Member

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    How are the timing skills with VAS @Nodrog ?
     
  11. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    Getting better with practice as I keep trying again and again to improve my timing skills each time VAS goes down another couple of percent or so:).

    A decade after the GFC it’s hard to believe the ASX is where it is:confused:. But alas mine is not to reason why I simply keep buying more and more to enjoy the dividends till I die:cool:.
     
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  12. SatayKing

    SatayKing Well-Known Member

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    Discrimination! A complaint to the ETF Rights Commission is now being drafted.
     
  13. The Falcon

    The Falcon Well-Known Member

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    ASX200 trailing PE and yield is currently 14.0 / 4.8% approx. XJO 5000pts would be c. 12.8 / 5.2%.
     
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  14. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    Stand in line:).
     
  15. PKFFW

    PKFFW Well-Known Member

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    I was having a look at VAS distributions via the Vanguard site and I hope someone could clarify something for me.

    Regarding the Sept 2018 distribution - paid date 16 Oct 2018. The "reinvest price" is $78.7665. I assume that means the price per share if you have your distributions automatically re-invested rather than paid as money. So first question, is that assumption correct?

    Now, it seems the price of VAS on 16/17/18 Oct 2018 was between $74 and $75. So my second question, assuming question 1 is yes, did it really cost around $4 per share more if you were auto re-investing compared to what you would have paid buying on the market?

    Now assuming I have it correct, why would anyone choose to auto-re-invest rather than take the money and pay brokerage to buy more shares?
     
  16. SatayKing

    SatayKing Well-Known Member

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    First question is answered in the affirmative.

    Second question, yep, if those are the prices.

    Regarding your last question it removes the need for continually making decisions. Plus it could suit a person starting out with few funds, say someone with 200 shares.

    Disclaimer: All total guesswork on my part as I never ascribe responsibility to anything I post :)
     
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  17. Noobieboy

    Noobieboy Well-Known Member

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    Reinvesting could be a good strategy ina rising market. Because it uses average price over a period of time, when price keeps going up you could get a better deal (for example reinvestment could be taken as average price of the share over last 6 weeks). If the market is tanking, then it doesn’t work that well.

    I’m not sure how VAS reinvestment is calculated exactly, but since ASX is down and reinvestment price is higher than security price it tells me that they are following above logic.

    Not advice of cause.
     
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  18. PKFFW

    PKFFW Well-Known Member

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    I had not thought about the average pricing thing. That makes sense and is likely the reason for the price discrepancy.
     
  19. marty998

    marty998 Well-Known Member

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  20. PKFFW

    PKFFW Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for that.

    I'm inclined to think it would probably even out in the wash over time. I was just surprised to see such a huge difference.
     

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