Hi everyone,
I’m currently holding the RBC North American Value Fund (Series F) in a registered account. After reading some comments here and doing more research, I wanted to share my thinking and get others’ opinions—especially on the alternatives below.
Compared to index funds, this fund is relatively expensive. To be fair, it has a solid ~20-year track record and has delivered roughly 10% annual returns even after fees. Since I’m holding it in a registered account, tax efficiency isn’t an issue for me.
That said, one concern is that despite those decent absolute returns, the fund has generally underperformed its own benchmark (60% TSX Composite / 40% S&P 500).
I do like the fund, but I’m now considering a lower-cost approach. One option I’m looking at is replicating the exposure using 60% XIC / 40% XUS, mainly to benefit from a much lower MER and (hopefully) better long-term performance.
Another alternative is RBC’s F-series index funds (RBF2142 and RBF2143), which offer similar exposure with a combined MER of ~0.15%—roughly 80% cheaper than NA Value—and historically better performance.
Since I’m still fairly new to this, I had a few questions:
-Are XIC/XUS essentially equivalent to RBF2142/RBF2143, aside from structure (ETF vs mutual fund)?
-If I go with XIC/XUS, would it still make sense to hold XEQT, or would that create too much overlap?
Curious to hear what others think—especially from anyone still holding NA Value or who has switched to XIC/XUS/XEQT or the RBC index F-series funds.