★ VGRO · VANGUARD GROWTH ETF PORTFOLIO · TICKER REVIEW

Vanguard's 80/20 answer.

VGRO is Vanguard Canada's 80% equity / 20% bond one-ticket. 0.24% MER. Same allocation strategy as iShares' XGRO at a slightly higher fee — but compensated by Vanguard's slightly broader underlying lineup (7 funds vs XGRO's 5) and a 25-year track record as the world's largest indexer.

PRICE$36.85CAD · TSX
5YR RETURN+43.2%Through today
★ 5-YEAR PRICE HISTORY ★

Live Yahoo Finance data

★ THE VANGUARD ONE-TICKET LADDER ★

5 portfolios. One choice point.

VEQT
100% equity
Under 35 · max growth
VGRO
80% / 20%
35-50 · growth with bond buffer
VBAL
60% / 40%
50-65 · balanced retirement
VCNS
40% / 60%
65+ · conservative drawdown
VRIF
50% / 50% + payouts
In retirement · monthly income

★ The Vanguard one-ticket ladder lets you progressively de-risk as you age by switching ETFs — without selling the underlying assets at unfavorable timing.

★ FINE PRINT ★

The numbers

MER0.24%0.04% above XGRO
INCEPTIONJan 2018Original Vanguard one-ticket
EQUITY/BOND80/20Aggressive-growth allocation
UNDERLYING FUNDS7 fundsGranular vs XGRO's 5
YIELD~2.1%Quarterly distributions
AUM$5.8BLargest 80/20 in Canada
9.2/10
FINAL VERDICT

The default 80/20 if you already use Vanguard ETFs.

VGRO is functionally identical to XGRO and ZGRO at a 0.04% MER premium. For Vanguard loyalists who hold VFV, VCN, or VEQT separately, VGRO keeps everything within one fund family for cleaner tax reporting and rebalancing. Otherwise, XGRO wins on MER and ZGRO wins on commissions at BMO IL.