Best SPDR ETFs to Buy and Hold

Fearless Girl statue facing State Street Global sign

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last updated 8 January 2024

State Street's job as an investment manager is to get you from point A to point B with as little pain as possible and hopefully, plenty of assets in your retirement portfolio. And to its credit, many of its best SPDR ETFs do precisely that.

State Street now boasts 177 ETFs under the SPDR nameplate. The most famous, not to mention the largest SPDR, is the S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), with net assets of $481 billion. SPY launched the ETF era roughly 30 years ago and investors are better for it.

This is especially important amid the upheaval we've seen in recent years. In 2023 alone, "global markets experienced a variety of surprises and shocks," writes Lori Heinel, global chief investment officer at State Street Global Advisors in the firm's 2024 market outlook. These included "elevated inflation, muted growth, an abrupt banking crisis, and the continuation of the sharpest monetary policy tightening in decades."

Fortunately, most economists now expect the U.S. to avoid a recession and any economic slowdown will be short-lived. Kiplinger economist David Payne doesn't expect any more interest rates from the Federal Reserve. "However, it is also not likely to make its first rate cut until its May policy meeting because it is still determined to combat inflation," Payne writes in his forecast for gross domestic product (GDP).

Disclaimer

Data is as of January 5. Dividend yields represent the trailing 12-month yield, which is a standard measure for equity funds.

Topics

S&P 500

Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF

Assets under management: $34.3 billion
Dividend yield: 1.7%
Expenses: 0.10%, or $10 annually for every $10,000 invested

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SPDR S&P 1500 Value Tilt ETF

Assets under management: $291.1 million
Dividend yield: 2.0%
Expenses: 0.12%

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SPDR Portfolio Developed World ex-US ETF

Assets under management: $18.0 billion
Dividend yield: 2.7%
Expenses: 0.03%

"Just like sports teams recruit the best players, the goal of investing should be to win by using diverse talent. You may not find what you need at home, and to be competitive you need to look across borders," Chicago-based financial services firm Northern Trust stated in a 2022 report on home-country bias. "Diversification is the one 'free lunch' in investing. Adding foreign equity investments to a domestic portfolio helps produce more diversified portfolios and alleviates concentration risks related to investing domestically only."

The SPDR Portfolio Developed World ex-US ETF (SPDW, $33.46) is one of the best SPDR ETFs to give you this diversification. The ETF tracks the performance of the S&P Developed Ex-U.S. BMI (Broad Market Index) Index. This float-adjusted cap-weighted index represents a collection of publicly traded companies based in developed countries other than the U.S. The index is a subset of the S&P Global BMI.

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SPDR S&P Kensho New Economies Composite ETF

Assets under management: $1.8 billion
Dividend yield: 1.3%
Expenses: 0.20%

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SPDR Dow Jones Global Real Estate ETF

Assets under management: $1.2 billion
Dividend yield: 3.8%
Expenses: 0.50%

Another condition of inclusion is all new constituents must have a minimum float-adjusted market cap of $200 million. And it is out if it falls below $100 million for two consecutive quarters. In addition, new constituents must generate 75% of their annual revenue from owning and operating real estate assets. Existing companies are booted if the percentage drops below 50% or direct mortgage investments rise above 25%.

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SPDR Portfolio Short Term Treasury ETF

Assets under management: $5.6 billion
SEC yield: 4.5%*
Expenses: 0.03%

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Will has written professionally for investment and finance publications in both the U.S. and Canada since 2004. A native of Toronto, Canada, his sole objective is to help people become better and more informed investors. Fascinated by how companies make money, he's a keen student of business history. Married and now living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he's also got an interest in equity and debt crowdfunding.