BetaShares UMAX – S&P 500 Yield Maximiser Fund‎

About a year ago I purchased a number of units in Betashares S&P 500 Yield Maximiser ETF (UMAX) to give my SMSF extra global exposure. This fund has a management charge of 0.79%, which in hindsight seems a bit high. It was only yesterday that I looked at the portfolio holdings which appears to consist of approximately 80% iShares Core S&P 500 ETF with the remainder in US dollars.

 

This appears to be iShares ticker code IVV, which has a management charge of 0.04%. Would you be able to tell me I am correct and if so, should I sell UMAX and buy IVV?

A: Yes, UMAX does hold about 97% IVV (which only charges 0.04% in management fees), however, it writes call options on the IVV it holds to generate additional income (this is part of its strategy).

But, this can be a flawed concept, as demonstrated by UMAX’s dreadful performance record, underperforming by almost 6% pa since inception:

 

Fund Returns After Fees (%)

  Fund S&P 500 Index (TR, A$)
1 month 1.24% 3.26%
3 months -9.00% 0.46%
6 months -11.74% -0.54%
1 year 1.49% 17.08%
3 year p.a 5.56% 13.85%
5 year p.a 6.66% 12.35%
Since inception (p.a) 9.30% 15.28%
Inception date 17-Sep-14 –

* As at 29 May 2020

 

 

Sell.


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