afi or direct shares, page-62

Agree they should not be venerated, they are practically index funds with annoying variations from NTA. If someone asks me if they are an OK investment I mention the NTA problem but say they are good because of diversification and average returns. I also agree STW and VAS are better choices.

Investors can do a whole lot worse than invest in these. They have a place, and it's close enough to the right place (with NTA/ management fee caveats) for many people

I buy them when they are at or below NTA and for tax reasons. In particular these are inside a trust, and I don't want to triple my paper work by having to distribute and report all the very minor income streams that come from different tax treatments within managed funds. (Tax deferred, Foreign Source, divis franked and unfranked). With LICs I have divis and franking credits.

If someone knows a way to simplify this I'm all ears. I'm surprised no one else ever complains about this (perhaps most people have accountants). I do all my own taxes.