The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that for many people, one of the biggest attractions of investing in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is their low maintenance. In a Globe special, Terry Cain writes that John De Goey, portfolio manager at Industrial Alliance Securities in Toronto, says that ETFs work well for people who want diversification but refuse to "pay extra" for stock-picking strategies used by most mutual funds. His approach is to draw up an investment policy statement for each of his clients. That statement includes the percentage of fixed income that makes sense for the investor, then equal-weights the rest between five asset classes: Canadian equity, U.S. equity, international equity, emerging market equity and tangibles/alternatives (such as commodities and real estate). When it comes to rebalancing, Mr. De Goey says the best time is "when there is money in motion." For people in their earning years, that usually means when they are allocating new funds to their investments. Retirees are often drawing down their nest egg, so the rebalancing may be addressed when withdrawals are made. Mr. De Goey does not recommend changing allocations based on current market trends.