The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that iShares Core Balanced ETF (XBAL) and Vanguard Balanced ETF (VBAL) are good choices for diversified or "easy-mode" exchange-traded funds. Globe columnist Norman Rothery writes that his top pick is the BMO Balanced ETF, but XBAL and VBAL offer broadly similar portfolios. The three balanced ETFs enjoyed average annual returns over the past five years of about 8.8 per cent with volatilities near 8.2 per cent. The latter is a gauge of the variability (standard deviation) of an ETF's daily total returns over the past year. We also investigate each ETF's performance in two market crashes. The first is the stock-market crash that occurred in early 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It spans the period from the market's high on Feb. 20, 2020, to its bottom on March 23, 2020, based on the daily total returns of the S&P/TSX Composite Index. The second downturn occurred in the bond market (as measured by the S&P Canada Aggregate Bond Total Return Index), which fell from a high on June 1, 2021, to a low on Oct. 21, 2022, thanks to a spurt of inflation. The three balanced ETFs fell by 20.4 per cent during the COVID-19 crash and gave up 9.2 per cent during the bond bust.