In the case of a smaller Canadian retirement portfolio, you would move to 7 asset classes. Obvious, a po:

-Domestic Stocks
-US Stocks
-EFA Stocks
-Emerging Markets Stocks
-Corporate Bonds
-Government Bonds
-International Bonds

These could be done with the following ETF’s:

-Domestic Stocks:

-XIU – Ishares ETF that tracks the TSX60 index)
-HXT – Similar exposure to XIU but it automatically reinvests dividends, charges lower fees but has derivative exposure

-US Stocks:

-XSP – $CAD hedged exposure to the S&P500 (through IVV
-IVV or SPY: Two very popular and low fee US ETF’s that track the S&P500, they are both traded on US markets

-EFA Stocks:

EFA – Ishares ETF that tracks much of the developed world
XIC – $CAD hedged Ishares ETF that tracks the developed world

-Emerging Market Stocks

VWO – Vanguard’s Emerging markets fund, traded on US markets
XEM – $CAD hedged Ishares ETF that tracks emerging markets

-Corporate Bonds

XCB – Ishares ETF that tracks a Scotia index of Corporate bonds
HAB – Alphapro ETF that provides exposure to Corporate bonds

-Government Bonds

XBB – Ishares ETF that tracks a Scotia index of 3-10 year Canadian government bonds

-Foreign Bonds

BND – Vanguard ETF that tracks the total bond market in the US (public, corporate, etc)
TIP – US ETF that provides exposure to inflation protected bonds issued by the US government

As you can see, there are many different possibilities even for a simple portfolio that only includes 4 ETF’s. I think the first step would be to select what you want in each of those asset classes. When you will combine that with your investor profile, you will get a very good idea of what to include in your portfolio. Here is the table again: