Q: Hello I am new to 5i (one week!) and am really enjoying the Q&A as a learning opportunity. I use one of the banks to invest our personal retirement funds (ie we don't have company pensions) and am keen to learn to self invest.

As a 60 yr old I have recently started an incorporated and am wanting to invest my incorp dividends appropriately. I have invested about 20% of my available funding and have a high cash position at present.

The information I have gleaned online is that a an incorporation should invest accordingly:

Corporation:

1. Corporate Class Mutual Funds/ETFs
2. Broad market ETFs (stock and bond ETFs) *capital gains only taxed when sold, reducing annual tax drag. Be mindful of whether dividends or capital gains.
3. Canadian dividend stocks (eligible for dividend refund mechanism)
4. Growth stocks (Capital gains taxed at 50% when you sell) but no Dividend reduction management benefits compared to Canadian dividend stocks.)
5. Investment Real Estate (Rental income is considered passive and taxed at 50%. Can reduce small business tax rate eligibility if passive income exceeds $50K)

The online information also indicates that incorporations should not invest in:

1, High Interest Savings accounts and GICs
2. Foreign Dividend Stocks and REITS
3. Actively managed mutual funds

As well - I have completed your portfolio questionnaire which tells me that I am an Alpha Balanced Investor. This happens to align with the personal portfolio that I hold for our retirement which is invested 70% in equities.

Based on the guidance you have been providing in the past week, I feel it is time to start $ cost averaging for my incorporation funding. I believe that my husband and I can live off of our personal portfolio and do not need to pull $ out of the incorporated for 3-10 years.

Given that my current interest is to starting investing my incorporated revenues, can you please recommend the selections?

I understand that you cannot provide personal recommendations. However, I suspect there may be additional members who have set up their own businesses recently and can benefit from a tutorial and investment recommendations. Thank you !

Q: I have CAD to invest in Canadian-dollar denominated ETFs: (1) Canadian stocks - VGG. XIU XIC XDIV; (2) US ETFs in CAD FX - HXS ZUQ ZMID and ZBK and (3) - EU ETF - HXX. How to go about assessing one against the other. Is there a better ETF in each group you would prefer? Would appreciate guidance on which ones are keepers for long-term hold? How would you evaluate them?

Q: Part of our total portfolio is invested in ETFs [non-registered accounts] and one-third is in Canadian-based and Canadian-dollar denominated US ETFs. Another third is in US ETFs - spread among Large Cap Value, Blend and Growth, and SMID. The final third is in Special US ETF - IAI ZBK AIRR PAVE SHLD PPA SMH UTES AND HXX. Your advice is requested as to which ones to over-weight, underweight or sell. Please rank each category, if you would. My lean is less tech/ M7 as already own most.