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  5. XGRO: I have a relative (73 years) with a portfolio of $400K, paid-off home (modest) whose pensions cover regular living expenses. [iShares Core Growth ETF Portfolio]
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Investment Q&A

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Q: I have a relative (73 years) with a portfolio of $400K, paid-off home (modest) whose pensions cover regular living expenses. She is disinterested in management of her investments but seemed happy with the performance of XGRO in a spousal RIF (dripped for convenience). This is only approx. $150K of her holdings. XGRO is meant to be a one and done investment, with the exception of some cash-type investments, she wonders if her Cash account and TFSA could all hold XGRO for simplicity.
Thank you for your valued opinion.
Asked by J on June 19, 2025
5i Research Answer:

XGRO is a $3.2B fund managed by Blackrock, one of the biggest global managers. In terms of management company risk, we would be very comfortable with a very large position (we cannot comment on personal circumstances). But, we are cautious on putting all eggs in one basket. At times, sentiment can change on managers, and on occasion problems can delay payout to investors (as happened with Emerge Funds in Canada in 2023). In no way would we expect any problems with Blackrock, but the possibility is still below 0.00%. ETF assets are segregated from managers, so the actual risk of loss (other than market losses) is still essentially zero. The other issue is asset allocation. Again, we cannot get persoanl, but XGRO is 80% equities. It's a good fund, with good diversity of its stock holdings, but an investor needs to decide if 80% is the right asset allocation for a conservative, older investor. For us, despite its qualities, we would not want 100% XGRO exposure.