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Investment Q&A

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Q: my question is one I have been puzzling with and that is I hold your balanced acct in its entirety and have had great success - better than ever in my investing career. Having said that with the exposure outside of canada of many of the companies in the portfolio is there a compelling reason for a retiree to hold exposure to other countries. If so to what percentage of a total portfolio would you undertake and would that be with etfs such as xeh or vt or possibly some other mechanism. Thank you for your expertise and great service...
Read Answer Asked by gene on May 23, 2017
Q: Hi,

I'm currently only holding XEF(1.5%) and VEE(1%) for international and EM exposure. I'm looking to increase it a bit more maybe to 5%, as the rest of my portfolio is in US or CAD equities. I know you have talked about VXUS as a good international ETF to hold and the expense ratio of 0.11% is hard to beat. When I look at the regional allocation for VXUS, 19.3% is EM, so if we just hold that, would we even need to hold VEE? What do you think would be best to hold to have international and EM exposure? How about VI and VIU (exposure excl. North America)?

Was looking at one or two good quality ETF's to hold. Your thoughts on how they compare?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Keith on May 23, 2017
Q: Hi 5i;
!`m wanting to diversify my Portfolio and have ETF investments that include Europe and Asia . !`m considering ZDM which has a 35% Asia component but of that 35% its mostly Japan . So if one is expecting Japans economy to do well then this could be good but other wise the Asia component is in itself not very diversified throughout the rest of Asia .
That being said is Japan a good place to invest in over the next couple years or am i best to go with VE or ZWE for Europe exposure and VEE for Asia exposure separately ?
Thanks
Bill C
Read Answer Asked by Bill on May 16, 2017
Q: Hi 5I- I would like to deploy most of my 30% cash in your income fund, but feel better if it was more global in nature. This would form the major part of my fixed income. Could you suggest some global or international div. etf's to compliment your 5I income model. The big US bully bothers me. We are early 70's retirees needing more than bond exposure. Thanks kindly.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on May 15, 2017
Q: Hello I5, I would appreciate your help selecting or suggesting a couple Indian based equities, your assessment of the above ETFs. Also your opinion of the funds above,the difference between the ser.F and Ser.D, which one would you pick?
Many thanks, P.S. I have submitted a request w.r.t the above and was ignored in your resent reply. J.A.P. Burlington
Read Answer Asked by Joseph on May 11, 2017
Q: Many comments are made about diversifying outside Canada; Europe is thought to have good potential. I would like to take a look at it and thought to go with an ETF. But I am very uneasy about "Brexit" and every fund I look at has a 20 % or more weighting in Britain. Can you suggest an ETF or other suitable product that has no British exposure? Thanks for your help. BTW, first time question for me...I quite enjoy your work. Leonard
Read Answer Asked by Leonard on May 10, 2017
Q: I think it's time that I put some money back into emerging markets. Currently my only holdings (other than ADR's held on International stocks thru New York) is my investment in ZDI. All in, these current investments represent less than 3.5% of my equity portfolio. So my two part question is as follows: 1) what rough percentage would you recommend for international holdings in total (tough question I know), and 2) please give me your opinion on the relative merits/demerits of VEE vs ZEM (on a line chart they track almost identically in terms of performance, so I'm wondering if there's something "under the hood" in either of them that might be important for my decision)? Many thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on May 08, 2017
Q: My only exposure to equities outside of Canada is through the etf VUN. Would it be appropriate now to invest in emerging markets, Europe or world etf's? Could you please make some suggestions to compliment my Canadian and US holdings.
Thanks for your wonderful service.
Read Answer Asked by Rose on May 02, 2017
Q: Greetings 5i,

Looking to further enhance geographical diversification in my overall portfolio. I have fairly balanced exposure to NA, about 8% Europe, but only 1% Asia so I am looking to bring up my exposure in that region. My question is regarding exposure to India specifically. I wish to dollar cost average into this geographical region therefore I have been looking for a mutual fund rather than an ETF due to cost prohibitive transaction fees of $9.99 with my institution. What are your thoughts on Excel India Series D fund (EXL770)? I have it as No load, Mer 1.75, Min $250 and subsequent $50. Im open to suggestions and or direction keeping in mind the dollar cost averaging is preferred to me over a big initial commitment to a geographical region like this.

Cheers!
Read Answer Asked by Duane on May 01, 2017
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