Investment Q&A

Q: In your response to my earlier question on Canadian ETFs, you offered to expand your answer to include other Canadian traded asset categories. I would appreciate if you could please do so.

Q: Can you suggest a couple of low risk Cdn. ETF's with good dividend rates and with a low MER?

Q: Our portfolio manager is recommending the PIMCO Monthly Income Fund Series F (PMO205) mutual fund, as part of our fixed income investments. Is this mutual fund worth the high MER of 0.86? Morningstar gives it a 4-star rating and returns appear to be considerably higher than other comparable funds. In the event of a deep world-wide recession, is this fund vulnerable to losses? As a senior, capital preservation is my highest priority.
Thanks!

Q: Hey 5i, I would like your suggestions on portfolio construction for a retired individual. Basically I would like your suggestions for percentage breakdown between Canada, US, and international. My plans for international is just buying VXUS and calling it a day. For Canada I’m buying ETFs XDIV and CDZ. For the US I’m going to buy the 11 sectors (including REITS) through ETFs, either Vanguards or ishares. So I would like your suggestions on percentages put to the 11 sectors in the US for a retired individual. Thanks so much and what a great service you have!

Q: Could you confirm how one should look at the total return for funds that use leverage to enhance yield? For example, I am showing growth of 13.16% on my initial investment in HMAX and it has a current “yield” of 12.48% so does that mean in the one year I have owned it I am up 25.64%? For HDIV, the numbers are 18.86% share growth and a 9.99% yield for total return of 28.85%? In past discussions of these products it doesn’t seem that what you see is always what you get!

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: Other than the yield, is there any significant difference between these 2 cash etfs? I currently have a substantial amount of cash in a money market fund. The return from CMR would be almost a full point higher. Is there any additional risk or downside to holding a cash etf vs a money market fund? Thank you for your help.

Q: Which would you prefer for long term income? Thanks

Q: I'm looking to deploy some funds outside of North America, for perspective my portfolio consists of mostly small, growth companies, I can handle very high volatility, and spend time daily managing my holdings and size positions. Have a couple of etf's that would fit my style?

Q: I get an email from Seeking Alpha every once in a while touting various stocks and ETF's . I recently got one on GPIQ { not in your data base } with a rather glowing assessment . For brevity I will just quote their summary ......

" The Goldman Sachs Nasdaq-100 Premium Income ETF offers a compelling blend of capital appreciation and double-digit yield, amassing $2.12B AUM in just over two years.

GPIQ’s dynamic covered call strategy leaves upside partially uncapped, enabling strong monthly income and market-beating total returns compared to peer ETFs.

The ETF’s monthly distributions remain stable regardless of Fed rate changes, making GPIQ attractive for income investors in a declining rate environment.

While GPIQ carries risks tied to tech sector performance and execution, its
proven strategy positions it as a top choice for income-focused investors seeking growth. "

What is 5i's assessment of this ETF and why ? ..... Thanks for your terrific service ......

Q: Hello,
I am pretty well diversified across sectors, except for Materials, and have missed out on the past year's gains.
I already hold 25 individual positions and am reluctant to add more stocks to follow.
Was thinking of adding iShares Capped Materials XMA as an eventual full long-term position. Thoughts?
How would you approach buying XMA now after the year's gains? All at once? Over 3-6 months? Over the next year?
Thanks as always

Q: Let's say a conservative investor (i) wants to invest US dollars in US ETFs, (ii) wants principal protection above all, for example by investing primarily in BIL.

If this investor wants to move a little bit up the risk ladder with a view to getting more yield, by adding one or two other conservative ETFs (while continuing to hold BIL as the primary holding): what would you suggest?

Q: Hello 5i,

We currently have IEMG and AIA at 2% positions. Would EMM be a complimentary ETF to increase foreign exposure as it also has NDIA (India) and BRAZ (Brazil),

Would you have any concerns if all three were @2% positions?

Thank you
D&J

Q: I am currently shifting some of my assets into ETFs. I’m looking for some low to medium risk Canadian ETFs with low management fees and a five to ten year investment outlook. Could you give me a few suggestions?

Q: If I were to reduce my overweight positions in a few FANGMA stocks and instead use Evolve’s TECH.U ETF for more balanced long-term tech exposure, how would you assess the trade-off? Other than the MER, are there any concerns with TECH.U—such as index methodology, rebalance schedule, liquidity, tracking error, or concentration—that should factor into the decision?”

Q: Is VIU actively managed? What or who determines weightings in each international country ? Or is it just by stock screening that certain countries get a higher percentage weighting? Finally, if VI is the hedged version, what is it hedged against ? The Vanguard website says USD but this ETF is ex North America.

Q: Hi,
We own no crypto stocks. I feel that we should have some exposure in our portfolio. Now there has been a bit of a pull back… I cannot decide on what combination of stocks or ETF’s (cnd or US$) to buy in this sector for total portfolio weight of approximately 4-5%. What 3 combination of companies and/or ETF would you buy for a balanced exposure to the sector.
Thanks for all that you do!
K.

Q: If I sell FBTC & IBIT for tax loss reason , would I allowed to buy FBTC.U & BTCC within 30 days ? Thanks a lot.

Q: Critics are so frequent (and factors well explained) concerning covered call ETFs or covered call ETFs + leverage . My own experience is surprisingly positive since I keep about 10-20 % of those specialized ETFs( carefully selected though) in my portfolios , the results are excellent since, after 2-5 years , most of them show significant capital gain (often up to 50%) and no decreased NAV ..What strategy ( ETF vs stocks,or covered call ETF,ETF+leverage) do you suggest for a long term dividend investor ?

Q: XLV had a good run. Would you buy it here or wait for a pull back, Do you think that the healthcare sector has more momentum to the upside?
Thank. Cheers

Q: I am considering VEE within a Non-Registered Account and wondering about the consequences in doing so.

- Regarding the impact on my OAS clawback: I don't believe that VEE's current 2.26% dividend is grossed up like Canadian dividends. However, it would be treated like regular income and there is also a slight withhold tax. So to me net-net, with focus on its affect on the OAS clawback, it would appear that holding VEE in this account would have a slight edge compared to holding a Canadian dividend-payer. Would this be correct?

- Regarding Tax Form T1135: Vanguard is a U.S. company, but VEE trades on the TSX. Does VEE need to be included when considering Foreign Income Verification on T1135 ? Or does the fact that it trades on the TSX exempt it?