Investment Q&A

Q: In your opinion do you think TQCD and XDIV are tax efficient enough to hold in a CAD NonReg account? They appear to outperform XIU and VCE.

Q: Hello, I have a small position in above 3 ETFs. Since my portfolio is ~ 60% stocks and I am 73, I am searching for a couple CDN and US bond ETFs . I was looking @ XHY but you have issued a sell ..
How about 2-3 corporate and 2-3 Government US and CDN ETF's, please.?
Thank you
Carlo

Q: I’d appreciate your opinion on the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY). I suspect I may have missed a good entry point for the S Korean market as EWY is up nearly 70% YTD as of early May, hitting record highs above $160.
This rally appears to be a "perfect storm" driven by the global semiconductor cycle and South Korean companies (notably Samsung and SK Hynix). Although a little late, before initiating a position in EWY and/or its major components, I ask your insight on:
- Technical Extension: With EWY trading significantly above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages and the RSI signaling overbought territory, do you view this as a "blow-off top" or the start of a multi-year re-rating?
- Structural Reforms: To what extent is the government's "Corporate Value-Up Program" and the reduction in the "Korea Discount" providing a permanent floor for valuations? Is this a structural inflection point that justifies buying even at these levels?
- Risk/Reward: Would you consider the high momentum but "expensive" EWY over ETFs covering other regions, e.g. China or India?
- Outlook: For a minimum 2–3-year hold, is it more likely than not that I will see a significant pullback (10-15%) before further upside, or does the AI tailwind make waiting for a "dip" in South Korean AI-related companies a losing strategy?
I am not keen on chasing performance, but I recognize the demographic and technological strength of South Korea, especially after recently attending a med and science conference there. Would you initiate a modest position now, or is EWY a "wait for a pullback" candidate in your thinking? :ao:

Q: 2:15 PM 5/5/2026

Hello Peter.

I was quite interested to read Joseph's question today, May 5th and to study your answers and recommendations. It brought my attention the Hamilton Covered Call "MAX" ETFs which have attractive yields.

We have owned large positions in Canadian banks and utilities for decades mainly for the divided income but have never ventured to try covered calls on them so I was interested in HMAX and UMAX as a way of easing into this strategy to watch and learn about it without getting into the complexities of trading. We have always been buy-and-hold forever investors.

Questions

1. You said "Our covered call exposure is specifically to add tax-deferred income (ROC distributions)" so could you give some details on just what the distributions are and how they are taxed.... dividends, ROC, other?. Do the dividend incomes on the shares in the funds flow directly to the owner [me] as part of the distributions of the fund shares.

2. I presume that HMAX and UMAX are all Canadian for income tax purposes. Does this apply also to EMAX which is 79.7% in US? I do not want to own US stocks with all the taxation complexities and T1135.

3. Could you suggest a Canadian Covered Call ETF focused just on Canadian pipelines, midstream, and oil and gas production

Thank you........... Paul K.

Q: Hello 5i,

We have a combined position of 2% with XBM (25%), MP, 25%) and REMX (50%). Is there a stock or ETF that should be added to this suite as we may be light on copper, nickel, cobalt, or other minerals for battery and AI growth. If we were to increase the combined position to 3% or 4%, would you increase one more over the others?

Thank you
D&J

Q: hello 5i:
could you do a head to head comparison of SPYI (knowing you hold) and QDVO please.
From the perpective of a retired, moderate risk investor. I note there are no questions on QDVO.
thanks
Paul L

Q: Is there any nasdaq 100 or s and p 500 index or etf that can be bought in a tfsa account to avoid withholding tax ?Ty

Q: For a short time horizon - are there any strategies besides GICs, Government t-bills, HISAs, MMFs or Interest ETFs that you would consider?

Q: The Analytics tells me that I need to reduce the Financial sector by 8%. Currently own BNS (3.5%), BN (1%), X (2.%), TD (4%), and VBAL (17%). Thinking about selling BNS and X or trimming the VBAL. I would appreciate your comments on which approach is better. Thank you

Q: I understand that the VOO is likely to be extremely tax efficient.
If I only had a USD NonReg account would you expect VFV and VSP to be just as tax efficient as VOO?

Q: What is your view of holding IAUI etf as a portion of gold exposure. Thanks, Janet

Q: You have mentioned AIQ many times as AI play. What about DTCR ? Seems to have better performance numbers but seems to have 25% in REITs which own land for data centres. For 25% REIT, the yield of 1% seems a little low.

Q: This has a 4% weighting, and I have held it mostly for income purposes since retirement in 2018. I have never been really compelled to be overly worried about its dividend payouts at different levels, quarterly. However, the last payout was very low at 0.0957. Can you see why it was such a drop, and if it indicates a change in their payout plans? As always, thanks for your fine service.

Q: Hello 5i

Like others have mentioned, I have also learned and profited from following 5i and I thank you. I usually listen especially closely when you speak about your own strategies. In that regard I was intrigued by an answer you gave concerning your own portfolio size i.e. 15 stocks and 3 covered call etf’s. It raised several questions. I appreciate your willingness to talk about your own holdings, and this encourages me to ask the following questions. If you feel, however, that they are too personal for a public forum I certainly understand. If you feel comfortable answering, though, I would like to get more detailed information:

1.First is that there seems to be no mention of fixed income. I assume that you don’t hold any and further assume that the reason for this is that if one has enough funds one can withstand a sizable meltdown of the stock market without too much concern. I ask this because I am always wavering about whether to hold fixed income.
2. I notice that you don’t mention any vanilla flavoured etf’s, such as SPY or QQQ. Does this mean that you see the covered call etf’s as a suit iable substitute for them? The question I am getting at here is whether they would be good for all seasons or simply in times like this?
3. Do you now use these covered call etf’s as an easier way to make money on covered calls than selling calls on individual stocks?
4. If you hold 15 stocks as well as three etf’s, what kind of percentage might each one represent and the etf’s?
5. I am planning to use this strategy, But, for the moment I need to buy on margin, Canadian margin has a lower interest rate than US. So I was looking at Hamilton’s QMAX.It looks similar but I wondered what you thought.
thanks

Q: Thoughts on this to invest in CSU at a much more reasonable stock price?

Thx

Q: My daughter has some holdings that need to be reviewed. What are your thoughts on dividing her capital between 8-10 ETFs that cover the US, CDN and the rest? Could you provide a list of your favs? Thanks again for your sage advice.

Q: It was mentioned that these ETFs use a "synthetic call option strategy". I don't know what that is. Can you explain in more detail

I don't like to own something I don't understand as I wouldn't know when to sell it. What would be a trigger to sell these ETFs?


Can you also explain the risks associated with owning something like this. Is the high yield (11%) a red flag?

And which account (Non-registered, TFSA, RRSP) are these best held in.

Q: I have CSU in my TFSA, down 40% I am looking at buying ZWU instead or should I hang on. Thanks

Q: I own only 1 ETF (XQQ @ 10% of my portfolio). I'm looking to move to owning 3-5 ETFs to cover the broad market and then pick away at a few individual stocks for some extra growth.

Which few ETFs would you recommend to hold for 'adequate' and 'broad' market coverage. Note that I'm looking to hold 40-60% of my portfolio in these ETFs.

Q: If you were to create a portfolio of USA stocks or International ETFS for lets say a 68 year old person with $$1 million, what would buy for growth and safety protection in todays market. % would be helpful.
Thanks Again