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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I have 2 unregistered accounts and hold too much money in HISAs. I would like to invest more in Horizon's total return ETFs that pay no distributions. I have been looking at HBB but the chart looks nothing like similar Canadian bond etfs. Today, July 10th, HBB is trading at the same level it did 5 years ago but XBB is 13% lower today, VAB 13% lower and ZAG 15.2% lower. Can you explain this large difference? Should HBB now track in a similar way to XBB? Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Grant on July 13, 2023
Q: For tax reasons, I want to buy some ETFs or stocks in my unregistered account, that pay little or no dividends. Which of the Horizon's total return ETFs would you recommend at this time? HSAV seems to be really unstable and I am concerned it could be a money loser in the short term. I read in the G & M that the manager of Langsford Wealth Counsel in Oakville has been buying HXDM with better valuation than the US. Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Grant on July 13, 2023
Q: I am looking for the top 2 Canadian dividend ETFs to hold mostly in registered accounts. I screened for MERs less than about 0.4 and current yields of about 4.5% or more and came up with: ZDV, XEI and VDY. How would you rank these for long-term holdings; best first. XEI is tied for the lowest MER and has the highest yield, with 29% energy, 29% financial and 17% utilities. VDY has the largest AUM at $2B but high financials at 54% and low utilities at 6%. Finally, I would like to invest in HXH in unregistered accounts but I am concerned about the low daily trading an small AUM at $92M. Thank you!!
Read Answer Asked by Grant on July 13, 2023
Q: MF came out with a list of AI today, and they are all up today, presumably on the news. Is there a concern that this is turning into a bubble? I know there will be spending here, but is it getting away into the danger-zone? I am considering an etf that captures a wide swath of AI. Are you able to suggest something? Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Kim on July 13, 2023
Q: 5I team: Being a retired income investor and stuck on the nice yield for this fund I can still not be keen on it's substantial return of capital. Can you advise on a better alternative etf or fund for hands off solid yield as a replacement? Tks. Larry
Read Answer Asked by Larry on July 13, 2023
Q: I need assistance deciding which of these stocks I should put in a regular acct and which should be in a TFSA in other words, can you tell me if DIR.UN has a much higher taxable capital gains (and therefore should be ideally in a TFSA)?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Mark on July 13, 2023
Q: I'm going to set up a TFSA for my daughter she has 41K in available room,for a 5 year duration with the hopes of cashing it in for a down payment on a house.My strategy is to put 10K in 4 funds by setting them up as DRIPs not worried about price appreciation(although that would be great)looking to get 6-10 % on dividends,would like to stay primarily Canadian could you comment on the 3 ETFs i am considering and also could you recommend 3 different options of ETFs that could work ....Thank you for your great service
Read Answer Asked by Greg on July 12, 2023
Q: Can I please have your opinion on whether bond ETF's might be less forward looking "stocks" than a regular equity? It almost seems to me that they react to interest rate changes after they are announced versus anticipating them the way the rest of the market would anticipate an expected change. Are bond ETF's mostly a retail investor thing, or are there lots of institutional "smart money" participants as well?
Read Answer Asked by Stephen R. on July 12, 2023
Q: Some questions about JEPI. Perhaps you can answer at least some.

1 In their materials, JEPI states "Provided an attractive 12-month rolling dividend yield of 11.45% and 30-day SEC yield of 9.59%." What is the difference between the "rolling" and the "SEC"?

2. The dividend history shows a range from last Nov / Dec of $0.60 per unit to the recent $0.36 per unit. But it seems the stated yield is still pretty much in the same range as before. Is that correct? how does the stated yield stay the same??

3. The list of the holdings refers to about 15 - 20 "equity linked notes" which have quite mysterious names (eg "SPX 8"). What are these? How does one find out the identity of the item and what they actually are?

4. their material refers to selling options to generate the income; most US s stocks pay fairly small dividends. How much of the portfolio has to involve selling options to get to the amount of yield?

5. This ETF gets mentioned in your questions / answers from time to time. What is your current view of it? Would you anticipate the current yield to stay at this rate?

Many thanks for your excellent service.
Read Answer Asked by Leonard on July 12, 2023
Q: Hello! For large sums of money that need to be held in cash which is the best and safest option and what is the difference in yield one receives in these different investments? Is money held in these kinds of investments CDIC insured up to $100,000 or is that only if one holds in a GIC? Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Neil on July 11, 2023
Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team.

Would you endorse a switch from ZLU to VFV? When I look at the sector breakdown of ZLU, I notice that ZLU is heavy in sectors that probably should currently be under-represented, and very light in sectors that should have higher concentration. And of course, the MER of 0.08% for VFV is better than ZLUs of 0.30%.

ZLU is held in our Margin account, and VFV is already held in our RRIFs.

Thanks as always for the timely advice.

Read Answer Asked by Jerry on July 10, 2023
Q: Hi, I'm slowly transitioning from a growth portfolio to a dividend portfolio for retirement, starting with positions in JEPI and JEPQ. Can you suggest a couple of US and a couple of Canadian ETFs with high dividends (+6%) that would complement these two? Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by TK on July 10, 2023
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