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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: Hi 5i research team - Can I have your opinion on the ZCM, ZCS, HFR ETFs?
I am looking for ETFs in the bonds category that do not fall much if the market tumbles (relatively safe) and at the same time pays a good interest compared to money market funds. I dont have any in the US market.
Any other ETFs you can think of in the CAD and US markets?
Thanks for your input!
Read Answer Asked by Ahmed on December 23, 2020
Q: Your thoughts on selling XLF to buy JPM & BAC and selling PFE & GILD to buy ARKG.

Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Nhung on December 23, 2020
Q: I know you don’t have a crystal ball but might this be the time to consider shifting sectors from technology to Clean energy. In this case my question would be shifting from XLK (up over 50 %) to TAN and the solar energy components. Thoughts ?
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on December 22, 2020
Q: i am thinking of taking a position in one or all of these high performance etfs in order, which ones, do you favour? could you possibly suggest suggest some other etfs or sectors that i may take a look at (dont mind taking the risk) more than 1 question here Kindly deduct my credits accordingly
Read Answer Asked by terrance on December 22, 2020
Q: I would like to add some coverage in semi conductors. What are your thoughts on these stocks? Is investing in the ETF a better bet? Any valuation concerns with SMH? Do you have other suggestions that are not overvalued?
Read Answer Asked by Maureen on December 22, 2020
Q: Fixed Income portion of portfolio is 40% and some deposits came due so need to deploy that cash into fixed income. Thinking of putting 25% of the 40% FI into these two ETFs. I would appreciate your thoughts on this plan please. Alternatives are welcome. Thanks again.
Read Answer Asked by Dan on December 21, 2020
Q: I'm considering buying these two ETFs which will be about 5% of my portfolio in total. Is this too much for emerging market exposure or not enough? The mer for each of them is reasonable but one concern I have is that both have BABA & BABA seems to be out of favour with the Chinese gov't. Is that %age a problem? Has this sector already run too far or does it still have room to grow?
Thanks very much for your advice which has been so helpful during my investment journey. To all the team Happy Holidays.
Dave
Read Answer Asked by Dave on December 21, 2020
Q: Can you suggest some eft's for the above sectors? Do have a couple tech companies in my portfolio such as Lightspeed and Shopify, but no "big" ones like Google, Apple etc. and WELL and PRN. Would like to find ETF's which may help to broaden my exposure in these sectors.
Read Answer Asked by Colleen on December 21, 2020
Q: I have seen many articles in which advisors recommend all-in-one portfolios as core holdings. I understand the value of these portfolios given the rebalancing effect, when there is a mix of bonds and equities (e.g. VBAL, XBAL). However, I do not understand the benefit of the all-equity, all-in-one portfolio (e.g. VEQT, XEQT) compared to an all-world equity ETF (e.g. XAW, XWD). The all-equity, all-in-one portfolios are overweight Canada vis-a-vis global market capitalizations. It seems to me that the all-equity, all-in-one portfolios are "betting" that Canadian equities will outperform the rest of the world. Yet, most articles I read suggest the opposite, and recommend that Canadians invest increasingly internationally (in fact, I can not recall in the last few years any article suggesting Canadian outperformance).

It seems to me that the all world ETFs (XAW, XWD) are a better bet, but I am concerned that I am missing something given the popularity of the all-equity, all-in-one portfolios. What do you see as the advantage of the all equity, all-in-one portfolios over the all world all-equity ETFs? Why do major firms such as Vanguard and Blackrock have a Canadian overweight in their all-equity, all-in-one portfolios? For a long-term core equity-only holding, do you recommend the all-in-one portfolio (e.g. VEQT, XEQT) over the global equity ETFs (XAW, XWD)? Is there any other ETF you would recommend instead?

Many thanks for your excellent advice.
Read Answer Asked by Dale on December 21, 2020
Q: My question is about investing in an index Exchange traded fund such as XEI, XRE, ZRE, etc.
How often do ETF (fund company) issue additional units/shares ?
Will additional issues of units dilute returns for medium to long term investors ? If yes how much of an impact would it have on returns and how significant would it be?
Read Answer Asked by Sridhar on December 21, 2020
Q: Hi 5i! I have the above noted 5 ETFs in various dollar amounts in 5 different accounts. Average weight in each is less than 3%. The results have been varied with IYJ and VXUS beiong the strongest recently. I am thinking of consolidating 5 into 2 holdings, probably IYG and VXUS which would give me apporoximately 5% in each ETF. These 2 would complement each other since one is all US and the other non-US. Your thoughts please.

Read Answer Asked by Michael on December 21, 2020
Q: I like picking stocks, but I am also looking for a way to automatically invest 10% of my monthly income into some sort of index fund. Do you know what’s the best option for this? Is there a way to achieve this without having to pay a $9.99 transaction fee each time I buy something (RBC direct investing)? Many thanks and happy holidays! Love your service!
Read Answer Asked by Hua on December 21, 2020
Q: Greetings and perpetual thanks 5i - TEC is approximately 40% concentrated in the FAANGs and trades in Cdn dollars. Is there another Cdn dollar ETF that has an even higher concentration than TEC?
Read Answer Asked by Ken on December 20, 2020
Q: If I purchased any of these, are they subject to capital gains tax? If I wanted to redeem the physical silver in exchange for the shares, what would the charges be over the spot price? Does the share price follow the spot price dollar for dollar? Wouldn't mind having answers for any questions I haven't thought of.
Read Answer Asked by Anthony on December 19, 2020
Q: IS THERE AN ETF THAT COVERS ALL THE FANG STOCKS ? does it make more sense to just invest in the Nazdaq index that seems to have outperformed all other indexes by a long shot do you have another suggestion how to invest in american outperform growth stocks several questions ---deduct credits accordingly thanks
Read Answer Asked by terrance on December 19, 2020