Investment Q&A

Q: Hi,

I'm a medium risk investor with a 5 year time frame.

Can you recommend 3 US ETFS to cover the whole US Market?
And 3 to cover the whole CDN market?
and 1 ETF to cover the international market?

Q: I am looking for an Asset Allocation Growth ETF with exposure to all geographical areas. Something similar to VEQT but less USA and more International . 20 year time horizon and held in my non-registered cash account

Q: Hello
Are there any consumer discretionary ETF not hedged to CAD that you can recommend which will pick up in the recovery?

Thank you

Q: 23 year old starting RRSP. Have made small initial cash contribution and now doing monthly pre-authorized cash contributions, Given long time horizon, small current balance and ongoing monthly contributions, I’m looking for a 100% growth-focussed equity ETF that I can have set up to auto-contribute to on a monthly basis and wonder what you might recommend.
Thanks.
Brian

Q: After environmental calamities in California and Texas I often think about the financial risk that infrastructure projects have from climate change. In California this seems to be a perennial risk that will return and is predictable, but Texas' cold snap was a good warning that they can happen anywhere.
I also seem to recall that utilities had to swallow some poorly organized derivative risk during the 2008 financial crisis.
Finally: the Biden government appears quite aggressive with its intention to eliminate all GHG related power production.
My question is: for a business that operates with high leverage and large scale projects that are slow to change and long to pay off, and high sensitivity to climatic shock, are these risks reasonably accounted for in their current pricing; is diversification a suitable means of diluting risk (across the sector), and finally are there more US or international choices such as ETFs that you would recommend over a Canadian centric etf (appreciating that the Canadian companies are somewhat international)?

thank you,
Peter

Q: This US cannabis ETF, MSOS, has been performing poorly lately after a big run up. When I look at its portfolio, I see 58.15% cash and then something called "swap pay" items for several companies which are negative numbers such as -8.24%, etc.
What do those negative numbers mean and am I reading the cash % properly? What is going on with this ETF?
Thanks

Q: Hi, any reason for the decline in the price of this etf since the beginning of the year? Is it a good time to add to my half position? Thanks!

Q: Any thoughts about ARKX, should I buy it soon or wait?

Q: I listened recently to a discussion involving Cathy Wood and the principal of the Van Eck fund. Cathy Wood said that she thinks possibly fifty per cent of the s and p 500 could be negatively affected because they failed to invest in innovation. A bit scary when you own rsp or voo. On the same interview was van Eck, who seemed to agree with her. And partially for this reason they have developed MOAT. He seems to think that with these companies he circumvents the problem. Perhaps this is my reading into his comments. Wondering whether you might think it would be worthwhile to trade out of rsp and voo and into most
Thanks as always

Q: Hello,
Do you think the trend of SPY outperforming Nasdaq will continue for the next 6 months or so? Also I am seeing IWM outperforming IWO..I am considering moving portions of my tech holdings to IWM and SPY for the next little while..What are your thoughts? Thanks.

Regards,

Shyam

Q: Would you buy US banks today, and why or why not. If yes, do you have a couple Canadian ETFs you would recommend?
Thank-you

Q: I am beginning to shift out of specific technology stocks and into technology ETFs simply out of personal preference from a diversification and risk allocation perspective. I presently own EARK and read with great interest the Morningstar article you posted last week (No Room for ARK) which presented some other perspectives on the ARK funds in general (going forward) including some of the challenges very successful actively managed technology funds eventually face when they become so large. Which brings me to a few questions. 1. Do some of the go forward challenges the US ARK funds may encounter also apply to the much smaller Canadian versions offered through Emerge, such as EARK? 2. Can you comment generally on technology ETF alternatives such as ZQQ or TEC? I am interested in particular about understanding the comparison of a more actively managed technology focused ETF vs. a more passive index tracking ETF or one (like TEC) that seems to be a hybrid in that it tracks an index but periodically rebalances. This can all be a bit confusing so any general explanations of pros/cons would help immensely. Thanks.

Q: "Asked by Jerry on March 25, 2021
5I RESEARCH ANSWER:
It is hard for us to comment on the specific strategy, as it does sound a bit like market timing if we understand it correctly (go to cash, CMR, then switch to financials/income, FIE). CMR is far less risky than FIE as CMR invests in money-market instruments. In turn, the yield is 0.24%. FIE has more equities, and in turn more risk, but also yields 6%. Due to the different risk profiles, it is hard to compare. If stability of the capital is less of a concern, and the income stream is more of a focus, we would be fine with FIE. But if stability of capital is the focus, CMR likely is the better choice. "

I just wanted to add a little comment to Jerry's question earlier on CMR. I used to hold CMR, but it hasn't paid a cash distribution since September 2020. So, aren't you taking the risk of holding without any benefit? (No return, no CDIC insurance, market risk. I sold my units because of this.)

Q: Looking for suggestion of a proxy for potential tax loss selling of ICLN in clean energy space.

Q: As a follow-up to my question, for point #1, I just meant from more than one ETF company. It is my thought that spreading the risk of owning an ETF to more than one provider is prudent in these uncertain times. For example: One etf from ishares, one vanguard.

Q: Hello again would you consider buying UTF at this time. Or would you recommend a different fund
Thanks again

Q: Hello,
Can you recommend high or dividend oriented etfs that fall under the following category:
1) From at least more than one ETF company
2) Focuses on dividend payers and moderate growth
3) Covers CDN,US and the rest of the world (not necessarily in one ETF)

I like to pick and chose and change as needed. Not a huge fan of asset allocation ETFs at this point.

Q: Tech has been correcting and I recently read an article in the G&M that professional portfolio managers had reduced tech exposure by 24%. This led me to wonder if index ETFs adjust their portfolios continuously throughout the month or at the end of the month. If the latter, I would expect pressure on tech shares to continue until the end of the month with no opportunity for a rebound until April. Am I correct? Thanks as always.

Q: I currently own half my bond holdings in ZAG. I put the other half in ZST as I was looking for something that wouldn't go down as much as interest rates go up. But ZST is a mix of govt and corporate short term bonds and Ive been reading that short term corporate will be less affected by interest rates than govt bonds. Would you recommend another ETF for very short duration corporate bonds that I could replace ZST with?

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

Back in 2014, Larry Berman said: " CMR-T is a money market fund. FIE-T is a multi holding income strategy holding all kinds of assets, so there will be more volatility. When markets are up go into CMR-T and FIE-T when they are down."

I'm asking this question to see if Larry's thesis is still valid. Our broker is Scotia iTrade, and both CMR and FIE are "commission-free" for both buying and selling. What we've been doing is to deploy dividends in our RRIF's into CMR, so that we can generate cash for the compulsory RRIF withdrawals. I was wondering if FIE could also be used, following Larry's advice, while realizing that FIE is more volatile than CMR. Thanks for providing such useful advice and insight.