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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,

I use these two broad ETF's to get exposure outside N.A. I'm in my late 30's and a growth investor. I know you can't give personalized advice, but what would be your suggested allocation towards these four buckets, VEE, XEF, Cdn, and US stocks? I have a spreadsheet to keep track of my holdings and allocate my holdings based on where they trade, although many companies may generate revenue in other countries. Is this too simplistic? I'm just trying to keep it easy to manage.

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Keith on September 23, 2020
Q: For taxable accounts, a US-listed international ETF (or Cdn-listed ETF, with an underlying US listed ETF) is tax inefficient because the international withholding tax is not recoverable. Purchasing a similar Cdn-listed ETF which holds the international stocks directly (i.e. not a US-listed ETF) is more tax efficient as the international withholding tax is recoverable.

However, there are often advantages to buying the US-listed ETFs as they typically have much larger AUMs, and much lower MERs than their Canadian listed counterparts (which have underlying international-listed stocks). For example, the MER for VEA (US listed) is 0.05% and for VDU (Canadian listed) is 0.22%. The MER "spread" varies considerably between ETFs, and can sometimes be quite significant.

Are you aware of any formula to help an investor determine when it is best to buy the lower-MER US ETF (and pay the higher tax) and when it is best to buy the higher-MER, lower tax, Canadian ETF? Is there any rule of thumb for an investor to use, to decide that once the MER-spread exceeds a certain amount, then an investor should buy the US ETF (as the additional MER costs in buying the Canadian ETF exceed the tax advantages)?

I realize that the result can vary depending on the percentage of non-recoverable international withholding tax, the investors' tax rate, etc. However, any guidance you can provide would be most appreciated. If you are aware of a "formula" to make this assessment, that would be ideal.

If there is no formula, please assume the investor is in a 50% tax bracket, is a long-term investor, the account is taxable, and there are no currency (hedging or exchange fee) concerns.

Thank you again for this excellent service.
Read Answer Asked by Dale on September 23, 2020
Q: Hi Folks,
Everyone is looking for returns, and income investors are searching for interest and yield. Forgive me if I missed a previous question asked and answered, but would it be possible to give a quick list of the type of fixed income products in the low risk category. For a very conservative portion of a portfolio, with a five year hold, which product(s) do you suggest offer the best risk/return trade off given the current rate situation in the market today? How far on the risk spectrum does an investor need to go to achieve a reliable 2-3% return?
Thank you, Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on September 23, 2020
Q: I'm hoping you can help me understand something.

On yahoo finance if I pull up a 6 month chat of HXS.TO and compare it to the S&P 500 index, HXS is underperforming by a significant amount (up 28% vs. 38%).  However if I add HXS.U.TO (the US dollar version of HXS) it tracks the index much closer.  Do you know why these two etfs track the index so differently?

In my RSP I buy HXS.TO weekly and journal the shares over to the US side a couple times throughout the year to buy US listed ETFs.  When I journal the HXS shares over do my gains magically increase?

Thanks for your help!
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on September 22, 2020
Q: I just retired with no pension and living off my portfolio. I’m sitting on a lot of cash right now with very little US investments. I would like to start buying slowly. What would you suggest. Preferably ETF’s listed on the TSX with the odd US stock. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by HEATH on September 21, 2020
Q: Hi

I am retiring in the near future and am looking at increasing my income based positions. I am looking for a REIT or ETF. Can you suggest any? Currently I am not holding any.
Read Answer Asked by Stuart on September 21, 2020
Q: Hi Folks,

I know your main focus is stocks, but if you have some cash to invest and you don't want it it equities, would you prefer XBB or XSB right now? Or is there another bond fund alternative I should look at for $CDN. This if for a long term hold.

Thank you. Michael

Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Michael on September 21, 2020
Q: Hello gentleman and thanks for your wonderful service as always. I'm wondering if you can point me in the direction of your preferred ETF's for the tech industry and the pharma industry.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on September 18, 2020
Q: Hello,
It is OK to have QQQ, VOO and VIG in TFSA accounts ? If not, are there any equivalent Canadian ETFs that are focused on US stocks like them ? Thank you very much.
Read Answer Asked by Yasushi on September 17, 2020
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