Investment Q&A

Q: India-I would like to broaden my investments internationally and am drawn to growth in India. The Fairfax option is less desireable to me because the units are (I believe) sold in U.S. Dollars. a)Are there any investment vehicles that you would recommend? and b) any with dividends?

Q: Your best recommends for Emerging Market ETF in CAD

Q: Hi Peter & Crew,
Your thoughts on this SPDR Portfolio Total Stock Market ETF for a LIRA account for at least a10 year hold, or another US listed total stock market ETF that might be better.
Thanks. Ivan

Q: Hello,
Portfolio analytics recommends an increase in consumer defensive, but I'm also looking to add to international exposure. Is KXI a good option or should I stick with something like VDC and increase international with a separate ETF? Thanks

Q: Hello 5i ! I am generally satisfied holding Mawer Global Small Cap but I don’t like the large annual distribution (in December)…do you think it could be substituted by an ETF ? Thanks !

Q: Is there a report or a blog on Bonds regarding which Bond ETF will do better in different economy cycle ie interest rate up or down. Recession or in good economy.

Thanks for your great service

Q: Hi 5i.

Emerging Markets (EM): Looking at some EM ETFs (i.e. EEM, etc.) return graphs over the 2008-2009 market correction, they appear to be hit harder than North American (N.A.) markets (i.e. TSE, S&P500, etc.). But, over the long term (i.e. 20+ years), returns are very closely correlated between EM, TSE, S&P500, etc. EM ETFs seem to have a bit higher dividend (~ 3%) compared to TSE, S&P500 ETFs (~ 2%), but why bother owning them when they tank so dramatically during market corrections? Can't really be for diversification as they are so closely correlated to N.A. markets in the long run.

I do note that EM ETFs also recuperate VERY quickly/dramatically, so maybe they are good to buy after a (global) market down-turn?

As always, thank you for your wise advise.

Q: Hi,

In your answer to James you suggested the following bond ETFS: XBB, XLB, XSB, CBO and/or XHY. I'm very interested in this as I'm trying to increase fixed income exposure.

What percentage would you suggest in each of the total bond portfolio? Also, unless I am missing something, CBO and XSB both appear to be the same thing, so why the need to own both?

Q: What are your thoughts on TPE vs XEF or VIU for international equity in an RSP? It seems somewhat safer due to larger cap focus but the TER is higher so combined cost of 0.32 to 0.23 for VIU. Leaning towards VIU as it has the most holdings and includes Korea.

Q: Goodmorning
I have a 1% position in ZGI and a 3% position in BIP.UN I am thinking of selling ZGI and using the proceeds to invest in BIP.UN in an effort to cut down on the number of positions I have in the total portfolio I am wondering what your thoughts would be with such a move?
Thks
Marce

Q: Hi Peter and Staff,
Some of my sector ETF's are only 2.2 to 3.5% of my portfolio to make up for Analytics suggested allocation. I know you suggested a minimum of 5%. If I go 5% with any of these ETF's I would be way over the suggested allocation. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your support.
Ivan

Q: For the 40% bond allocation in my portfolio, what are your best thoughts?

Q: Do you consider this a good way to have exposure to telecom in a RIF acct....thank you

Q: My fixed income exposure is 100% through my RRSP, of which 90% are individual bonds, 5% XBB and 5% XLB. I have a bond worth 5% of my RRSP due next week. Should I diversify further my bond exposure with ETFs like XEB or VGB, especially if I believe rates will start climbing within the next 12 months? Thanks, Martin

Q: Hello 5iResearch,

I have a couple requests:

1. Would you please send me your recommendations for two or three ETFs I could use for hedging against a recession/market correction but still get an annualized distribution yield of about 3%?

2. Could you please also let me know what your recommendation would be for a gold ETF?

Thank you,
Natasha

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,
We needed to increase our Healthcare exposure, and neglected to consider tax implications when buying IHI:US in a non-registered account. Will this 'mistake' significantly complicate our tax return, and will we get back the withholding tax? Your insight is appreciated.

Q: Hello,

10+ years until money will be required. Thinking of moving a chunk of cash into VFV for our kids RESP. Would you be ok with this move? We are buy and hold investors. Thank You.

Q: The PMIF currently shows a YTD return of about 5.85% on their website. Sounds really good for a monthly income fund. This seems to include a change in unit price value from January 1, 2019 plus monthly distributions to date (Nov 2019). However is not the real return only the annual sum of the monthly distributions (around 2.5%)? The fund drops in unit value on the monthly ex-dividend date. Seems to me just the unit distribution (yield) should be the real return value. YTD is misleading when there is such a large unit drop in December to account for year end distributions.

Q: I have $9500 to invest in Technology or Communications ETF.
I have been following IYW & RYT in Tech & VOX in communications as per your PA list, but all are presently at their high so is it okay to buy now or wait till there is a correction and which sector &/or ETF would be best to consider for a RRIF?
Look forward to your response. Thanks!

Q: Out of these 3 Bond ETF, which one would you chose and why?