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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: Tax advantaged ETFs, those that flowed through interest or dividend income as lower taxed capital gains, were supposedly going to be disallowed in new federal tax legislation (Budget proposal). Did this legislation ever pass into law? Do such ETFs still have a life? Thanks in advance, Ron W
Read Answer Asked by RON on August 30, 2019
Q: I am a retired conservative dividend income investor. I've held Sentry Global REIT for years (love the 6% distribution) and have been monitoring its performance as compared to ZRE and XRE. I didn't mind paying the 2.4% MER as long as it was outperforming. However, on a total return basis, Sentry has lagged significantly and I have sold it today.

With interest rates appearing to be on the decline and, more importantly, for portfolio asset allocation, I still want to have REIT exposure. I am leaning towards ZRE, due to the equal weight nature (as opposed to XRE).

I am normally a long term buy-and-hold investor. ZRE has had a good run recently, but I think the future still looks good, due to the macro environment. Your thoughts?

My target REIT allocation is 7.5%. I also have a position in CSH.

Thanks for your help...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on August 30, 2019
Q: Greetings 5i

I continue to focus in on dividend producers that offer security as I enter retirement. At the present time in my TFSA I already have a 20% weighting in VBAL and 5% in XRE. I have another 5% to allocate which will be coming from my sale of BAD as I slowly transition to more security. Which do you suggest as the best alternative? Any other suggestions?

I know VBAL and XRE are very different in context and dividend payout so I need your insight. What I do know is that I’m having a great long ride with Shopify. For that I’m happy not to receive a dividend. Thanks 5i!

Peter
Read Answer Asked by Peter on August 29, 2019
Q: Hi Guys
I have no Healthcare stocks in my portfolio, i was thinking of purchasing the above Mutual fund to cover it. What weighting would you recommend and would you buy 50% now, or take a full weighting. Maybe taking a full weighting is fine as i will not be selling this purchase for years to come. However 2 years out we might see this fund drop maybe 40%..
Your opinion please.
Read Answer Asked by Gordon on August 29, 2019
Q: Follow your balanced portfolio and hold the above etfs for american exposure.. Vgg has performed better over the last 18 months. Thinking of selling vun, vfv and buying vgg. What do you think? T steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on August 29, 2019
Q: Greetings,
I currently own ZWH, XQQ, and VUN as part of my US focus in my portfolio. I am looking to add another name or two. Time frame 5+ years. I prefer to remain with Canadian ETFs investing in the US. First of all, do you see too much overlap here? I have room to add to all 3. Can you provide 3 stable dividend ETFs you might suggest to add and a couple of growth ETFs that might complement my current holdings? Thanks in advance. KEN
Read Answer Asked by KEN on August 28, 2019
Q: Peter,

What do you think of the low volatility ETF's especially in our current environment? Do recommend them as part of a balanced portfolio?
Thanks for your valuable service.

GM
Read Answer Asked by Gary on August 28, 2019
Q: Gentlemen, good morning
From G&M “Purpose Investments Inc. launched the first corporate-class series of ETFs in Canada in 2013, and today about half of its funds use this structure, including its flagship equity fund, Purpose Core Dividend Fund.”
Can you please named the others tax efficient ETF from Purpose ?
Thanks Regards
Read Answer Asked by Djamel on August 26, 2019
Q: I could use your guidance. A good friend has recently inherited $800,000. He and his wife are in their 60's, retired with a small pension. They are conservative people who have no investing experience and would like to invest the funds in "safe", dividend paying stocks/ETF's to augment their pension. They currently have no money in the market, with all their net worth (excluding the pension) in real estate. They have reached out to investment advisors who want to charge them a flat 2% to invest their funds and have asked me if this is reasonable. They need these funds to live off and the thought of paying someone $16,000/yr to invest the funds seems ridiculous to me. I would like to help them and was hoping you could suggest a balanced income generating portfolio.........perhaps a mix of a few blue chip stocks and ETF's.
Many Thanks
Scott
Read Answer Asked by Scott on August 26, 2019
Q: Please rate these as BUY; HOLD; or IGNORE. My purpose, of course, is market down turn protection.
Read Answer Asked by Terry on August 26, 2019
Q: Hi,
I'm currently in my late 30's and have some funds in a LIRA from a previous company pension. They were invested in some funds with Sunlife before but now just sitting in cash waiting to be in invested. I'm looking for long term capital appreciation as I won't be able to take these funds out until retirement. Looking to increase my US and Intl exposure, which ETFs would be best? Currently own VGG, VUS, XEF and VEE. Should I increase these weights to my desired % or add any others? Looking for low MER core positions. Also should I approach investing in my RSP and LIRA in different ways or would you view them as the same? For example, would you buy stock A in your LIRA instead of RSP or vise versa.

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Keith on August 23, 2019
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