Investment Q&A

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!

Q: Hi there, between the 3 of these ETFs, which would you recommend for a balance of growth and stability? Or alternatively, would you recommend simply purchased QQQ or ZQQ/XQQ? Do you see software as a continue growth theme into the future and what is your opinion on the sector? Thank you!

Q: What ETF is the best way to buy the Hang Seng index?

Q: Hello, Sent a question earlier and your reply is as follows;

PA recommends to reduce my technology exposure which is at 38%. Only problem is I am unsure which tickers to get rid of, like them all.

In my RRSP; OTEX at 4% and XAW at 21% not a direct tech exposure but does hold plenty of tech, just not sure how much.

LIRA: SHOP at 6.5%( recently chopped it from 9% to 5%), LSPD 5%, KXS 3%, QST 2.2%,

TSFA: CUSat 5%

Which one would you pull the plug on?

Tks

Asked by Rino on August 22, 2019
5i Research Answer:

XAW is currently about 22% technology. We like all the names here, and there is nothing stopping you from selling some of each if you want to lower exposure. XAW at 21% is a large position and could also be moved to 15% or so in our view. It has not performed so well either. If you want to sell just one we would lean to QST as the smallest and riskiest.

I should have also mentioned that PA also suggest to reduce my canadian exposure which is above 60%. That is the reason why my XAW exposure is at 21%. Having said that if I were to sell roughly 6% of XAW, can you suggest another non canadian etf to invest in? Seeing that XAW covers basically everything for my international exposure.

Thanks again!

Q: Greetings 5i..Thoughts on STAPL for conservative investor? It seems to have steady but stable growth and relatively low volatility. Thank you, GARY

Q: Good morning.. can you please recommend an etf something like NBC7433 - Meritage Global Balanced Portfolio - Advisor Series/ISC .. but with a much more reasonable MER than 2.39% (in addition to a “sales charge option”) ? Thanks!

Q: What are your thoughts of this etf for a hold in an rrsp as a fixed income component?

Q: Hi There,

Can you please help me understand why CVD and CPD are in a declining trend over the last ten years? It seems like the yield can not cover the price drop. I want to add them to my portfolio but need help to understand what move its price.

Thank you for the great service!

Dong Sheng Wang

Q: Gentlemen, good morning.
I am searching a Canadian (global) actively managed broad market bond fund. Like US FBND.
Thanks Regards

Q: I currently own both of the above securities in my RRSP account in equal weights. I want to sell one of them. I am leaning towards selling ENB because it will reduce 1 company risk, but on the other hand there probably would be more upside to ENB. The funds will be used to buy a growthier name in TECH. Which would you sell?
Still have 6 years before needing any funds from the RRSP

Q: Hi 5iTeam,
Cramer on CNBC's Mad Money mentioned a number of cloud stocks i.e. Splunk, Alteryx, Twilio, etc....that are not your household names for cloud stocks. As far as I can see, none of the above stocks mentioned in Cramer's piece are in SKYY's (cloud stocks etf) holdings. Just wondering if you are aware of an etf that are focused on the lesser known cloud stocks.
Cheers,

Q: If we are headed to zero / negative interest rates, I am thinking of playing this thesis by purchasing XLB to capture the capital gain on the interest rate reduction and XGD should do well in a low / negative rate environment. The balance of the portfolio is VBAL and XEG. What do you think? Thank you

Q: Hi team,

PA recommends to reduce my technology exposure which is at 38%. Only problem is I am unsure which tickers to get rid of, like them all.

In my RRSP; OTEX at 4% and XAW at 21% not a direct tech exposure but does hold plenty of tech, just not sure how much.

LIRA: SHOP at 6.5%( recently chopped it from 9% to 5%), LSPD 5%, KXS 3%, QST 2.2%,

TSFA: CUSat 5%

Which one would you pull the plug on?

Tks

Q: We just recently were switched from a fund we had been invested since 2002 into this fund in one our RIF accounts, we had to switch or sell. The reason given was to lower the MER which is still a hefty 1.2% in our case the amounts to $1090.92 per year and rising if the fund goes up in value as we have always reinvested the monthly income the current yield is 2.09%.
The fund has been in a trading range since inception from the information I can gather at TD.
My thought is to sell and distribute the money to the either the Conservative or Balanced ETF portfolios in the newsletter which both have higher yields.
I'm not sure what the total MER would be for the ETF portfolios do you have that number available?
Downside is it would double the number of investments in this account to many to follow.
Do you know of other one stop ETF's that are worth consideration as we would like to keep the funds in a balanced investment, we would not intend to use this money for 5 yrs and reinvest any income in the fund.

Q: Gentlemen, good morning
Can You please suggest few Web sites for searching ETF from Canada.
Thank You. Regards

Q: Good morning, I am noticing more recommendations lately for longer term bond ETFs i.e XLB and TLT. I have traditionally been using CBO, XBB along with some preferreds (regrettably) and a small amount of XHY. Should this old retiree consider any change in fixed income holdings? Thanks for your service.
Ted

Q: Am looking to increase my international exposure by adding ZDI and/or RID. Any preference between the two and would you buy the hedged or unhedged versions.

Q: The Analytics tool suggests I am significantly overweight geographically (Canada). The tool also suggests I downsize my financial holdings and increase Consumer Defensive, Tech, Healthcare, and Industrials. Which sectors would you tackle first to increase? Please provide 2 or 3 stocks/ETFs that you would recommend to begin re-balancing my portfolio geographically and by sector?

I am a long term investor and I have evolved over the years towards buying more of the larger cap companies.

Thank you!

Sean

Q: I am retired and wish to structure a conservative portfolio consider the uncertainty of the economy. I favour banks (RY, TD), utilities (Fortis and Algonquin) and Telecoms (BCE and Telus), BrookMiled Asset Management, Brookfield Renewable and Brookfield Infrastructure Microsoft and Berkshire B.

I would lik´to have 40% in bonds and favourCLF, XBB, XSB and XSH. I would move from FTB even though it has a higher yield but a higher MER.

Your comment would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Donald

Q: How do you know whether an ETF pays a dividend, which would be eligible for the dividend tax credit or a distribution which does not have the dividend credit?
Thanks
Jeff