Investment Q&A

Q: I hold all of the above in roughly equal weight in the income portion of my portfolio. The first three are at roughly breakeven, the latter five are up, two of them over 20%, as economic conditions have weakened. I am wondering why I don't simplify life by selling them all and buying the PDC ETF which provides greater diversification and has a dividend yield of 4.59%. I realize that 25% of PDC is in energy but mostly safer pipelines. Would this be a good move or am I better off to keep what I have?

Q: I am looking to get some exposure to the health care sector and thought I would look at an ETF as opposed to a single company. I'm considering either XLV or IHI and would like your opinion of these two ETFs, and which you would prefer. I would be adding the ETF as a full position in my RRSP.

Also, if there is another ETF that you prefer over these two, please include that in your response.

thanks for your insight
Paula

Q: Could you please suggest a Gold bullion ETF in CAD - Not a "paper ETF" but an actual physical like PHYS? Thank you.

Q: Which one would 5i prefer, VIG vs DGRO?
Thanks!

lil

Q: I have about 1.5 million in stocks and another $500,000.00 in cash just sitting doing nothing. I am 86 years old and skittish about investing additional money in the stock market. My inclination is to invest the cash in PSA. Would appreciate your opinion. Thanks Bill

Q: I am interested in investing in a technology ETF. Would you prefer the QQQ or XLK?

thanks

Kim

Q: I would appreciate your recommendations for the most tax-efficient ETF's for US equities in non-registered , RSP & TFSA accounts .
Thank you.

Q: I bought these ETF's a couple of years ago for diversification purposes. They have not performed well and I am wondering if I should keep them or move on and forget about diversifying outside of North America. I do not like exchange risk.

Q: For a retiree, does it make sense to invest all in VBAL or might you supplement VBAL with some additional ETFs along with some individual income/growth stocks?

Thanks
Bryan

Q: Hello and thank you. I’d like to add some exposure to video gaming in my portfolio. Would you have any concerns starting a new 5% position in GAMR at this point for a 10 plus year hold? This would keep my tech targets within limits I’m comfortable with.

Q: Can you advise if there are any etfs which hold actual gold? Thanks. Bill

Q: Context: We're retired and conservative, increasingly risk averse actually. Our portfolio throws off enough for our lifestyle, which comprises 50% GIC's/cash 50%, 15% preferred resets and 35% equities. Our equities are made up of 70% individual stocks (dividend and income) and 30% etf's (SPX and XSP). Though our equity % is much lower than most financial advisors recommend, it's enough for us.
Question 1: You are inclined to some individual stock holdings for a portfolio of our size. Yet, I'm mulling replacing our individual stocks with one or two etf's or funds to more easily get better diversification (mostly because we're presently twice your recommended financial weighting) and also because I'll sleep better if not dependent on ups and downs of our individual stock holdings. Your generic thoughts on the foregoing please?
Question 2: If one were to make this shift, would your generic thoughts be to more SPX and XSP or would you be inclined to another one or two etf's (or funds)?
Thank you!

Q: I appreciate this etf has not been going for too long. I would appreciate your thoughts on investing init. It would seem to be an area that will grow.

Q: I'm looking for an Emerging Market ETF I can add to my Canadian Open Account. Which emerging market countries are in the best shape debt-wise? I would be interested in an ETF that is over-weighted in these particular countries if possible.

Does the recommended ETF pay a dividend in CAD?

Thanks.
Jim

Q: Can you please advise which ETF you prefer and why: VTI or DIA?

And secondly, why is MSI rated as a hold? I'm up 40% over the last year...and it comes with a respectable dividend of 2.54%. What am I missing here?

Thank you.

Q: With respect to Larry's earlier question about ZST, I was surprised that you did not mention HFR as a better alternative. Althought ZST has a lower MER than HFR (0.17% vs. 0.4%) and a better distribution (2.9% vs 2.4%), its value has declined consistently (-15%) in the past eight years unlike that of HFR (0%). I see no reason to recommend ZST in preference to HFR so why would you?

Q: I need to increase international exposure by 30% and decrease Canadian by the same amount.
Could you list 3 international ETFs that would be most tax efficient for each of RRSP, TFSA and a non registered accounts.
Thanks
Jeff

Q: Which ETF would you prefer, XDG or CYH, and why?

Q: I am looking for ideas for 3 ETFs (to complement an existing portfolio):
(a) small cap equities (preferably, global; if not, then US-focused);
(b) global equities, ex-U.S.
(c) emerging markets.
This is for a LIRA account. I'd like all 3 ETFs to be non-hedged, in Canadian dollars, to be Canadian situs (ideally), and not to have 15% withholding on distributions. I think "VEE" might meet all of these criteria for an emerging markets fund (am not sure).
Ted

Q: I just noticed that 60% of ZAG’s holdings are other BMO bond ETFs, and the rest are direct bonds. I am wondering about the implications of this of MER, yield, and taxation.

In the BMO documentation for ZAG, they note “as ZAG is a fund of fund, the management fees charged are reduced by those accrued in the underlying funds,” which I find confusing. ZAG’s MER is 0.09%, but the underlying ETFs have MERs ranging from 0.11% to 0.33%. Is the 0.09% MER in addition to the MER paid to the underlying ETFs, or is it just 0.09%?

Does the ‘fund of funds’ characteristic of ZAG mean there are taxation issues in terms of it’s dividends being eligible dividends in Canada?

Are the dividends considered eligible dividends or interest?

Thanks again,

Fed