Investment Q&A

Q: Is there a way to trade Samsung on the New York stock exchange or an etf with a heavy Samsung weighing.

The new Samsung S9 is superior in every way over the iPhone and has the potential to disrupt apples dominance of the smart phone market.

Q: A large part of my US holdings is SPY which I like for its broad market exposure and liquidity. While SPY is in my non-registered account, in my registered account I hold HDV for the higher dividend and to shield the dividend from withholding taxes. Does this strategy make sense? I ask because I am trying to reduce my total number of holdings and would like to consolidate wherever there is any overlap. Right now my annual tax rate is close to $0 and I won’t really be needing to draw any dividend income for at least another 5-10 years. Does consolidating these two into one make sense and if so which would you prefer?

Q: Hi 5i,
I'm sorry but maybe I wasn't clear in the previous question. What weighting would you give the recommended ETFs QQQ, HXS or VOO, IPAY and IWO? I'm looking long term (10+ years), growth and medium to high risk. This will be my only holdings in the US.

Thanks as always.

Q: Can you recommend any ETFs other than SHY to earn interest with respect to US cash balances until such time as we are ready to purchase US stocks?
Thanks

Q: I'm down 11% on CJP - is it still worth holding? Thanks!

Q: RESP. I will be using TD e-series funds and adding monthly contributions. Is there a best generic investment guideline I can follow? and guideline on how to adjust the risk and the kids age. My kids are 5 and 7. Currently the funds are in TD dividend growth fund and TD dividend income fund.

Thank you again.

Q: Hi 5i,

Knowing that the US is not your focus, I would still value your opinion.

I have 30% of my portfolio in cash sitting in a USD margin account and I would like to invest in etfs for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100; could you please suggest etfs that do not pay any yield? I am also looking at IPAY and IWO for some diversification, would you be okay with this? Would there be any significant overlap in all these etfs? What percentage weighting would you have for more growth, medium to high risk tolerance and long term hold ?

Thanks as always. Please deduct as many credits as you see fit.

Q: In my portfolios (700k), I have 14% cash, 11% preferred share, 50% equities and 25% etfs (5.3% ZWC, 3% ZWU, 4.8% MFT, 1.4% XHY, 3% ZWE, 5.5% ZWH) all in two RIFs. I need some income to augment my pensions from the RIFs. I plan to increase the ETF holdings another 5 - 10%.
Should I increase the ETFs that I currently hold or buy XTR? Note: I am not a fan of XHY.
Thanks as always
Jim

Q: For US dividends, why own VGG (MER = 0.30% , div. yield = 1.34%) vs. DGRO (0.08%, 2.44%)?

Q: Is there any Cloud ETF that trades in Canadian dollar hedge or Unhedged. Which Technology ETF would you recommend?

Thanks for the great service
Hector

Q: Good morning,
In your response to Marilyn on Friday you replied that you "have no concens seeing it (CPD) as part of an income allocation" and "one needs to decide how it fits in"
My recent experience is that any so-called fixed income that I purchase loses money even including distributions. My current cash allocation is therefor 20% earning nothing, with another 20% in CBO, CPD, XBB, XHY, and a few preferred issues. I can look for a DIS account but could you expand on "how it fits in" and perhaps suggest the ETFs we should currently be using in this environment and a possible allocation range for each. Thank you for the ongoing excellent service in a difficult environment.
Ted

Q: I own CPD in an OPEN account. I am still trying to understand Preferred Shares, even after watching Ryan's very good presentation about it. I am still trying to figure out why the fluctuations in CPD, outside of bond yields, and interest rate fluctuations i.e. should I sell these now for Tax loss selling or keep and buy more perhaps. It might be helpful for me to understand how I can buy an individual preferred share in my TDInvestor account, then I could see the difference in share price to common? A few questions here....
Thanks
Marilyn

Q: I only have GUD in the health care space. I am thinking of adding ZUH. Is there another ETF you might recommend that is unhedged? What is your view on this sector at this time?

Q: Good afternoon,

I am looking to add a REIT ETF to my portfolio (ZRE is my preferred), and am wondering on a historical bases if REITS right now are trading at a cheap/expensive valuation? Your website has the PE ratio at 7.8x and PB ration at 1.08x- that seems cheap? How does that compare with historical norms? Only wondering as ZRE seems to be trading not too far from it's all-time high, reached a month or two ago.

Would you expect reits to drop as interest rates rise over the coming months/years?

Thanks for the answer.

Q: any thoughts on vanguards value etf in the US.
Thanks

Q: Looks like it is good time to buy Chinese stocks?,
After scary month of October most of us are very low in our total equity at the sometime some stocks have become very good buy but we need your opinion before we buy.

Q: salut 5i! I have just sold my WEED holdings (at a nice profit .. also own small amounts of APHA and HEXO) and am contemplating buying either STZ or VOO .. with the general objective of further diversifying an already quite well diversified portfolio (stocks and etfs) .. I also hold VGG, VDU, FDN, XHY, and ZUH .. your thoughts? thanks!

Q: I currently have some cash in RRSP USD and RRSP CAD accounts. I also have some US cash for Non-Reg USD account.

I am wondering how to allocate VIG/VGG/ZDY amongst these accounts to minimize FX fees while also minimizing taxes.

For e.g. if I put VGG or ZDY in RRSP CAD, I believe a 15 per cent withholding tax applies to dividends if US stocks are held via a TSX-listed ETF (yes, even within RRSP account)!

If I put VIG in RRSP USD, I will have to pay the 15-percent withholding taxes on the US dividends.

Please do you have any recommendations on how to avoid paying these taxes?

Also given that VGG is listed in TSX and tracks the VIG ETF in the US, I am wondering whether there is any difference in putting VGG in RRSP CAD account or should I prefer putting VIG in the RRSP USD account (given smaller MER).

Thanks!

Q: Hi
My portfolio is mostly made up of canadain stocks. I do have approximately 20% in US and international etfs to diversify (split evenly). My 2 US ones have done ok over the last 5 yrs. the international, not so much. I’m not sure I’m in the best one/ones for either location. What would you recommend for long term etf/s hold. I have at least 15 yrs before needing the money for retirement. Thanks
Michele

Q: Is there a leverage play on Oil on the upside. What about HOU or CCX . Any others Oil is down a lot. What would be a good play Canada & USA ? RAK