Investment Q&A

Q: I hold HPR and the Dynamic preferred yirld fund. In light of the recent correction in preferred share,, do you advise to hold, buy more or is it time to reduce the positions held.

Q: This is for a taxable account. If ZDB has a current yield of 2.1 and a one-year GIC offers 3.1 and no fees, am I better off choosing the GIC route?

Q: Hello 5I,
I will be retiring in 3 to 4 years and I would like to know if the following ETF would provide a suitable diversification while reducing volatility and providing a monthly income to compliment my pension.
50% CND: CDZ/XTR/XEI/PDF/ZRE
30% United States: ZWH/ZDY
20% Intl: ZWE/ZDH
Feel free to add/remove ETFs as required
Finally, would you limit the exposure to each ETF to 15%?
Thanks
Sylvain

Q: I have recently paid off a sizable chunk of consumer debt, and now have a few thousand bucks at my disposal each month. I want to invest most of this in my TFSA so that I can catch up to my lifetime limit, and thereafter invest at a monthly amount equivalent to the annual limit. I've been thinking of investing most of this money in ETFs, but am a bit confused about the advice I see online. In your view, what is my best strategy here? Invest in one or two solid ETFs? If so, which do you recommend? Often, the ETFs I see experts recommending don't seem all that appealing. They hover at the same price for years and years and typically don't have much in the way of other types of yield. Anyway, I'm a bit confused and just wanting to have a basic plan for moving forward over the next year or two in my TFSA.

Q: From your answer on November 23rd:
No, an individual would still need to hold global exposure to the US, europe and emerging markets as well as fixed income. In terms of Canadian exposure, we would be pretty comfortable with the portfolio as a more growth-tilted proxy to Canada but an investor may want to overlay one Canadian broad ETF just to smooth out the volatility a little, depending on portfolio size. This, or adding a selection of larger company stocks, would help overall diversification.

Can you suggest % or guidelines on each type of exposure to have a well-diversified portfolio? (US, Europe, emerging markets, fixed income, Beport, one Canadian broad ETF or larger company stocks).
Thank you

Q: Greetings,

1. In my RRSP account I hold XEC (TSE listed) and VWO (NYSE listed) and I only want to hold one ETF.
2. XEC has only one holding and that is IEMG (NYSE listed)
3. 5i Model ETF holds VEE.

I thought that RRSP, rule of thumb for tax efficiency is to keep all my U.S listed stock here so why does it XEC exist considering it only holds a U.S listed ETF?
Are you able to help me decide which of the three options could choose?
VWO seems to have the lowest MER and best 3 year performance history.

Many thanks!

Q: Hi,

My portfolio is light on fixed income and it's not a sector that gets me excited to educate myself about it...What is the best way to get exposure to fixed income at a decent yield? Any ETFs or mutuals you can recommend? Or should I buck up and educate myself and buy some Bonds?

Cam.

Q: I am down 25% on this Robotics and Automation ETF. After learning more about ETF's I feel it is small, and wish I would not have purchased it. What are your thoughts for a 5 year hold?

Q: First year of my subscription. I am single, rent, retired and am 66 years old. Besides CPP and OAS (fully clawed back) have a DB pension which covers my daily living needs so I treat it as my bond portfolio. Have a non-registered account from the proceeds of my house sale and collapsing my RRSP. Account objective is dividend/growth and not to lose money.
Looking at my Oil & Gas holdings I have HSE and XEG, the latter underwater by 20%.
Other energy-related holdings are ALA, BEP.un, ENB, FTS, H, IPL, SPB, and RNW all of which are underwater from -2 to -53% in this market.
I have owned a TFSA since 2009 and made full contributions every year mostly from savings from pension income. It holds AQN and IPL in the energy related sector.
Thinking of switching XEG for OIL or ZEO today in non-reg and booking the tax loss against previous 2015 capital gains. Is it a reasonable switch and are there any tax implications; i.e. trx not subject to 30 day rule?
Bill

Q: Which ETF ex North America, would you recommend for global exposure?

Q: I have a question about VFV and index ETFs generally. If equity markets are facing headwinds in the next year or so as some analysts believe, would this be the wrong time to sell individual stocks in my investment account and go to index funds? My goal is to simplify and de-risk my portfolio and reduce some volatility. Thanks for your help, Ron

Q: This ETF has shown on May 31,2018 95 million Outstdg shares. On Nov 1 they had 99 million shares. which in my opinion diluted the value of my shares.??
I called them and they said, that they had to issue new shares as Institutional clients asked for it.I said why they did not come on the open market and bid up the price. He said it doesn't work that way. I said isn't it like a Central Bank who just prints more money.Can you clarify who is right? Am confused.Art

Q: Can you suggest a couple of low cost, US financial ETFs in CAD for me to follow up on? Thank-you.

Q: I am setting up a fixed income portfolio for 5 -10 years with little need for income. HISA @ 15%, HTB @ 5%, HBB @ 5%, PYF @ 5%, HFR @ 20%, MFT @ 50%. I would increase the Horizon's ETF percentages, but liquidity is low. Would you please comment on this set up. Thanks for your service.

Q: Greetings 5i,

My question is twofold, so please deduct two credits if you see fit. I have some cash to deploy into the bond portion of my fixed income allocation, and would like your advice about how to proceed. Currently, I have VAB.TO and AGG for broad based bond market exposure, and XRB.TO for inflation linked bonds. To this, I am considering adding an ETF strictly devoted to Canadian government bonds in an attempt to add increased long-term safety (I am becoming a little skittish of corporate bonds).

This addition would be a very long-term hold (likely 20 years or more), and would bring my bond allocation to roughly 15% of my total portfolio (the majority of my fixed income investments are comprised of GIC ladders).

I am 37 years old, debt free, and fairly conservative in my risk tolerance. My investments are solely for the purpose of providing for my retirement, and I will have no need of their funds for the foreseeable future.

My research has led me to either an overarching fund such as XGB.TO or VGV.TO, or to one with laddered maturities like CLF.TO or CLG.TO. Given my situation and style, do you feel as if the addition of a Canadian government bond ETF makes sense for my portfolio (as opposed to simply adding to VAB and AGG)? Moreover, if you do approve of said addition, which of the aforementioned funds would you consider to be the most beneficial?

Thank you.

Q: Is it time yet to pick up more HPR for long term " fix-income" hold?
Thanks.
Desiree

Q: 3 best etf for rrsp for cdn, us and international equity exposure?
MJE

Q: Can you recommend a US small cap ETF that is Canadian based or similar as I would prefer to stay away from US reporting on form 1135?

Q: Good morning, I have recently shifted from a third party manager and am reviewing the pref share positions I currently own. All are individual share positions. Am I better off going with CPD versus individual ownership to share risk and also to simplify my management overall. Thanks

Q: Is the decline in preferred shares overdone...how much further down could it go? and under what scenario? For a long term, safe(r), diversified investment, does it not seem like a good time to add to a position?