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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: To follow-up on Claire's comment, is there an reasoned/optimal % allocation to each FI ETF (i.e. evenly split)? I have: CBO 20%, CPD 12%, HFR 26%, XBB 17%, XHY 12%, LQD 13%. I consider HFR as low-risk cash-like holding.

Thank you again.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on April 11, 2018
Q: Dear sirs,

Looking for your opinion on the Manulife Strategic Income fund, and if you feel its a good complement to PIMCO Monthly Income?
Thank you,
Brad
Read Answer Asked by Brad on April 11, 2018
Q: I can emphasize with Paul in his question on fixed income guaranteed to fall. But,I was not too clear on your answer. You note that we should seek diversification and look over the long and not the short term, saying that the return for products such as xbb will show better if we look five years back. But, doesn't that just beg the question? We are looking five years out and we are thinking that things are not going to be like they were in the past. So, does this new reality not call for another strategy? I am aware that there aren't many alternative stratagies, other than holding more stocks. But, I don;t think looking to the past history helps us here.
thanks
Read Answer Asked by joseph on April 10, 2018
Q: Hi 5i. FI = Fixed Income

My (6) FI holdings with rough total returns (including MER & dividends) for period held (average ~ 1.5 years): CBO -1.3%, CPD +15.0%, HFR +1.7%, XBB -2.2%, XHY+5.5%, LQD -0.6%.

NOTE: LQD not selectable, so picked HYG for question above.

Question: I understand the reasoning behind having the above FI holdings in my portfolio, but holding CBO & XBB seems like a sure way to lose money. So why not move CBO & XBB holdings to HFR (and possibly also XHY) which at least returns me ~ +1.7% pretty reliably? Your opinion on my FI mix would also be appreciated.

Thank you for continued solid wise advice.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on April 10, 2018
Q: Hi team !
I have been holding pjp-n for almost 3 years and it just keep going down.
I am about 24% in the red. I hold in my TFSA and it is 14% of that account.
Any hope for this ETF to recover soon ? Or would you advise to take my lost and invest in something else with a good growth potential ? I already hold SIS-T
Thanks for your help
Jacques
Read Answer Asked by Jacques on April 09, 2018
Q: What are Robo advisers and would you recommend their services and if so, whom? Thanks, Bill
Read Answer Asked by William J on April 06, 2018
Q: I have the above (ZBK, CJP, VEE, XFH) ETF's making up part of my portfolio in order to gain exposure to international markets and US bank growth as a result of tax cuts, rising interest rates and deregulation. I'm wondering whether i should be making any switches to other ETF's that would be giving me a better overall return (given currency, growht profile, MER, concentration etc.)...or would you switch nothing?
Read Answer Asked by Jeff on April 05, 2018
Q: Hi Gang,

I have been holding the above for a while and I'm now underwater and I would like to buy the opposite side (bear) to turn it into a neutral market trade until things calm down a bit, I looked at HIU which is also non leveraged 1/1 but does not seem to match VSP, please advice as to what I can do to neutralize the trade, again thank you for your advice. Anthony
Read Answer Asked by Anthony on April 04, 2018
Q: I am heavy canada and have decided to diversify globally with ETFs on my own.
Bought some VE and VIG today off the CMS model portfolio list to start on the market dip today. I dont need ANY Canadian exposure so looking at adding positions in VEE, SPY, IWO. Not really interested in ZWU at 0.71 MER. Any preference on which you would add this week? Other options not on CMS portfolio. Balanced growth equity follower. 5+year time frame.
Read Answer Asked by Tom on April 03, 2018
Q: I have a question related to inverse index ETFs and payments of dividends.

I hold 100 shares of the New York-traded ETF "PROSHARES SHORT QQQ", ticker PSQ, which behaves in an inverse way to the NASDAQ index. Last week I received a dividend of US$4.01. Although this is a modest amount, I am very surprised that I would receive any dividend at all ! How can this be with an inverse ETF? (If anything, I would expect to have deducted the dividends of the underlying shares, as is the case with a "short" of an individual stock.)

Thanks for any clarification you can provide!
Read Answer Asked by Gregory on April 03, 2018
Q: Hello 5i:
We currently hold about 4% of our portfolio in CSU.DB; bought first about 3 years ago with subsequent additions. It's been a very good and stable performer (thanks for the tip as in addition to the excellent dividend, we also have capital gains). Can you provide another name, possibly A ranked company that would have a similar fixed income contribution? Or, should we merely increase our weighting in CSU.DB?
btw, we also hold CSU (the regular equity) at about 3% of our portfolio.

thanks
Paul L
Read Answer Asked by Paul on April 03, 2018
Q: Hi 5i,

Can you recommend a Dividend Appreciation/Growers ETF for each of the following regions: CAD, US, Europe, Asia? I would prefer to have all CAD Hedged.

Thx
Read Answer Asked by Christopher on April 02, 2018