Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5,

I seen a post earlier today regarding MFT.
This ETF looks interesting. I'm wondering what you guys would think of using MFT instead of XHY within the income portfolio? Could you please list reasons for or against this change.

Thanks

Q: My question is about building my etf portfolio. As I'm young and long term oriented, I would like to allocate a higher % to emerging market. Probably around 20%. I have analyzed many EM ETF and I have noticed how different in country allocation, value, sector allocation they are. Would they idea of buying, lets say 4 or 5 EM ETF that would represent that diversity, instead of one, make sense for you?
What would be the down sides? Cost doesn't appear to be one, has I can buy ETF for free, I don't mind the 'complexity' of rebalancing if my EM attribution goes up or down. I understand that EM might goes up or down has a group, but I found difficult to imagine that, in the longer term, an etf with 30% of Chinese shares and high PE and lots of tech, and one with more Indian, Russian and Brazilian shares, with low PE and energy would perform the same. Because I have no idea witch one will out or underperform, I would guess that this diversification would lower volatility and slightly decrease risk among my EM allocation. Feel free to comment this strategy or to challenge me about it.

Q: Hello! I'm a recent subscriber to 5i and liking what I see so far! I have a favorable view on the tech sector and own CQQQ and BABA. Any thoughts on these names or sector in general? Any other names that might be a good fit (besides Amazon)? I was also thinking VB would be a good way to play the tech and financial sector at the same time. How long has it being in the growth portfolio? Any other suggestions regarding niche banks?

Q: Could you please name a few monthly high dividend bond etfs the would protect form a down turn in the markets. Both canadian and us.

Q: I just want to park my money somewhere and be safe as far as the capital is concened plus and get some income... over a long period of time. 5.75% is a fine rate of return for an income-type investment as far as I am concerned. And the capital (i.e. the share price) looks to be very low volatility. Sounds exactly what I want. But is it too good to be true?

Q: 5-I,
I am looking at a managed portfolio of a friend who deals at Wood Gundy. They are comparing the performance of the portfolio to the "Value Balanced Index". It says it is a blended benchmark comprised of 40% DEX Universe, 20% S&P/TSX composite and 40% MSCI World. What would be the closest ETF to this index that I could follow on an exchange ?

Thanks

Paul

Q: Is there an ETF which tracks companies that are payment processors such as Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, Square, Shopify etc?

Q: I have reviewed prior question responses on PMIF and PMO005. I understand that both should behave similarly (PMIF should have higher return longterm due to lower MER). My question is on the distribution. The distribution yield on PMO005 is about 3-3.5% it appears; the distribution yield on PMIF appears to be smaller and with variations in the distribution from month to month. Do you think this is temporary, as PMIF is relatively new? Do you think overtime, the distributions of PMIF will stabilize and approximate those of PMO005 with a similar yield? If not, why not, if the portfolio composition is the same in each case?

My feeling is that PMIF is 'safer' than high yield bonds such as XHY and preferred shares such as CPD/ZPR, do you agree? I hope to pair this with some VSB as my fixed income allocation. Do you think PMIF is worth the MER of 0.87%? This is for longterm, all-weather hold (irrespective of where interest rates go in the near-term/longterm) for consistent income.

Thank you!

Q: Hello, thinking of adding ZUB, or ZBK, as just made decent windfall short term gains on energy stocks in days , for the trade. Redeploy cash , Against social media’s commentary worked out many times perfectly so far. Before last Friday banks earnings, the media were full of ” earnings will be huge” then the very next day we’re like “reversals because fully priced in “...” growth concerns “ . . “ yield curve.....” and so on...
so what’s your take? Is it noise or seasonality trading or real concerns , so called smart money moves?
Thanks

Q: I currently have a weighting of 8 % Canadian tech companies. For diversification I hold CSU, OTEX, SYZ, ENGH and KXS. My largest holdings are in the larger companies, specifically CSU at 5% and OTEX at 3%. I would like to diversify my portfolio into international stocks. To this end, in the high tech sphere I have started to buy XQQ. Since XQQ is an ETF, and so is diversified, I plan to bring XQQ up to 10%. Note that I currently have 20% in VFV. So my US exposure would be 20% VFV and 10% XQQ. Do you see any downside to this plan? Note that XQQ is hedged, are you aware of a US tech ETF that is not hedged?

Q: Could you please clarify how this ETF pricing mechanism works? My Qtrade website shows the current bid at $30.88 and ask at $30.91 (at approximately noon PT on Wed, April 18), yet the Day High shows $30.49. Is this indicating that there has not been any trading since the $30.49 price? I see a similar discrepancy with HXQ, but not with HXT where the bid price is exactly at the day high price. Thanks.

Q: Ryan; If one thinks the oil and gas sector might recover a bit which ETF would benefit the most ? Thanks. Rod

Q: I own both of these at equal weight in a rrsp and would like to reduce my weighting in bonds which one would you suggest keeping or should I reduce exposure in both.

Q: Would you prefer a ETF like Robo over just one stock AMAT? If I was to buy Robo, would the US ETF be better than the Canadian ETF?

Thanks

Q: Good Evening Folks,

I'm looking for a good US/International mutual fund to balance out a portfolio of mine. I'm looking at Edgepoint Global and PH&N Global. what are your thoughts on these funds? Could you suggest any others that I should consider? Are there any ETF's that are comparable?

And one more question. I've held two Canadian mutual funds with blue chip holdings for years - Mawer Canadian Equity and TD Dividend Growth. Performance has been OK but not great. Can you suggest better replacement funds or ETF's?

As always, thanks for your advice.

Dennis

Q: Hello, you answered to a member today: "You might want to consider VUN, which covers the whole world for just 0.16% MER". Did you really mean the whole world Market? According to the Vanguard website, VUN covers the US Total Market. Thanks, Gervais

Q: Want to transition the kids RESP to ETFs from the current mutual funds ( cig11465, mfc2710 and aim5510 33% each). Kids are 13 and 15 so University is 3 and 5 years away respectively. I was thinking 50% CDZ and 50% VIG?

Q: Hi 5i. I am just starting an RESP for my 2 yr old granddaughter. I'm thinking long term of course and with only $5,000 available was considering VGG or VFV for a start. Either one or both. What do you think or is there a better alternative ? Thanks for your help. Ron

Q: ZMT is a 3 bagger from January 2016 to February 2018, but has fallen slightly since. Is this a good time in the economic cycle to purchase this etf or has the easy money been made ie do you think there is still good growth potential? What would you consider a maximum weighting? I would like to add some giddyup to my TFSA with a well timed position in commodities if in fact the timing is right. Thank you

Q: Hi 5iResearch Team,

I am looking to put some money in an ETF that is focused on space technology (something similar to Elon Musk's SpaceX and likewise companies are engaging in) and was wondering if such an ETF exists. Your help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,