Investment Q&A

Q: Your comments on the new etf CARS on the TSX would be appreciated.Is it like all initial offering wait & see or is it a buy now or never?

Q: Hi, In your opinion, which would be a safer investment over a five year time frame, xhy, U.S. high yield bond index fund or Bam.a Brookfield asset management "A" stock, thanks?

Q: I have a question about IWO. ( GROWTH PORTFOLIO). How Would you compare it to Mawer Global small cap. Which one Would you prefer ( considering taxes, fees, performance, expected return). I would like to know this in context of growth portfolio. thanks

Q: Are there tax implications with holding HXS in a TFSA given that the dividends are not distributed? I have no US holdings, and in my (latish) retirement, I've decided I could use some US exposure. Would it be a suitable single ETF to hold? I could hold it in my non registered account if that would be better, or if you can suggest another suitable ETF that could go in the TFSA, that'd be great. Many thanks.

Q: What is your opinion of PSA and FSL as investments? Is FSL low risk?

Q: Hello team:

I saw an article about the new ETFs by Wisdom Tree and Horizon's. DGRC caught my attention.

Any thoughts or opinion on this? Instead of ZDV or XDV or VDY....worth buying this one?
Thanks.

Q: I have diversified my portfolio to include US stocks. Would now like to diversify into European and emerging markets. What ETF's would you recommend? The majority of my stocks are based on your Balanced Equity Portfolio.

Q: I am a retired non-resident and living on dividend income. My portfolio is a collection on higher yielding dividend stocks such as TD, BCE, FTS, AX.UN, ENB etc. (80% of portfolio focused on income)
I also have some lower yielding but higher growth stocks such as SIS, GSY, CCL.B, PBH, WSP. (20% of portfolio focused on growth)
To offset the lower yield of my growth stocks, I am looking into covered call ETFs such as ZWU (yield=6.6%) to bump up my income. I am not concerned with capital appreciation with the covered calls, only safety of dividend. Is a covered call such as ZWU for utilities as safe as it appears for dividend income? Are there any additional risks to be aware of holding a covered call such as ZWU vs the individual holdings within its portfolio?
Are covered calls the safest strategy to generate a 6-7% yield in a portfolio? Any other recommendations for higher yield (such as CEFs, BDCs)?
I am considering investing 10-15% of the income generating portion of my portfolio into higher yielding investments.
What 3 funds/stocks would you recommend I invest in to bump up the yield and thus offset the lower yield of my growth stocks?

Q: After building a portfolio in a TFSA account from a mixture of your portfolios I would like to broaden my exposure with these three ETF's. Is their any considerations when purchasing a fund like IWO that is not sold on the tsx?

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

Today's Globe & Mail had an article called "Wall Street views the emerging-market rout as a buying opportunity". I'd appreciate your perspective on the validity of the author's views, and some ETFs that could take advantage of this idea (if you agree).

Thanks as always for the pertinent advice.

Q: Are there any Canadian or US Health Care ETF's preferably hedged I could use in my RIF? I currently hold HHL at a 6% weighting.
Dick

Q: Just a comment. You recommend without caveat HFR as a short term hold for cash. This ETF does fluctuate and with just a 2.1% payout annually can negate this modest payout, just like any other equity. I held this for a year and broke even on distributions/capital gain but paid higher taxes on the distributions than the capital gain so overall lost on a full year hold. This is not for short term holds any more than BCE would be.

Q: I will reword my last question to be better understood, which equity Etf's would you recommend for each region of the world outside Canada, in other words, your favorites, thanks?

Q: Hi Guys,

Could you please suggest somewhere safe to park $300K cash that is sitting in a brokerage account.

Thanks
Dave

Q: Thanks very much for your recent reply. I’d like to get your opinion on the Active Beta ETFs from Goldman Sachs, particularly GEM (Emerging Markets) and GSIE (International). They charge a higher MER than Vanguard funds, but would you say it’s worth it because investors benefit from the expertise of top managers? Between VWO and GEM, which would you prefer and why? Thanks again.

Q: In addition to Canadian stocks, I hold a few ETFs for US and International exposure. In order to get a clear understanding of my sector allocations, I would like to incorporate the sector contributions from these ETFs. But when I look at VDU, for example, instead of consumer cyclicals and consumer staples, it lists consumer goods and consumer services. Do you have a suggestion for how I could incorporate these different categories into my sector allocations?

Thanks.

Alan

Q: Hi, can u basically construct a medium risk, all equity well diversified portfolio of Etf's that cover the whole world for a portfolio of $25,000, for about an eight to ten year time horizon, thanks?

Q: Hello,

I purchased xfh (hedged) in early january 2015 and have ridden strong performance to this date. Given the strength in the CDN dollar would it be wise to hold on to this ETF or switch out for something else. If switch, what to?

Q: I am considering these two ETFs for my RRIF. Do you have a preference? I currently hold the following: SLF, BNS, TD, RY, AQN, BEP.UN, T, BCE, ALA, ENB and PPL. Thank you.

Q: I have been an investor in small and midcap stocks for over 20 years with a willingness to accept additional risk in my portfolio.I am now transitioning my portfolio to a more Income focus, as i will need dividends to supplement my retirement.
Questions i have are about construction of income portfolio?
Do you feel it is still important to diversify in other countries and regions outside of Canada?You would lose some of the favourable tax benefits!

In trying to classify many dividend stocks in sectors i find that they cross the line into numerous sectors,(example many pipeline stocks are said to be oil and gas stocks, many are said to be utility type of investments)
What sector do you put an ETf in?Seems like a lot of investors drive themselves crazy in the allocation to sectors

I have looked at your income portfolio and your fixed income portion that is addressed by a few Etf.I have taken positions in individual preferred shares,debentures, a couple of instruments with bond like qualities.What is the percentage you would advocate for fixed income or there proxies?

Many Blue chip income stocks pay quarterly dividends,when i prefer monthly dividends.This again can skew my portfolio so that diversifying by sector and country becomes difficult

I find that the construction of my Income portfolio has given me many grey hairs(which i dont need help with"thank you very much")