Investment Q&A

Q: Good Morning: I want to realize some capital losses on the above energy positions (and others) but do not want to lose exposure to the energy asset class in case of a sudden move upwards (even though I don't expect that in the short term.) So, my plan is to sell all or parts of my losers and buy something else that will give me the same effective exposure. My question is as follows: First, what four stocks in the Cdn. energy sector would you recommend for a purchase at this time; and second, would an etf like XEG be an effective alternative for all or part of this strategy. I may even buy back some of the positions I am currently selling after the 30 day wait period has passed. As always, many thanks. Don

Q: If you were asked to create a Canadian dividend Aristocrat ETF what holdings would you include? Would you equal weight the holdings? Would you diversify it across sectors? How would you base your selections against payout ratios or higher dividend payers? How often would you review the selections and how many names would you hold. Why might you want to do this type of ETF over another example such as growth, small cap index, value , GARP, etc.? Also please compare your Model portfolio to such an ETF. What makes the model portfolio different from this approach? Sorry for the longer question. To sum it up I am hoping to get a feeling of your strategies from the answer. Thank You Jeremy

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

In today's Financial Post, there's an interesting article called "Betting on the U.S. election via the ‘Trump ETF’"

If one wanted to "bet" on a Hillary victory, would a small purchase of EWW be a wise move? Any hesitation I have is due to currency risk, but I am unsure.

Thanks for any advice.

Q: I have no exposure to the oil and gas sector. I am thinking of going 3% to 5% and would like your opinion on whether now is a reasonable time to re-enter this market. If so, would looking at the U.S. market be better than the Canadian Mkt. Any suggested companies or ETF's would be appreciated.

Cheers, Bob

Q: I have these prefs in my rrsp,they are down a lot,paying between 5.5 and 6.4%,would I be better off holding them and hope they recover or selling them and buying etfs such as cdp,zdv or cdz.Any suggestion you guys have would be greatly appreciated.

Q: Hi Team

Which of the 2 etfs, zdv or cdz would you recommend for income ,dividend growth and some capital gains. ZDV seems to have a lower MER and higher yield. Thank-you in advance. Sam

Q: I appreciate your comment about the PowerShare s&p 500 low volatile ,one in US dollar and in can. Dollar.Your comment about this ETF,and the pro and cons of having them.Thank you ebrahim

Q: I really enjoyed your presentations at the World Money Show. Many people were talking about ETF's at the show this year. I was thinking about buying a percentage of ETF's in my portfolio. I'm with TD bank and I know they are very new again to this.
I'm a 45 years old and have mostly CDN equities.
I heard that you only need 3 or 4 ETF's to balance out. I would consider putting 20% in ETF's

Thank you

Q: Hello 5i,
I have had a bit of VPL:US for awhile and am just beginning to see the light of day on it. It is not really something that I want to keep, I don<t believe. But, I was wondering whether, after waiting so long for it to come back, whether it might be too early to sell. Also, what would be a good replacement? I already have VWO. I would rather go wider in geography rather than too specific.
thanks

Q: Can you please recommend where I can put some US dollars which will earn some income at little risk? Maybe some US dollar low risk etf or something similar? Thanks

Q: G'Day! RBC GAM recently launched an actively-managed Canadian preferred share ETF. (Symbol RPF). Mgmt fee = 0.53% Do you see this as a suitable product for an over-65 income investor?

Additional comment about RPF is encouraged.

Thank you,
IslandJohn

Q: Good morning,

Could you please offer your comments on this ETF and what appears to be its relative under performance. Is this an out of favour investment style that should be bought or an etf to be eliminated?

thanks
Brad

Q: Your thoughts on a portfolio in a non registered account consisting simply of these 3 etf's (ZRE,ZPR,ZDV) to hold forever. Dividends received put into VIG.US, I'm 45 years old, I have no mortgage and no debts looking to borrow and bring my accounts to 100k for each of these 3 etf's totalling 300k, in retirement will use only dividends. (This would act as my deferred annuity but I get to keep my money) is my thinking clear?

Q: I have no REITS in my portfolio and since I do my own taxes I like to keep things simple and did read that it better to hold REITS in an RRSP account if you don't want to be bother with return on capital, etc. I am wondering if I have no room in my RRSP would it be okay to put in my TFSA? I am looking at ZRE and XRE which one you prefer and CSH.UN or is just one index fund good enough.

Thanks
Dolores

Q: Should I be concerned about the low liquidity and small size of VE?

Q: Hello.
Thanks for the ongoing investing commentary.
Given the results I have experienced with a few individual investments over the past 8 months, it is clear I either do not have time to keep up with small cap growth stocks' activity, do not know how to make buy sell decisions, do not have the stomach for the ride or just completely outside my sphere of investor ability. In reviewing my experience with buy sell of Phm, I was up 8000 and ended up selling at loss of 6000. Ad recently up 7000 and end d up selling for 3000 loss. Painfully sitting on a 35,000 loss in Cxr.....largest loss ever in 16 years of direct investing. Can not make money this way. Clearly I should be handing over small company decision making to someone else.

The question.......what Canadian and USA mutual fund or strategy would you have me consider to help capture some of the growth available through small company / special opportunities investing ........ Without being directly involved with the buy sell decision?

I am okay with long term but long term with current results will land me in the poor house.

Appreciate your thoughts on this topic.
Dave

I already own Mawer global small and global mutual funds but they are not invested like 5i portfolio

Q: I've recently moved some RRSP money from a mutual fund company to my own brokerage accounts. My cash accounts and TFSA are in 5i type portfolios but I'm wondering about putting the RRSP money into somewhat "safer" and more diversified areas. I've looked at the Canadian couch potato's model etf portfolios as well as the canadian money saver portfolios. I'm wondering if you could recommend any "ethical" international elf's. I think XEN would fit the bill in Canada. Thanks for your suggestions.

Q: I have just recieved some new money to invest and woukd like to increase my expsosure outside Canada. Im thinking of a US index fund. Can you please tell me the difference between VUN/VUS, HXS and SPY? Which one is better? Do you think this is a good time to invest in the S&P with it at all time highs?
As always your advice is greatly appreciated.
Nancy

Q: Hi !! It is me again. Would you consider it be time to invest in preferred shares again? If you would you recommend straight preferreds or floating rate? Could you also recommend some? Cheers, Tamara

Q: Any comments on if this ETF as a safe place to park money in an income investment that won't get hammered by interest rate hikes in future, and is not locked in like a GIC (i.e. so it can be turned back into cash readily ... e.g. in case a major sell off in markets presented a buying opportunity).

- pays about 2%
- looking at all historical prices, it seems to preserve the capital nicely -- worst dips were only down 2% and came back up shortly thereafter.
- based on floating rate securities so to me, a rise in interest rates would not be negative for this ETF