skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A
You can view 3 more answers this month. Sign up for a free trial for unlimited access.

Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I have been retired for 5 years. With equities outperforming my fixed income significantly over this time period I am now looking at options to increase the fixed income allocation in my portfolio from 20% to 25 or 30%.

I am looking for advice on what to purchase. I have had some laddered GICs but returns are dropping. Should I consider buying actual bonds...ie construct a bond ladder that might see better returns especially if interest rates continue to drop?
Read Answer Asked by Peter on August 22, 2024
Q: Hi,
I'm looking for your sage opinion on how to deploy cash at this point in time. I have enough cash for 5 years of expenses and I'm in my 2nd year of retirement. The rest of my nest egg is in equities, real estate and bullion.

I have been thinking of just putting this cash into a five year GIC ladder and call it a day. But.... rates are already falling on GICs as we speak, likely in anticipation of further Bank of Canada and soon US Fed cuts.

Have you other options for me to consider for how to deploy this cash to 1) ensure a high probability of being able to meet expenses without selling equities in the event of a market downturn, while 2) ensuring a reasonably decent return from this cash over such a long period.

Specifically, does it make sense to accept around 4% as a guaranteed average rate or is there a solid case to make for dividend payers instead of GICs. Open to other and all suggestions.

Thanks for your invaluable service.
Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on August 22, 2024
Q: Fidelity has two etf's Fidelity Canadian Growth (FCLC) and Fidelity Global Innovator (FINN) etfs actively managed by their two high profile managers. Can I get your thoughts on the two funds and any comments on the asset managers.

thank you
Read Answer Asked by Frank on August 22, 2024
Q: Always looking for the best of all worlds - but find myself thinking "safety first" right now given global circumstances - and the US election.

So the above ETFs all yielding over 14% right now - too good to be true or a legitimate and safer way to go given their use of options - and 5i has clearly made us aware of the pros and cons of options (Thank you) .... but how about this combination of ETF's

As always Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on August 21, 2024
Q: What are the tax implications of owing the iShares Gold Trust (IAU) in RRSP and non-RRSP accounts? Is IAU treated the same as other US ETFs for Canadians, from a tax perspective?

I recently read that the US taxes gold as a collectible, at a higher tax rate than equities. Does this apply to Canadians who own IAU?

Thank you for this excellent service.
Read Answer Asked by Dale on August 21, 2024
Q: Dear 5i team.

I tried going through recent Q+A to make sense of these two ETFs.

Can you simplify for me?

1) What are the key differences of these two? The yappear to have similar holdings, just diff %.

2) Closing in on one year since inception, any more visibility to performance/cost etc?

3) Can both be held, or do you prefer one over the other?

Many thanks for your help.
Read Answer Asked by Arthur on August 20, 2024
Q: Please provide you input on the pros and cons on the difference between ETF bonds, such as RQQ, with maturity dates, vs ETF bonds, such as VAB and/or XLB, with no maturity dates. Instead of investing in GICs, which you are locked in for a period, RQQ can be bought and sold when the market opens, making it seems to be almost as good as GIC.
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Roger on August 20, 2024
Q: Good afternoon, I am realigning my RRSP account using geographic and asset type recommendations. The asset allocator recommends that 15% of my portfolio be in fixed income. Can you please recommend a few fixed-income ETFs? Also, should fixed-income holdings be mostly domestic or include international as well? Lastly, would you consider CASH.CA part of the fixed-income component of a portfolio or simply a place to keep cash until it is directed into another asset? Thank you in advance.
Read Answer Asked by bernie on August 20, 2024
Q: Which of the following ETFs has the biggest potential return if interest rates continue to go down: XCB XLB ZRE
Read Answer Asked by Robert on August 19, 2024
Q: In responding to a question regarding ZSML in Nov 2021 you stated "While volume is low, it has $351M in assets, and is likely quite profitable for the bank at that level." I see that, according to TDW, it now has $166.2M in assets. At this lower level would you still see it as profitable for the bank? Are the assets lower due to investors selling units? You have indicated recently that small caps could be coming into their own, so is ZSML a good option to add to my small caps at this time? Many thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on August 19, 2024
Q: Can you compare the three and why you would prefer one over the other? And also for a retired income dependant investor how much would you consider to allocate in a portfolio? Tks Larry
Read Answer Asked by Larry on August 16, 2024