Investment Q&A

Q: Your call on XSTP.U please

Q: I am a senior citizen now with a lower tolerance for risk and accepting of a lower rate of return on my investments for that. When interest rates increased, I invested in MM funds; now with rates going south, I am looking to get back into some more conservative stocks/ETF/Mutual funds with growth prospects.
Can you provide 5 stocks/ETF's you believe would fill this request. I am looking at Canadian but if there isa US one that makes sense, I would look at it.
As always, thanks for your advise.

Regards

Jim

Q: As an income focused investor, I'm most worried about cashflow versus capital. This approach has allowed me to comfortably weather the gyrations over the past few years. Yes, dividend stocks went down, but my cashflow was mostly secure and I slept well. I've settled on a mix of funds and individual stocks that meet my cashflow needs, using 5i for research and advice. About 20% of the portfolio value is in Covered Call funds across various sectors and fund companies, which pay 7% to 17%. This has enabled me to boost my average portfolio yield significantly, while 80% of the portfolio is in more conservative dividend paying investments. I acknowledge that the Covered Call strategy limits my upside.

Two questions: 1. What are your thoughts on this approach? 2. Is there still a robust covered call marketplace in a declining market - ie: what happens to the covered call premium opportunity?

Q: Happy holidays to all of you guys and girls at 5i thank you for all that you do everyday throughout the year. Just looking ahead to add to one of these 3 etf’s is there any one of these etf’s that should be chosen first before the other 2 or is it worthwhile just adding to all 3? All of these are about the same % of our portfolio and I do need to add more to international exposure (as per portfolio analytics.) Thanks again and wish everyone the best in the new year.

Q: Hi 5i,

I have GIC's maturing end of this month and I am not looking to reinvest the funds in another set of GIC's.

Financial advisor at the bank is recommending I put the funds into ZBAL ETF. But this ETF has MER of 1.72% which I am not a fan of.

Would appreciate your thoughts on this ETF and potential alternatives that you could suggest with lower MER.

I have been investing in stocks for the past five years and I am still relatively young so I am ok with risk.

Thanks in advance.

Greg C.

Q: Is there any advantage of buying US bonds like AGG over XBB? I notice the MER of 0.03% is a bit cheaper.

Thanks

Q: Is this all in one ETF with exposure to Bitcoin worth considering? At what % of a growth portfolio?

Q: I'm comparing Psa and Hisa etfs and it appears Psa has a slightly better monthly payout. Am I correct? Thanks John

Q: About taxes: Do you see any tax problem in buying FINB BMO S&P 500 (USD)
ZSP.U in december 2024? Is it better taxwise to wait for the beginning of 2025?

Q: Realizing that these 2 new etf have nominal assets at present would you recommend one over the other for income and why? Thanx.

Q: This is the bond portion of my portfolio. Would you recommend adding or swapping ETFs to enhance diversification and allocate funds to markets with optimal returns?

Q: Do you know when the ex-dividend is/was?

Q: What insights do you have for the Utility sector in 2025? It was out of favor, caught a bid for a while and now it's falling back again. The yield is obviously nice but do you see the price continuing to decline? Thanks as always, great service.

Q: im looking for a high interest canadian cash etf to park some cdn funds?

thanks

Stephen

Q: Hi Peter, looking for a suggestion of where to park $400k (from a house sale) for the next 1 year. Besides GICs and Cash ETFs is there a slightly higher risk play you would consider at this time if it was your own money ? Thank you, Paul

Q: Are there US withholding taxes associated with the ETF's that are offered by Vanguard Canada (or any other Canadian ETF issuer) that pay a USD distribution??
Thanks

Q: Since Milei was elected in Argentina a year ago, there has been some economic revival. Is Argentina now an attractive investment?

Q: I provided some funds to my two grandsons approximately 6 months ago. One grandson invested his funds in the stocks and ETFs noted above. He is very pleased to see an increase in market value for all his investments. I will be providing my grandsons with additional funds to add to their existing investments. Please rank the existing investments shown above for long term growth. I will submit a second question for my other grandson. Best wishes for the Holiday Season.

Q: The existing investments for my other grandson are shown above. Please rank his investments for long term growth. Best wishes for the Holiday Season.

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. Sitting on roughly 5-6% cash for topping up existing positions to, over time, hit Asset Allocation targets.

Candidates = BCE, GSY, HHL, HMAX, XST, ZUT. If I was deciding to deploy funds to create the largest total return over the next year or two, from their existing valuation, a) in what order would you deploy the funds and b) a short qualifier for each position?

My view = buy in this order:
ZUT = good momentum, room to run before hitting earlier peak
GSY = good value, $150-155 should be excellent value
XST = graph against 50 and 200mda...very tight chart....could buy anytime
HMAX = good value, banks should run
HHL = healthcare stocks should get over their fear of their new boss in a few months....or not. Give it some time.
BCE = last on the list. Just rebought after cap loss capture. Give it even more time.

Thanks for your help....Steve