Investment Q&A

Q: I am a retired, mostly conservative dividend-income investor with a pension, CPP and annuities. My asset mix is 65% equities and 35% fixed income. My holdings include AD, ALA, AQN, BNS, BCE, CGX, CPG, PBH, RY, SLF, WCP, WEF, WSP, ZLB, XIT and Sentry Cdn Income, Sentry REIT, TD Health, RBC Cdn Equity Income.

Within my equity portfolio, my tech exposure is 8% with 3/4 of that being XIT. Seasonality is in its favor right now.

Within my equity portfolio, my healthcare exposure is 4%, with 3/4 of that being TD Health. Bad current news environment and bad seasonality, but beaten down.

I am interested in topping up either XIT or TDB976. Which one is more conservative, could use the topping up and has the most upside?

Thanks,
Steve

Q: I'm interested in the security of income and capital. In XTR there seems to be a lot of diversification among quality companies. What would be the maximum percentage of the portfolio you would be comfortable with? Thanks for the ongoing advice.

Q: Looking for a good ETF that would cover the Japanese market over the coming year. Also interested in emerging market ETF and what your thoughts are for the next 2 years. Thanks and a pleasure to talk to you at the Money Show.

Q: i would like to increase my US holdings by adding an etf that is concentrated in the technology and consumer discretionary/staples sectors. I currently hold VUN which is my only exposure to the US market. I realize that these sectors are covered in VUN, but have very small weightings. Does this seem like a reasonable strategy? Would you please suggest such an etf, preferably on the tsx.

Thank you

Q: Hello,
I have 40k in a US cash account. I would like to invest the money to generate cash to use for my vacation property in the Florida. At this time, what you recommend for an income investment in the US.
Thanks
Rick

Q: For income purposes, is this a good etf to own? What is the downside risk to the unit price - Fed rate hike? Please advise the pros and cons.

Thanks

Q: I have been rebalancing my portfolio which has been heavily skewed towards Cdn Dividend payers as I am retired and use the income to supplement my Pension. My Cdn holdings are now fairly well diversified using your Income and BE portfolios as guides.
I have targeted 15% of my total portfolio for Cdn ETFs which hold US equities. The following are my current holdings and the % weighting: ZDY 9%; ZBK 2%; ZUH 2%. I am looking at adding 2% Tech exposure and am considering either ZQQ or XQQ.
Your recommendations for the Tech exposure and my overall plan for my US exposure would be appreciated.

Q: Imagine an investor setting up an RRSP with $15k, a 30 year time horizon, a desire to keep it simple (CAD ETFs), an ability to sleep at night when markets are down and a desire for a somewhat aggressive strategy. What CAD ETFs would you suggest as a portfolio? Thanks as always.

Q: Hi Peter and gang.
Nice seeing you all at the Money show. I'm looking to get exposure to the US market and I've yet to dip my toe into the ETF field. However the CLU seems to consistently be reported in Money saver in the top ten. Would you recommend this as a way to get diversification in the US and which of the three do you think would be most appropriate. All of my money is invested in Canadian stocks at this time.
GUY

Q: Do you have a preference at this time? (Unhedged vs. Hedged). Thank you

Q: I am looking to take advantage of the expected year end rally. I would appreciate your recommendation for any stock or ETF's with the best expected momentum and your view on this strategy.
Thank you as always for your wise advise.
Raouf

Q: Hi Peter
I want to get into the technology stocks. ZQQ and IGM (US) have similar holdings but a huge difference in cost to get in. Do you think these ETF's have similar potential? Many thanks for finding IGM.
Cam

Q: Hi Team
I have my full allocation of 30% bonds in the etf CBO, is this a good strategy, although I get dividends the share price is down 2.86%.
I was wondering if I should hold more than 1 bond etf.

Q: Hi, I am considering BXF (combined with CBO, VSC, XHY and VSB) for my fixed income exposure. They will be roughly equal percentages totalling 30% of my portfolio. Can I have your advice about this? Would the take over of First asset by CI affect the underlying etfs? Are there any fixed income vehicles for taxable accounts (I was considering CPD)?

Q: Hi Peter
I'm trying to find an ETF called "ishares trust Shs s&p GSTI technology index fund (IGM)" mentioned in the Globe today (Monday) as an upgrade. The only IGM I found was a financial company. I assume they are not the same company. Are you able to help me? If so, what do you think of this ETF.
many thanks.
Cam

Q: I have a large cash position and I am giving consideration to purchasing VCE Vanguard FTSE Canada Index and and VFV Vanguard S&P 500 Index rather than purchasing individual stocks based on the premise that generally indexes outperform managed funds and are less costly to manage. I would buy 60% VFV and 40% VCE. Would appreciate your opinions. With thanks, Bill

Q: I always had bonds equally spread over a 5- year period. However, it is getting very difficult to buy bonds. Since i want liquidity, i am considering an etf like xsb or xbb.
I read that if interest rates go up, there will be a loss of capital equal to the average duration for each 1percent increase. For ex. The average duration for xbb is 8 years, thus if interest rate go up by 1% the unit price will drop 8%. If over the years interest rates go up 3% the unit price will loose 24%. Thus, i fail to see how i could ever recuperate the capital loss even if the distribution is reinvested.

Since many people are using bond etf, i must be missing something. Could you please tell me if my description of the risks associated with bonds etf is correct.
Thank you

Q: What is your opinion on cpd?
is it a buy now and what is your future outlook?
Would cpd rise with a rise in interest rates and with interest rates at the bottom this would be a good entry here?

Q: I have a new baby (less than two months old) and have just set up an RESP. We plan to contribute $2500 each year to get the government grants and grow a portfolio. Because $2500 is fairly low, what would you recommend as a starting equity position for this? Would something like GUD or DHX.B be a good start, or wouldis there an ETF be recommended first?

Thanks!

Q: When comparing a bond ETF to a ladder of individual corporate bonds is the MER, in this case .46%, greater or less than the bid-ask spread of the individual bonds? or asked a different way - is it cheaper to own XCB or a ladder of individual corporates? Thank You