Investment Q&A

Q: I currently have no exposure to the US and am considering purchasing ETF's. What etf's would you recommend to do this and what percentage of a portfolio? Also, is it better to hold in an RRSP or a TFSA account. Thank you. Clare

Q: Regarding the question of yesterday regarding owning a portfolio of 20 stocks vs at ETF that holds 500, thanks for the great response. I am curious, would your answer differ if the primary purpose of the portfolio was to generate income? i.e more holdings = less risk to the income stream? Thanks

Q: Hello Team Hope you can help me understand how to read the performance charts on the ishares website. If I take XIC for example and look at the performance chart it shows the following
YTD (%) 1y (%) 3y (%) 5y (%) 10y (%) Incept (%)
0.55 10.16 8.63 8.58 7.78 6.63 . Hopefully the chart lined up. So under the 5yr return it shows 8.58%. Is that an avg return per yr of 8.58 x 5=42.5% total return or is does it mean a total return of 8.58 for the last 5 yrs. And does that include the mgmnt fee?
Thank you for your hard work

Q: Are there any Canadian ETFs that are like CDZ (dividend aristocrats) or high dividend payers for the developing markets and emerging markets. And if not, in US$.

I believe CYH is for developed markets high dividend payers.

Q: Hi 5i Team,
I am a bit confused. I own each of these fixed income instruments. All but the CPD have moved upwards in the past six months. Why does CPD not move with the bonds? If I were to add to this group, should I avoid CPD or average down on it? Long term horizon. Should I add to the others?

Q: Your thought please on IShares IDV and IXP ETFs for international dividend income? They appear reasonably well diversified.

Q: Hi - with the ETF - CDZ at 20% energy content, how do you view the risks to this ETF regarding these companies not being able to grow dividends in a prolonged and depressed energy environment. Does this change your outlook on CDZ as conservative, diversified dividend-grower ETF in Canada? Or, does this just mean CDZ cleans out the non-growers and looks elsewhere rebalancing to it's "aristocrat" rules as it moves on? Outlook and views on CDZ appreciated. cheers and thanks...

Q: Hi 5i,

We hold the following ETF's with their portfolio weightings and MER's. All are held within RRSP's. My question is: Since these 5 ETF's all have MER's in excess of the 0.50% mentioned in a response to a previous post, should I switch to a lower-cost alternative and, if so, what would you recommend? All are Canadian Hedged and all are iShares offerings. The goal was to achieve geographic diversification across both bonds and equities.

CUD U.S. Dividend Growers Index ETF MER 0.65% Port. weighting 4.76%
CWO Emerging Markets fundamental Index Common MER 0.70% 4.78%
CYH Global Monthly Dividend Index MER 0.66% 4.91%
XEB JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond Index MER 0.73% 4.79%
XHY U.S. High Yield Bond Index MER 0.62% 4.89%

Thanks!!
Cheers,
Mike

Q: I own some stocks and ETF's in U.S. dollars. Are there any reasonable methods the retail investor can use to insure himself from a possible decline in the value of the U.S. dollar. This may involve options, hedging or possibly an ETF that tracks the U.S. dollar or other suggestions ?

Many Thanks

Paul

Q: Good afternoon I was think of creating a portfolio of etfs, say 6-8 of them firstly is this a good idea and second what is an acceptable amount of fees to be paying I believe MER is the amount paid per etf so what's too much when they are all added up thanks

Q: I've been holding this for about 3 years and basically spinning my wheels thanks only to the CDN $ dropping. What are your thoughts on this investment? I also hold the Vanguard Growth as well in my US side of my RIF which has done well. Should I switch to more of the Vanguard or maybe convert back to Cdn$ and invest here. Thanks

Q: You have mentioned in previous answers that stock allocation in an RESP should be independent from other account holdings due to the defined time frame when the money will be used. I have an RESP for my 8 year-old that consists of $10,000 BNS and 10,000 SLF and $6500 cash. I plan to deploy the cash in March. Do you have any recommendations on a single additional stock OR might I be better off to sell BNS and SLF and buy a few ETF's to sufficiently diversify? I still have 9 years until she heads to post-secondary.
Thanks.

Q: I have an otherwise well diversified portfolio, but am currently underweight in healthcare with only CPH held with about a 5% position. Could you recommend an ETF that would give me good exposure to this sector? And what percentage of portfolio would you suggest should be in healthcare?

Q: I have no gold in my portfolio and am planning to buy some XGD. A friend suggested buying several small gold bars as an alternative. What are the pros and cons of each?

Q: I have reviewed some answers to questions that deal with the issue of hedging US exposure but am not certain as to your position on this matter. I realize the difficulty of trying to forecast currency movements but at present, with the Canadian dollar already off more than 20% within the last year, does it make sense to still favor the unhedged US ETF'S? Today seems to offer a prime example of the potential pitfalls of non hedged funds - while 1 day does not define a trend, we have a rising US market with the hedged US ETF'S also rising and the unhedged ones falling due to strength in the Canadian dollar - so what would be the best strategy going forward, over a 3-5 year term, for a non registered trading account in Canadian funds - hedged or unhedged US ETF'S?

Q: Could you give me a short list of your preferred US ETFs that contain stocks like Apple, Google Intel Qualcomm Oracle and the likes.
Thanks

Q: Thinking of adding to my TFIA [TFSA]. Your opinion on this particular ETF please?

Thanks.

Ross

Q: could you please recommend 3 or 4 emerging market etf

Q: You recently mentioned that for international exposure consider FEZ, and VXUS. Both these trade in the US but I have a difficult time getting my mind around buy US $ at this time. For Cda $ hedge ETF, would you consider the following as substitutes - ZEQ-t for FEZ-n and ZDM-t for VXUS-Q.....or are they other more suitable replaces?..........thanks......Tom

Q: Hi 5i team,
XLU (SPDR-Utilities) has fallen by 9.6% since it peaked on Jan 29, 2015. Please comment...is this the canary? Thanks