Investment Q&A

Q: Peter and Team
I totally revamped this TFSA in January according to your group' sure commendations, but did hold back on what is now 7% cash, of the portfolio and am ready to invest that.. I currently hold 17% in REITS, 13% in BCE , 13 in ZWB, 11% in BAD, the remainder , evenly spread, in CDZ, XIU and XCS.
What would you recommend that would provide substantial growth prospects and would it make sense to add a Canadian company with good foreign exposure?
In other accounts I own SGY, SYZ, SLF,, AVO, and ESL.
Thanks for your consideration. I have been pleased with the January changes made to this TFSA.
Ruth Ann

Q: Opinion on DGS ETF (WisdomTree Emerging Markets SmallCap Dividend Fund) ? thanks..

Q: Thanks for the income model. I plan on using it as a buying guide. I am retired with 100% in GICs. I plan on using about 15% of the GICs to buy the model. However, with such a high percentage of fixed income in the GICs, I wonder about the fixed income portion of the model. Should I replace the first 4 securities with equity? If so, please make some suggestions. Thanks Tim...

Q: Good afternoon,
I would appreciate your view respecting a potential investment in Wisdom Tree (WETF). My goal would be solely capital appreciation.
Thank you.

Q: I own the following ETFs for international exposure. EFV, SCZ, FEZ, VTI, VBR, VNM and VWO. I am trying to maintain a 30% of international ETFs. 1/3 in each of US, developed countries and emerging markets. I'm needing to add more emerging and thought I might add ILF to the mix. I would value your opinion on my overall choices and what you think about adding ILF or should I stick with VWO and VNM. Thank you for your valuable service.

Q: We have a RESP account with the following holdings:

Bond = 7K (individual, mature next month)
RBC Canadian Equity Income fund = 22K
Cash = 53K

Considering withdrawal will start Sep 2016, can you recommend a portfolio for the next few years?

Thank you.

Q: In the past few months you have recommended certain ETF's of which I have kept track off. What I was wondering which ETF's you suggest are best suited in a RRIF for a person aged 74?
Some of them that I have been following are CDZ, CPD, CUD, XEG, XGD,XLV & XWD. Are there others?
Look forward to your usual intelligent response.

Q: I have a small holding ( just over 1%) in Market Vector Rare Earth etf (REMX) Since I bought into it sometime back, it has gone down over 40%. Its downward trend appears to stabilize in the recent past. Are there any posssibilities of an upward movement for this etf in the near future ( may be over next year or two). Or should I just sell it and take my loss?

Q: hi Peter and Team,
Your opinion on IYU{US}Health Care and IDU{US}Utilities.is now a good time to buy these ETF's ?

Thanks again
Shirley

Q: What is you opinion about XTR ( fund of fund) ?.Thank you.ebrahim

Q: Hi,

My husband and I own about 70% of the stocks in your equity portfolio plus a few U.S. stocks. We have no fixed income and would like to start adding it from your income portfolio.

We plan to only add the ETFs, but don't have the money for all 5. We can probably only buy 3 right now, maybe a 4th next year. Can you rank them in the order we should buy them? We are looking for stability since we are so heavily invested in equities, but also for some income.

Also, we just sold a U.S. Stock and we have our acount set up on auto wash so that it keeps the proceeds from the sale in U.S. Funds. We are thinking of busing a US ETF for the S &P as we already have a mid cap IWO. Can you recommend any S &P indexes trading on the U.S. exchange, rather than Canadian?

Thanks so much,

Carla

Q: Rob Carrick had an article recently in the Globe and Mail: "Why it may be time to move away from dividend stocks". He refers to CDZ and suggests replacing it with the iShares S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF. What is your take on his strategy, and on dividend stocks in general at this phase of the economic cycle?

Q: Hi 5i: What would you think of using JNK instead of XHY for income? I would hold it in my RIF account.

Q: Is there a place to see the price of the sells in the growth portfolio?
What would be 3 choices to put cash if one felt interest rates wee going up - safest to less safe (ETFs)?
Thank you.

Q: Hello 5i Team,
In my portfolio I am holding GOOG (6 shares); APPL (30 shares); and HD (295 shares). I also hold 4200 shares of ZSP and 3000 shares of XSP. Apple is the largest holding at 2.82%, Google 1.86% and Home Depot .66% of assets in both ETFs. I am thinking that I should sell my individual shares and buy more names from your new model. portfolio. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much for your wonderful service.

Q: Hi Peter,

I'm all for simplicity when it comes to maintaining a portfolio, and my question is two-fold:

- Could you recommend a two or three ETF portfolio (Canadian ETFs preferably) that would allow for both long-term equity growth (domestic and international) and monthly income?

Would a mix of XWD with CDZ/VDY (or XTR) fit this criteria, or are there better alternatives?

- Would you recommend such a strategy? What would I be giving up by following this strategy, and how would you tweak it and yet keep it simple?

My goal is to have a straightforward ETF portfolio and to make monthly investments to the ETFs. Please note that there would be no fees for buying the ETFs since I use Questrade.

Thanks!

Q: I have 30K in BNS and 18K in ZEB.Ijust added SLF 19K.My question is would it be better to sell ZEB and start buying other banks starting with TD and RY or buy XFN ,lower fees,more exposure or just stay withy ZEB.I am leaning towards replicating ZEB as you have mentioned before but wanted a second opinion.Thanks for all your wonderful advice.

Q: Hi.Which of exchange Traded Europe fund is your favourite ? and is it worth considering at this time.Thank you and have a good day.ebrahim

Q: Peter; Is CIF big enough to take a 5% position or are there better ETF'S ? Thanks, Rod

Q: Could you please expand on the selection of CVD,CPD,ZRE and XHY for the model income portfolio. My concern is that theses ETFs likely have considerable exposure to rising interest rates and in the current environment may not have much appreciation/return potential. I have been holding CBO for the past year and while I have not done the actual calculations I suspect that any 'dividends/payout' may have been offset by the decrease in the price of the units. I realize that in an income portfolio one needs fixed income or similar holdings but were specific debentures, bonds etc. with a defined maturity date a consideration? I would like to ensure you that I am not questioning your choice of these ETFs, but would like to have a better understanding before I add them to the fixed income side of my own investment portfolio. Thanks for you help.