Investment Q&A

Q: My wife and I would like to convert our diversified portfolio of 20 active companies to a portfolio of ETFs. We are in our 70s and would like to simplify our portfolio.

We picture 5 to 10 ETFs.
One or two ETFs for all Canadian stocks, same for the USA and one or two for indexes outside North America.
As I say, we’re currently pretty well diversified and earning dividend income of around 5% and would like to continue around that level of yield and diversification.

What ETFs would you include? Is this a dream or can it really be done?
Many thanks for your research and opinion.
Frank

Q: Could you please recommend two 100% safe and liquid holdings, one Canadian and the other American. Could you advise the current interest rate they each pay?

Q: I understand that TGED and TUED ETF's use both Call and Put option strategies to produce income. One is a global ETF and the other is a US stock ETF both available on the CDN exchange. Can you help suggest some ETF's available on the US exchange that use both Call and Put option strategies targeting the World and US stock markets. thanks

Q: Good morning, Looking at the chart of GDX the last 5 yrs the ETF reached yrly highs on Aug 6,2020, May 18,2021, April 18,2022. Those dates matched the highs in gold price and the gold stocks. So the price of gold , the miners stock price, and the GDX moved together until 2022. Since then the GDX is moving in opposite direction to the other two and reached a new low last week when gold is at an all time high for the last 3 months. Can you explain ? It appears that the GDX is sold short daily and keeping the gold miners stock prices down artificially .??
Thanks, George

Q: I want to spread some cash out, and away from a Canadian focus. Which of these two ETF's would you consider a better purchase for long term growth?

Q: Thanks to Peter, Ryan and the 5i Team, my portfolio has recovered from the Tech Wreck of 2022. Much of this is due to my holdings in Nvidia and SMCI. I have been trimming some along the way up, but Nvidia is now over 12% and SMCI is over 6% of my portfolio. This time around, I'd like to hold on to my gains (unlike in 2022).

My questions are: What "sleep at night" ETF or stock might you suggest to put some of my profits into (sector doesn't matter)? Also, what percentage of your holdings would you be comfortable with SMCI going to?

My pension covers my living expenses, so I am able to take a little more risk.

Thanks,

Brad

Q: 3 short questions:
(1)XSU:CA is the TSX listed hedged version of IWM:US. Is there an unhedged version of IWM:US on the TSX?
(2) Is there a listing on the TSX for IWN:US; either hedged or unhedged?
(3) XSMC:CA (100% IJR:US) has net assets of only $35M compared to net assets of $544M for XSU:CA (100% IWM). Can I conclude from this that IWM is the more popular US small cap ETF in Canada? 5i research has suggest the IJR holds larger, possibly more stable US small caps compared to IWM.
Thanks!

Q: ZWB or ZEB Which would be the preferred etf to hold in a TFSA account?

Q: Just finished reading the Money Saver's email warning " Avoiding The Yield Trap " on covered call ETF's . Where it mentions ETF's yielding in excess of 10% yet uses a BMO banking covered call as an example . I believe all the Hamilton ETF covered call products yield in that 10% or better area and in the case of the banking ETF ZWB used as an example, HMAX yields 15% which beats ZEB's 10 year return by over 5% . And that doesn't take into account the 50% of the HMAX portfolio that contains the underlying stock which should return 50% of the return on ZEB .....If ZEB over 10 years returns 9.6% then HMAX should return the annual yield of 15% plus 4.8% reflecting the 50% of the portfolio containing the underlying stock .... There will also be a small capital gain/loss reflecting the covered call side of their holdings which I have no idea how to calculate so have ignored .... Please explain how I would be missing out growth in the banking sector using the example the Money Saver used were I to purchase HMAX instead of ZWB ? 15% + 4.8% = 19.8% which doubles ZEB's return ...... Please explain the flaws in my logic. { I suspect they are there I just don't know what they are }

Also could 5i give me a list of all the Hamilton ETF products that operate like HMAX { 50% of the portfolio with the underlying securities } with an explanation of what sector they represent, their current yield in percent , and annual dividend amount { I'd like this number so I can calculate the yield on any given day while I follow them and make my decisions on whether and when to purchase }

Thanks for your great service in helping us DIY investors ......

Q: This stock has lost almost half the value I paid for and shows no sign of stopping to go down.

Do you see any positive future for it ?

What would you do if you were in my shoes ? If selling what would you replace it to recoup my losses ? Willing to take risks.

Gratefully,

Jacques IDS

Q: While planning for our upcoming Japan trip, I noticed that the Japanese Yen is at a 30 year low against the USD. Any insight into why that might be? Do you see a way to profit from this, directly or indirectly?

Q: In the last couple of days there has been a few references on BNN to some regulatory changes that will have the effect of reducing the rates paid on HISAs at banks, etc. Can you pls explain exactly what is happening and how much effect there will be from this? Last, are there reasonable alternatives (ie secure with good rates) available if the rates go down in any significant way? Thanks for your excellent service

Q: Hi folks
Thankfully I bought VO and not IJH. IJH is down 79% today at 3pm (Thurs). Why???
Much thanks

Q: Can you suggest some Canadian and US listed stocks and ETF's one might want consider to get a small exposure to BlockChain in a TFSA. Do any of these companies make any money? Do you think the ETF's are reasonable proxies for BitCoin but with less volatility?

Q: I would appreciate your expertise on the idea of a large portion of my rrif ,my only source of retirement income beyond government oas and cap. Comprising a global etf with some stability, income 3-4% and some growth. If you feel this is better done with a North American or purely Canadian product that is ok but it would be supplemented with NA income stocks.
Thanks for your help
Tom

Q: just wondering what etf in the u.s. you like best for the long term [10 years or more] that has a low mer [eg. spy , voo, vanguard,etc] and pays a reasonable dividend.

Q: Could you please recommend two Canadian listed ETFs that track the Nasdaq 100 and do NOT pay a dividend. One should be hedged to the CAD, the other not. Thank you very much.

Q: Hello,

Do you have data showing the 5 yr divided growth rate for the listed ETF's?

Thanks,
Brent

Q: Wanting to add Cdn. oil & gas producers to my portfolio. I would like to add 2 ETFs, one to go into my TFSA and the other into the taxable (cash) account. What I would like some thoughts/suggestions on, are possible alternatives. Obviously, one of my major concerns is tax efficiency. Thanks to other subscribers for their questions and, of course, to the 5i Team. Bill

Q: Hey Peter & Team,

Apologies if I missed the answer when I searched, but I found it difficult to find my answer when I looked for a U$ dollar equivalent to "CASH." What would you suggest 3 - 6 months hold??? OR is there a U$ ETF representing GICs?

Thanks for all you do

gm