Investment Q&A

Q: I sold some equity positions to the tune of 100K and would like to put that into fixed income.The cash accounts don't pay enough interest and some of the high ones may not be safe. Could you recommend some relatively safe higher income funds either cad or usd. Thanks.

Q: Would you recommend this ETF for a balanced portfolio given the volatile market? It hasn’t been around for very long.

Q: With Central Banks buying a lot of gold I am surprised a company like this has declined so much over the past. Is it because of its abandoning of a growth model? Will it take an increased interest in buying / storing by individual investors to elevate the stock price? I am assuming most of their profits are from recurring fees (?)

Finally, in the past I was a customer of GoldMoney Inc. With "mounting concerns" coming from south of the border, I am considering reopening an account with a much larger gold purchase and storage outside our country than before. What is your trust level in this company, and do you have any concerns about doing this with a large planned bullion position?

Q: I am looking to add some income etfs that are looking attractive in this downturn to my RRSP. I'm looking for combined growth of 8-10% year over year for 10 years for this segment of my portfolio. Do you see either of the above as attractive in this way, or can you suggest something else? I could go to Cdn, but have most of my cash in USD right now.

Q: Will you please suggest cdn$ and us$ ETFs (with good trading volume) for physical silver? Thank you

Q: Would you recommend VE as a way to diversify a mostly Canadian portfolio into Europe? Are there significant differences among Europe large cap ETFs and, if so, what would you recommend as an alternative or complement? Is now a good time to make this move?

Thanks in advance.

Q: Hi Peter,
In the covered call ETFs universe, there are ETFs that write options out of the money, and ETFs that write options at the money. Please explain what these two strategies mean. Is one strategy more risky than the other? For example, comparing ZWU with UMAX, yield of UMAX (at the money) is twice as much as ZWU (out of the money). What’s the catch here? With the current volatile market, would you favour one option strategy over the other? Thanks.

Q: I,m 81 so far i managed. pretty well thanks to your Income portfolio, I'm not a fat cat and rely on the income provided.The market tells me to be cautious the stocks I mention constitute 9% of my accounts,I'm willing to increase this percentage as protection to my income I don't expect obvious capital gain,How do you judge the approach,any suggested addition?

Thanks to the Team

Dan

Q: Hello ,
I was thinking of buying TD technology leaders etf (TEC) instead of XQQ , the nasdaq 100 etf as it has performed the nasdaq and seems to be more diversified. Any comments please?

Also, I looked at the details of VUN and XUU etfs, They both seem to have similar holdings and over 5 year period both have similar performance. However , going over more than 5 years, why has VUN out performed XUU. I am not clear on this..

Regardless of the tariffs situation, the US market seems to do well over time, and hence i thought instead of total Europe exposure, go with VEQT etf. Any comments please..

Also, do you prefer unhedged products like VUN as opposed to VUS? Lastly, i use yahoo to to compare charts. Do you know a better site please? Thanks very much

Q: With all of the chaos going on in the US, what are your thoughts on iShares EWZ going forward? If this is a possible position, what percentage of a portfolio would you be okay with?
Thanks, Lesley

Q: Hi,

I’m following up on recent questions about taxation of the ETF VEQT (and similar) in an RRSP.

I am a bit confused about what withholding taxes might apply to VEQT. I have three questions please.

1) Would you be so kind at to explain what withholding taxes apply to VEQT in an RRSP?

2) If there are non-recoverable withholding taxes on VEQT in an RRSP, can they be quantified?

3) Finally, if there are withholding taxes applicable to VEQT in an RRSP, is there an ETF setup with the same diversification objective as VEQT that is more tax efficient in an RRSP?

(I tried following this information but I’m still unclear: https://www.vanguard.ca/content/dam/intl/americas/canada/en/documents/WithholdingTax_Guide-final.pdf).

Thank you very much.

Michael

Q: Can you discuss the differences between dlr.i.ca, dlr.ca, hbil.ca , pas.ca , csav.ca in regards to safety of capital to park cash. There is a significant difference in return 4%-10%. Some are high interest savings accounts and others US dollar accounts. Are the US dollar accounts too risky?
Thanks.

Q: Is XIT worth holding? Or would one be better off just buying the top 3 holdings in equal weightings. For CDN tech, what would be the best buys today for the long term?

Q: I rely on you for accurate information when reading answers to questions. however my research shows that VEQT holds a basket of funds not individual stocks. I hate paying more taxes than I need to and always look for the lowest fees and taxes when investing. Please confirm holdings of this fund. Thank you.

Q: I was told current rate(s) on TCSH.TO (TD Product) is 4.85 whilst Global X Cash is 4.03 annualized. Not certain how and why these can be considerably higher than many High Interest Savings accounts but would you consider them to be equally safe to comparable High Interest Saving Accounts for holding Cash?

Q: Do you you prefer one of these over the others? Would VEQT would be more efficient in an RSSP as it holds individual stocks rather than ETF's?

Q: Could you list Canadian dividend ETFs that pay out is in the middle of the month, or not at the beginning and the end of the month?

Thanks

Q: Hi gang,
What would be your best pick from this 4-ETF. I would like to buy one . Or any other suggestions. How much do you like small caps? Do you think if interest come down small caps will move. ?
Thanks. Alnoor

Q: Hi 5i:
My question is about ETF EQLI, an S&P equal weight ETF that also writes covered calls. This ETF trades on the TSX in CAD but tracks a US index. Would the income generated by this ETF, if held in a TFSA, face the clawback from the US government even though it trades in Canada?
Thanks,
Murray

Q: I read with interest your answers to Alex and Robert this morning regarding SLVO and David Rosenberg's thoughts. I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Rosenberg . Does 5i feel that SLVO would roughly track the gold index ? I do not see any covered call gold equivalent ETF unless you know of one ? The closest I can find is AMAX which is gold miners ..... Having said all that which does 5i feel is the better choice to follow Mr Rosenbergs thesis ? SLVO or AMAX ? I do like the covered call component of both over a straight up Gold security like PHYS ..... Thanks for your terrific service .......