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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I understand that a covered call ETF will produce lower highs and higher lows compared to a non-covered call ETF. However, what would cause the ETF's to have an inverse relation on a trading day? For example, if we take ZEB and ZWB, I noticed on some trading days in the past (even before the current volatility), one ETF would be up a few % points, while the other ETF would be down a few % points.
Read Answer Asked by Craig on April 01, 2020
Q: Haven't seen an analysis of this newish millennial based finance concern lately. They say they have a million plus clients and their advertising seems to be on target in this new financial world. How does their latest $ #'s release stand up to your fiscally grounded scrutiny??
Read Answer Asked by Ryczard on April 01, 2020
Q: UK Banks have suspended their dividends for remainder of 2020...do you see that as something that has a decent chance of happening here in North America? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Douglas on April 01, 2020
Q: Good morning,
Given that CEW includes Banks and Lifecos' and assuming that low interest rates will be with us for some time, I would appreciate your thoughts about selling CEW for tax loss harvesting purposes and purchasing either an exclusively bank ETF such as ZEB or purchasing two banks with the proceeds of the CEW sale. Also, could you also recommend two banks that you would recommend purchasing at some point with the proceeds of the CEW sale. Thank you.
Francesco
Read Answer Asked by Francesco on March 31, 2020
Q: I am aiming to have a portfolio with 2 solid companies in each of the 11 sectors. Do you feel SLF and X would be sufficient for allocation to the financial sector? Or would you suggest adding a bank (RY) to provide better diversification? Thanks in advance.
Read Answer Asked by Jonathan on March 31, 2020
Q: I have just read that the European Banks are going to stop paying dividends and that the US banks are under a lot of pressure to follow suit. Do you think that The Canadian Banks will also suspend dividends?
Read Answer Asked by shirley on March 31, 2020
Q: In a recent question I asked how to proceed in investing the 30% cash I had during this period of volatility. 5 I recommended a slow procedure... I also mentioned that I had already taken a 4.6 % position in JPM and 5 I commented that a slower approach was recommended. It promptly dropped 10% after the question.... But with the current rally is now up 5% . So the question is do I sell half to get back in line with 5 I's slow approach through the volatility or let it ride ? { there are no tax consequences to selling as it is in a RRIF }
Read Answer Asked by Garth on March 27, 2020
Q: Just a comment about your answer to Stephan's March 26 question regarding Genworth (MIC). You mention that Genworth's payout ratio was over 95% in 2019, but that was just because of all the special dividends they paid out. The company paid 5 (yes, 5) specials totalling almost $9.00/share between Jan 1, 2019 and Feb 29, 2020. The regular dividend is only 54 cents a quarter, or $2.16 annually, compared to 2019 net earnings of $4.92/share, so the regular dividend is very well covered, and I doubt you will be seeing any more specials for a while. Of course, the net income this year will likely be lower.
Read Answer Asked by Dan on March 27, 2020
Q: Assuming markets will tank again, which would you suggest be purchased for a long-term hold at that time: BAM.A, SLF or TRI? Retired investor looking for dividends with some growth.

Many thanks to the entire 5i team for your collective efforts to provide us with timely, thoughtful information and a much-needed balanced perspective during this most challenging of times.
Read Answer Asked by Maureen on March 26, 2020
Q: Hello 5i Team

Could you please provide an update on the mortgage investment corporation.
Are they a reasonable source of higher yield interest income?
The four MIC and First National have suffered the declines similar to the market.
These investments would be held in my RRSP for long term interest income and not for capital gains. These would be a small portion of my high yield fixed income portfolio which includes corporate bonds and convertible debentures.
How did MIC fare in the low interest rate environment after the 2008 crash / recession as most stock charts only go back 10 years.
Thanks for the excellent advice in the last four weeks with all the market changes.
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on March 26, 2020
Q: Thanks for your work, much appreciated. Regarding dividends from Canadian banks: I have problems figuring they won’t cut. The crisis will take months or most likely 1-2 years (vaccine is the only definitive solution, what we are doing now is only mitigation). The debt load will be very large (mortgage, loans, etc.). Banks will have to keep some money for provision.
Am I missing something ?
Read Answer Asked by Martin on March 26, 2020