Investment Q&A

Q: Canada's interest rate has dropped, and bank GIC and HISA rates have followed suit. The ZLC BMO Long Corporate Bond ETF is offering a 4.83% return. Can this investment completely replace my HISA or GIC? I've previously invested a significant amount in ZLC, and with the recent dip in price, I'm considering continuing to buy more to replace my GIC and HISA ETF. I suspect this might be the last opportunity to buy bonds at a low price. I'd appreciate your insights. Thanks.

Q: Would you recommend buying Berkshire Hathaway in lieu of holding extra cash in case of a market correction this Fall? (my theory being that they would be holding cash for me). Thanks!

Q: In a response to Bruce this morning regarding HSAV you state: "Note it is not 'guaranteed' in the typical sense." I had thought that holding HSAV was as safe as holding cash. As a holder of HSAV I would appreciate it if you could expand on the risks of holding HSAV. Thank you.

Q: Hello team
with the Fed govt going into more debt , interest rate pending cut by Bank of Canada
what is going to happen to the bond funds in gneral? I do have XBB, XLB all losing some grounds
If indeed there is inflation due to the tariffs hitting the basic goods and little growth, how does it affect the bond funds?
thank you
Michael

Q: Would you invest some cash in this? BMO ZAAA-NE.

Q: Hello 5i,

Are the distribution from this ETF classified as interest income or dividends?

What type of account is this ETF best to invest in, a T FSA; RRIF or Cash Account?

Thank you.

Q: Can you recommend a similar ETF to this, but in USD?

Q: Do you prefer ZFH or ZHY ?

Q: A 2 part question - 1) How frothy do you find the market and would you take a bit off the table?

2) If you did take sell some stocks, what’s your favourite Money market fund/ETF, in terms of high yield and low risk/safety?

Thanks,

Cam

Q: Hello,

For bond (in CAD) exposure and relatively safe income exposure: is owning both BMO Money Market Fund (ZMMK) and Purpose Global Bond EFT a way to go? Or do you prefer one over the other? Or other alternatives?

Thanks

Dave

Q: Can you please suggest a US listed inflation-protected bonds ETF?

Are there any global ones or is it really just US TIPS for this product type?

Thanks!

Q: I currently have 25% of my unregistered investment portfolio in PSA and HSAV. While the rest of my portfolio is well-diversified, I've noticed that the returns / interest from PSA and HSAV, (after accounting for taxes,) aren't keeping pace with inflation. I'm looking for strategies or alternative investment ideas to address this and improve my portfolio's ability to beat inflation.
The money in these funds are not needed in the foreseeable future but serves as sleep at night factor.
(TSFA's and RRSP's are fully funded)
Any ETF ideas would be much appreciated

Q: I have 15k in a savings account at my bank, at a very low interest rate. I'm thinking of putting the savings account funds into ZST and get a total return in the 6% range. This would be in a TFSA account. What are your thoughts, maybe ZST.L or another ETF?

Thanks.

Q: I need a fixed income investment, and would prefer US based,
I came across CDX, Nasdaq. I'm considering a $70,000 investment. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Q: I have a very large sum of cash sitting in xfr at a paltry 3% yield

I'm contemplating shifting some to xfli (5.7%) and pfl:US (11.6 %) for the enhanced yield to result in a double and quadruple in monthly income

I understand there is more "risk" (interest rates, and some leverage with pfl), however,

I feel that the reward far out weighs the risk in order to increase monthly income

What do you see as a worst case scenario. I look forward to your comments.

Thank you so much

Q: Can you recommend Are a few bond ETFs that do not pay their interest but the ETF prices go up. I want own bonds and avoid taxes on their interest. I know I will be caught with capital gain taxes, but capital gain taxes are half of interest taxes.
Thank you

Q: Dear 5i team.
The following was your response to a bond question I asked in '24.

"Nothing is guaranteed, but bonds' leverage is highly correlated to their maturity. CLF has a relatively low duration of 2.8 years, whereas XLB is 15 years. As a general rule, for every 1% increase or decrease in interest rates, a bond's price will change approximately 1% in the opposite direction for every year of duration. With a bond ETF in theory the move should be similar, and thus XLB in theory should see a much larger move than CLF when rates move (either way). In reality it is not so concrete, and depends on variables in the yield curve and other factors (supply/demand). But we would be very confident in saying that if rates move lower XLB's bond portfolio should do significantly better than CLF. Owning XLB is essentially a 'bet' that rates will drop. As such, we would be fine owning both XBB and XLB for a bit more diversification of bonds. XBB's duration is 7.5 years so a good middle ground between CLF and XLB."

Been watching XLB/XBB for some time now, and both appear to be in downward trends in terms of share price, and close on yields. Rates have been steady, or in decline, so I'm completely confused.
Please take a look and try to make sense of this for me?

Many thanks for your help.

Q: I've set aside $50,000 to pay tax instalments in September and December. can you recommend a fairly safe investment that would provide decent income while I wait?

Q: Good afternoon 5i;

I have been a holder of the TLT ETF for some time; only a very short period was it in the green. While the yield has been decent, I am now down 14% as the Jerome Powell cage gets rattled.

My question is simply, are the Trumpian risks becoming too much to hold this ETF? I believe he is radical enough to remove Powell, but likely won't and will just continue to make noise. Even the noise is having impact.

If yes, do you have a Canadian Bond Fund you might recommend of similar characteristics?

Q: Hi Team:
I have some cash sitting in RIF acct. Presently in RBF2010 paying 2.3% interest, with unlimited charge for buy or sells..
Would I be better to spent the $9.95 and buy into something like CASH or PSA? Then I would also have to pay $9.95 to get out.
As a follow-up to that question how about if this was in an 'open account' , Where the interest is taxed at 100% income whereas CASH or PSA would act like a dividend income and therefore taxed at roughly 66% income.
OR do you have a better suggestion for larger amounts of $$
Thank you. :-)