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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: How does one approach bond investments given the low interest rates. I see XBB had a significant drop today. Why? How would you compare XBB to PMIF?
I am retired senior 78 with a pension.
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Donald on February 17, 2021
Q: Hi - I'm trying to beef up the fixed income side of my portfolio and non-convertible debentures such as the ones above look like a very interesting alternative to bonds. Their yields are >5.5% and CSU.DB even adjusts its distribution for inflation each year. What am I missing here? It seems like people should be all over these, but their prices don't reflect that.
Read Answer Asked by Michael on February 16, 2021
Q: Please list the above in order of preference. Would all three, equally weighted, be sufficient for a conservative portfolio? Two of three?
Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Paul W on February 11, 2021
Q: I need some fixed income suggestions for my RRSP. Anything you particularly like at this time? I know its fixed income but I do have some risk tolerance and a 17 year investment horizon so open to something that pays more than .0000012% interest. Appreciate your thoughts :)

As always.. amazing job team!
Read Answer Asked by Don on February 10, 2021
Q: Hi,
I'm curious about CEF's and came across this one that appears to offer a decent dividend, with a bit of growth. However, I don't know anything about these types of funds, so would appreciate any thought you might offer on them. Are they a reasonable investment, or very risky? They talk about these funds being leveraged and that makes me nervous - should I be, or is that just my lack of understanding how these funds work. I'm much more familiar with ETF's and certainly comfortable with stocks - either Canada or US markets. Thanks for all your great advice over the years!
Dawn
Read Answer Asked by Dawn on February 09, 2021
Q: Is it time to start letting go of these long term bond ETF? Or do you see a role as part of a laddered portfolio? If so, what percentage of these long term bond holdings would you suggest at this point? Unless we have negative rates the only way is up? Not sure I believe that rates will be kept so low for much longer.
Thank-you.
Read Answer Asked by Debrah on February 09, 2021
Q: If one believes that interest rates can only go up, should one own bonds as part of owning a balanced ETF or balanced mutual fund?
Read Answer Asked by D on February 09, 2021
Q: If I buy:
ZWC ((BMO CDN HIGH DIV COV ETF) for Canadian exposure and income,
ZWS (BMO US HIGH DIV COVER ETF) for US exposure and income, and
ZWE (BMO EUROPE HI DIV COVER CALL HEDGED CAD) for European exposure and income,

that will give me about 7%+ income and exposure to about 120 very decent world wide companies. As a retiree, would I need to do anything else?
Read Answer Asked by Elizabeth on February 03, 2021
Q: 1. With reference to the likelihood of interest rate increase (and increase in inflation rates) over the next 3 years, are these factors such that they are more likely than not to depress the value of CSU.db?
2. Do you rate these debentures reasonably safe given general business conditions faced by CSU in the next 3 years? I do not know what sources are reliable to check ANY issuer’s credit worthiness.
3. If you had a largish amount ( 8% of a portfolio that has no other fixed income) would you trim the holding? If yes, what would be your suggestions to buy in lieu of CSU.db? I am hard-pressed to find other securities that would be equivalent in the current TINA world.

Read Answer Asked by Adam on January 29, 2021
Q: I have transferred my RRIF account from a broker and I plan to self-mange that account. The cash balance as of today is $290,000. I'm 88 years old so I need strong cash flow and/or capital gains to meet the required annual distribution. Please provide a list of stocks and ETFs that 5i would recommend for that purpose. Thanks for your valued assistance.
Read Answer Asked by George on January 28, 2021
Q: I have allocated 20%-25% of my portfolio to Fixed Income. Would XBB and CBO be sufficient to cover the fixed income component? (say 50-50).

Thanks again for the great advice as always!
Read Answer Asked by Alka on January 25, 2021
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