Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5i Team, I'm looking for a couple of suggestions on (very) good, general mutual funds in the mold -- if I can reveal my age -- of Bob Krembil's Trimark Fund in the '90s. Nothing country or sector specific, just a couple of funds that have exceptional management and consistently good returns. My wife has a small amount in a LIRA that warrants one or two mutual funds at the most (I like active management; I'm not a fan of ETF's for the most part). Thank you for your insights, Pete in Calgary.

Q: Good morning,
Although a big fan and long time holder of all Mawer equity funds in my family portfolio, I'm now looking for the second time at dumping the MAW106 as a core holding given its inability to beat its benchmark index in the last few years probably due in part to its increasing popularity and size.
Would you kindly suggest a suitable ETF and/or a mutual fund replacement for MAW 106 or should I simply add to some my other existing core ETF holdings. I currently hold XIU, XIC, XDV and XEI.

Q: Could you give your thoughts on this mutual fund.I like to know what companies it has in the fund past the top 10
We’re to find that info ?
Is there a etf you like better in the same area
Thanks for the help

Q: I understand that this Mawer Fund is closed. Is there another Canadian fund, no load possibly, which you would rate as well as MAW107. thanks

Q: Hi gang, can you please help me look deep in this
Accounts:
Mfc5786
Dyn3361
Nbn1120s
Eqp107
Che.in
Are this funds good to hold for2-3 years in rrsp accounts. Are this company strong and are dividends safe. Should I keep them. Thanks
Alnoor

Q: MAW105 is supposed to be more tax efficient but how can it be since the distribution under that fund is greater than under MAW104 or MAW130.
MAW104 is a fund of funds while the other 2 hold the securities. What is the difference between the global balanced fund and the tax efficient one.
What will be the best one for a non registered account and for an rrsp. Why?
Thank you for your help with this matter.

Q: Peter, your experience managing a fund is why I am seeking your comments. An account at TD Wealth management is 2/3 invested in the TD private funds and 1/3 in individual Canadian stocks. In 2020 turnover was 100% and I know I personally did a lot of trading last year. 3 days after oil went negative, the oil stocks were sold when I was buying (and made piles!!). I've also noticed that several TD funds were bought during the year and then sold in 1 or 2 months, or less. Sometimes Canadian shares were sold one day and bought back the next day at a higher price. I find it hard to believe that professional money managers would buy a fund (TD China, for example) and sell it one month later for a few cents profit. While the commission on common shares is only about 3 cents per share, my $10/trade works out less on larger orders. Is this normal to trade in funds like this? This happened other years too not just 2020 but trading was higher last year. Overall, performance over 5-6 years has been adequate but not exceptional, mid single digits. Deduct points as you see fit. Appreciate any insight.

Q: Hello 5i Team,
A good friend of mine has all his investments in 2 funds.  

RESP: CIBC Managed Aggressive Growth Portfolio

RRSP: BMO SelectTrust Equity Growth Portfolio - Series A

He has everything in those two funds. Are they worth holding? What do you suggest I advise him?  I've talked to him about ETF's and doing something different than mutual funds.
Thank you for helping out. Brent

Q: I still have $60,000 in a mutual fund with Canada Life with an MER of 3% ($1800) that i want to transfer out to my group pension that has much lower fees. The mutual fund still has a DSC of $1200 until the Maturity date of December 2021. How or when is the MER paid out? Is it more beneficial to me to transfer out now or to wait until the December date, (are there other factors to consider?)? thank you

Q: Is there any advantage to using ETFs rather than mutual funds in our fixed income portfolio? Presently, we have 35% in fixed income with DFA231, DFA 603, PM0 205 & LYS801F.

Q: Would appreciate recommendation on Canadian mutual fund(s) for international (ex NA) exposure, pay a DRIPable dividend and allow couple hundred dollars of monthly contribution without charge?

Please mention if there are ETF(s) which allow monthly contribution without fee,

Thanks

Q: Hi group, I would like to buy dyn3366. In usa$. How would you rate it? Is the div safe? Long term for rrsp . Thanks
Alnoor

Q: My largest bond fund is pmo205. As bond funds go, it is highly rated. The effective (avg?) duration is 3 yrs. In this interest rate environment, would you replace it with short-terms bond funds (hfr, csd)?

Q: Can you please recommend a couple of good Canadian equity mutual funds, like MAWER 106, with a proven track record ? Thank you.

Q: Info about and how do you rate cig50011.

thanks.

Q: Dear 5i team,
I've owned CHO100 since 2006 and I've had approximately a 75% ROI since this time which is in my opinion lackluster. I had high hopes for the is fund and its manager but things have not worked out as well as I would have hoped. That said, recently it has done well compared to pears but still. Do you think it's time to cut to the cord? Any opinions on its future prospects.

I've also owned MAW107 since 2004 and have had phenomenal results of over 500%. So much so that I am wondering if it would be a good time to cash in profits Again, any thoughts on the fund's future prospects? Both are in my RRSP and I have still at least 15 years before I will be needing to draw from it.
Many thanks in advance.

Q: I have been a long-time holder of the CHO100 fund since 2006. The fund has had ok returns but in the past few years has not kept up with the market. That said, recently it's done very well compared to industry peers. After 15 years, I've gained approximately 75% over my initial investment in both appreciation and distribution. I realize you can only comment in general terms but what do you think of its prospects moving forward? Thanks in advance.

Q: These 2 funds look quite attractive, comments, can you suggest anything else?

Q: Hello, In an effort to make my Portfolio Analytics as accurate as possible, can you provide a way to track mutual funds held through Sunlife group company rrsp?
I hold the following BLK Bond Index fund, BLK EAFE Equity Index
BLK Aggressive Balanced, BLK US Equity Index Reg. Thanks

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. I have two legacy mutual funds...RBC Canadian Equity Income Fund...series D, with a MER of 1.04% and Sentry Canadian Income Fund with a MER of 2.35%. I have owed each for just over 9 years. My original thesis was to have some professional management look after some of my portfolio with the goal of consistent dividend income and some growth of capital. I have just over 5% of the equity portion of my portfolio in each of them.

Periodically I review their performance....the thinking being that as long as they are meeting my investment goals, then the higher MER may appear worthwhile. Here is my methodology, albeit very simplified...does it make sense to you?

I took my unrealized capital gains directly from RBC Direct Investing and divided it by the holding period to create the average annual return of the capital. Then I took the dividend yield and netted out the average ROC to create a "net dividend yield". Add the two together to create the Total Return.

Example: Sentry = 42.14% unrealized CG divided by 9.17 years = 4.6%/yr. Gross dividend of 5.1% netted down by 24% average ROC creates a net dividend of 3.9%. Total Return = 8.5%/year.

For RBC = 7.4%/year (3.6% + 3.8%).

When I look at the posted RBC-5 yr (8.3%) and 10 yr (7.9%) averages, my calculation looks low, but within reason. When I look at the Sentry-5 yr (5.6%) and 10 yr (7.2%) averages, my calculation looks high. Since the original purchases, there were no additional funds added. I have trimmed each position once.

Question #1 = I know you can shoot holes through this, but from a "very ballpark" laymen's point of view, does my methodology make sense? I understand I only used "simple" averages, not "time-weighted" averages.

Q#2 = I had to create my own average for ROC. I went back through my income tax receipts which showed how the distributions were broken down into CG, Dividend, Interest income, ROC. It was actually pretty easy to do. Then I simply averaged them. For the RBC fund, the simple average since 2013 = 6% ROC. For Sentry = 24% ROC. Does your data base show any better data on a longer term average ROC...long shot, but I thought I'd ask. My data only goes back to 2013.

Q#3 = should I have ignored the ROC issue? In real simple terms I wanted to compare the capital invested versus dividends received + capital received (if I was to sell out).

Thanks for your help...much appreciated...Steve