Investment Q&A

Q: Peter,

I had read that mutual funds could no longer charge DSC fees. I didn't realize that trailers were also being outlawed.

Were trailing fees a major cash cow for them or something smaller?

How do you envision the fund companies making up for the loss of fees?

Thank you

Paul

Q: I would like an ETF to take advantage of the pull back in tech stocks. I generally like the holdings of XIT except for the huge position in CSU (I bought some anyway because I've always been wrong on CSU). Its a small position which I would like to build on but I would also like to add some US exposure - preferably CAD since I don't feel like exchanging more funds right now. Suggestions?

Also, what is your current opinion of PTF? I only recognize a few of their holdings and have no idea how to assess, apart from noting their reasonably good history.

Q: MAW102 has under-performed recently; methinks because it excludes the Canadian and US markets.

Should I continue to hold?

Thanks, Gary

Q: Re: Brian's question about this fund - You quoted a MER of 2.36% where the actual MER is 1.57% (Series X) . Would your answer still be the same.

Q: The last MF that my mom holds in her non-reg account is CI Canadian All Cap Fund Series X. All other (higher fee) MFs have been converted to low cost ETFs. If she sells, there's a capital gain to be paid. It's not a trivial amount but it won't trigger OAS clawback. If she were your mom would you suggest she convert this to an ETF as well or is the MER low enough to just let it be? Or is one's view of what the Feds will do with cap gain inclusion rate a bigger factor?

Q: Peter,

When I do a data dump I see there are some errors on yield in the system. Analytics shows the following yields on Mawer mutual funds.

MAW 104 - 10.56%
150- 12.39%

The following seem reasonable
102- 2.64%
120- 1.87%.

Thanks

Paul

Q: I have owned this Mawer fund for quite some time and have been very happy with its performance long term. Can you please explain the large drop in December in a little more detail? I know you said they “paid a distribution” I just don’t know what you mean by this and why it seemingly cost me a chunk of money. Thanks for walking me through this!

Q: Your view on flow-through shares [ eg. ninepoint]

thanks.

ralph

Q: What is your opinion on FID 269-C?
Can this mutual fund be sold as a normal share on the market using Disnat brokerage?

Q: Hi, I currently own quite a few Mawer Funds. One I do not own is the MAW Global Small Cap. I see it's dropped around 10% over the past month. Any particular reason for that, and do you recommend taking a small position at this time? Thanks.

Q: I have had RBF7280 for a long time, since it was a PH&N Fund. Its MER is 1.43 and yield is 3.43. Would XHY be a proxy for it at a higher yield and lower MER?
If not, is there a different ETF that I could replace 7280 with?
Thanks for all you do. I sleep better during the downs now, and even better on up days.
John

Q: I bought this as a diversifier in my RRSP a while back. This morning, I noticed it was down 11% yesterday. I checked the top 5 holdings; they were flattish to slightly up over the last 1 and 5 days.

What am I missing here?

Thank You, and Happy Healthy Holidays.

Q: Would this mutual fund be a good holding to help diversity in ones portfolio ?

Q: I am considering this fund to diversify my fixed income holdings. I currently own VAB, VSB a GIC ladder. The plan is gradually to replace VSB and part of the GICs with LWF021. I would appreciate any comments you may have. Thank you.

Q: What do you think of the the Fidelity Opportunities fund? It has dominated the other Canadian equity mutual funds and ETFs in terms of performance for all time periods (it holds 15% USD so may not be a fair comparison). 2.28% MER. I'm thinking the extra MER is worth the extra cost to replace my holdings in MAW106 in my registered account. Do you agree with this switch? Which series would you purchase ? Thank-you.

Q: Good Morning 5i,

I’ve been offered a DCPP with my employer and I have to select the funds to allocate contributions to.

Available are the typical Canada, US, EAFE low cost indexes as well as the Mawer Global Equity Fund (with a heavily discount MER). In your opinion would it be best to spread out my contributions to create a passive global index strategy or is it better to go with Mawer Global Equity? What do you do if you were me?

Also, if you were to spread it amongst the geographic indexes, what would the the suggested breakdown between the different countries?

Thanks for your time!

Q: I have CIF 843 in my RRSP - it comprises 8% of the RRSP. What is your opinion of it's performance & costs. Also- could you provide 3 or 4 alternates each of both Mutual Funds and ETF, in the same asset class.

Q: I currently own the Mackenzie Greenship Global Environmental All Cap Fund Series F (MFC 5786). I would like to know what do you think of this fund and if I would be better to own an ETF or stocks instead. If it is the case what it might be?

Q: Peter,

I would be quite interested in your very knowledgeable opinion on the Sat article in the Globe re the Bridging Finance Inc fiasco. It smells of Madoff of the North. I find it ironic that they would lend to mid-sized companies that had been ignored { declined } the banks , but the banks were then pushing out the end product as a recommended investment. How with any common sense would the spin sent out by the Sharpes ever pass the sniff test when they claim they were in essence lending to companies that banks would not touch , yet had zero writeoffs. I must be missing something.

How as retail investors are we to protect ourselves when the " experts" look like they were hook line and sinker into a pile of garbage.

Thanks

Paul

Q: Hi 5i,

Can I get your initial thoughts about the Purpose Longevity Pension Fund?
I am age 63 and I think it might be like a reasonable bond substitute in my RRSP.
Do you think the targeted 6.1% is sustainable?
Why haven't the big banks like TD which have a lot of mutual funds offered this product?
If one doesn't need the income is it better to invest in a balance ETF?

thanks