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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: It's almost too good to be true. I have owned HMX for 2.5 months and have a 5.82% share price gain on top of the monthly paid12% (annual) dividend. I understand that the underlying sector - financials - has been on a hot roll. Let's assume that banks were suddenly flat. How would that impact the share price performance and their ability to sustain the lofty dividend? i.e. can this potentially be a long term hold or am I just riding a wave?

Secondly how do you feel about the two sister ETFs HDIV and UMAX?

Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Kim on January 18, 2026
Q: There are Covered Call ETFs with mighty high yields: HPYT 18%; SMAX 10%; HMAX 10%; and HDIV 9%. These yiieds are so high that I feel there must be a downside, so my question is, what are my risks in using these ETFs as part of my income portfolio?
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on January 17, 2026
Q: I'm thinking to rotate some profits in BNS, MFC, POW & TD into GSY for a long term value/income and BANK or HMAX to add some extra income.

What do you think of the move and how would you rank BNS, MFC, POW & TD, are all worth keeping a position in?

Of BANK/ HMAX which would you prefer or is there a better name for a banking & insurance extra yield ETF.
Read Answer Asked by Robert on January 12, 2026
Q: What are your thoughts on these for a retired investor looking to enhance yield over standard banking and insurance holdings. I'm thinking to swap part of my banking/ insurance holdings over to enhanced yield.

I see from past questions that you're not fans of split shares. What are the risks, when do these stocks work well, when are they at risk, and are there any of these or others that you think can be bought for a partial position in my banking/ insurance portfolio.

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Robert on January 06, 2026
Q: Half of my RIF focuses on steady, monthly income and the other half on individual stocks. To balance safety with higher income, I am looking to have equal weight in FIE and HMAX. As I rely on this monthly income, what do you think of this approach for long term holding? Can you suggest better alternatives?
Read Answer Asked by Jean on December 19, 2025
Q: I’m a62 year old retired investor with an excellent DB Pension and I’m working on a supplemental cash flow with my TFSAs,I have held the above stocks for about 4 years all roughly 10-12K in value and have been set up as DRIPs
My question is could you recommend another 8-10 Cdn dividend stocks($ 100K of room) I would add to this account coming from another TFSA,these could possibly have 4-6 % capitol growth and 4-6% dividend yield and in 3 years I would go from a DRIP to monthly or quarterly cash payments,I am medium risk and the sectors would not matter ….Thanks Greg
Read Answer Asked by Greg on December 04, 2025
Q: Could you confirm how one should look at the total return for funds that use leverage to enhance yield? For example, I am showing growth of 13.16% on my initial investment in HMAX and it has a current “yield” of 12.48% so does that mean in the one year I have owned it I am up 25.64%? For HDIV, the numbers are 18.86% share growth and a 9.99% yield for total return of 28.85%? In past discussions of these products it doesn’t seem that what you see is always what you get!

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on December 01, 2025
Q: I am an 80 year old value investor. In a diversified portfolio in all sectors, covered call ETF's as per above, make up 10% of my portfolio. I am satisfied with that and all but two are up. 30% of holdings are ETF's including the covered calls.
QUESTION:1. Am I holding too many covered call ETF's? They seem to take the stairs up and the elevator down faster than single stocks. 2. Is it supposed that the covered call ETF's will plunge faster than the single stocks in an expected steep correction?
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by STANLEY on November 27, 2025
Q: I bought DFN and HMAX a few months ago because of the dividends--today they are 16.85% and 12.76%
but also a pleasant surprise of growth in each of 31% and 34%
So have now added the above stocks
I monitor all of them daily
Would be interested in you comments on this??
Read Answer Asked by peter on October 30, 2025
Q: I have been asked by a 23 year old to provide suggestions for when she initiates her FHSA.

I immediately thought of the banks , which I believe is the premium Canadian sector for long term growth, growing dividends , and safety. I would also recommend a more Canadian diversified security (UMAX ) for her next purchase. Of the above banking securities ( all owned between my cash, tax free, and registered accounts ), which would you start with ? Would you be comfortable with UMAX as second pick ( admittedly hasn’t done much but provides diversification into large cap companies and a good distribution yield). I am only interested in Canadian securities at this point. Should I be comfortable with this approach? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks. Derek .
Any

Read Answer Asked by Derek on October 21, 2025
Q: HMAX's dividend has been slowly declining since the ETF's inception in 2023. Please offer an explanation for the decline, as well as provide your thoughts on the size of the dividend going forward. This is one of the few investments I hold strictly for the income stream and, if the dividend is likely to continue trending down, I will be moving on. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Maureen on August 28, 2025
Q: Hi,

I’m a real estate investor and I love monthly distributions—HMAX and UMAX felt a lot like collecting rent. However, after realizing a significant portion of their payouts is ROC, I’m exploring alternatives that offer high dividends, low ROC, DRIP eligibility, and potential capital appreciation.

My horizon is 20+ years. Could you suggest 2–3 ETF ideas in Financials and Utilities that fit this profile in the Canadian market ideally or global.

Thanks,

Read Answer Asked by Richard on August 25, 2025
Q: Hello,

What are your thoughts on having those ETF/MF in ones portfolio with the purpose of generating a stable monthly dividend? Also, I am interested in your thoughts regarding MSTY (US) ETF which appears to pay a dividend of 127.45%. How sustainable is this rate. Looking forward to your thoughts.
Read Answer Asked by Irek on July 15, 2025
Q: NVDA has now grown to 8% of my portfolio and I am considering paring it back down (again) to 5%. I don't have any crypto exposure, so am looking at investing the freed-up funds in HOOD. This would bring my investment in financials to just over 30%. I know you can't comment on individual allocations, but if this were your portfolio and you already held BN, BAM, X, V and HMAX...would you be concerned about putting too many eggs in the same basket? Or would you feel there is sufficient diversity within the already-held funds to add HOOD? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Maureen on July 14, 2025
Q: I hold these in roughly equal amounts totalling around 30% of my RRIF where income is more important than growth. Should I consolidate these or just leave alone ? Thanks . Derek.
Read Answer Asked by Derek on June 23, 2025
Q: Hi,

If you had to choose between the two for "total return" in the present economic environment, which of the two would you choose?
Do you have any other suggestion for covered call income that you would prefer over these two?
Regards
Read Answer Asked by Rajiv on June 20, 2025
Q: I have been building a portfolio with ETFs.
ZWC (10.3%) & HMAX (4.97%) makes up the Canadian Income Equity Sector (15.3%)

I am 77 years of age and only interested in Dividends, Interest and Distributions. I have 9 sectors I will present each over the next 2 weeks. Please comment on the 2 ETFs in this sector.

Thank You, Jim
Read Answer Asked by William on May 13, 2025
Q: In my accounts I hold the above. Would you please rank them for their expected total return over the next 1-3 years. Also with respect to each holding, if applicable, would you please give me a subsitute that you "prefer" or suggest might perform better in the same space.

Thanks,

Terry
Read Answer Asked by Terry on April 22, 2025