Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5i
I hold small positions of these 2 ETF's in LIF accounts for their extrordinary dividends. I really don't understand how they are able to maintain the payout but it seems to be working well. Could I have your opinion of each ETF with a brief explanation of how they work please. Would you add to these for a full position? Thanks as always for your expertise and guidance.
Gary

Q: I have asked lots of questions on GDXY and received answers that helped me assess the questions . So thanks for your great answers .....One additional question I have is on " dividend movement " .... I've researched this myself and haven't really noticed an effect from the security going ex-dividend with an associated drop in price . But this question is on " the honking big dividend effect " . I once asked Yieldmax investor relations a question. They ignored the question but put me on their mailing list . As a result I know how much the dividend is going to be the day before it goes ex- dividend..... I was notified today { the day before it goes ex-dividend } that the dividend will be 72.86% { annualized }.... As of 8:00 AM this morning the price of Gold is up $61.90 and the price of GDXY is up .30 or 1.70% .....

What I want to know is during previous extraordinarily large dividend payments { 70% or better } what was happening to the price of Gold ? The GDXY ETF price ? And if there was a reaction how long on average it took to settle to it's former price ? I would like to know what 5i's opinion on " why " the security moves or doesn't move on going ex-dividend into these large payments .....And how long it takes things to get back to normal ...... I'm trying to assess whether it is worthwhile going overweight couple of percent for a couple of days to collect the dividend and then sell and go back to my normal weighting ? Thanks for your terrific service ......

Q: Please ignore my previous question . I accidentally hit the send button before I had finished editing it .......Here is the same question after editing .......

I've been enjoying the amount of option related dividends going into my account monthly. I call it Taco investing . Trump announces something stupid and then backs off . This creates volatility in the options market creating higher option premiums . What I have ....

GDXY ...... 9% position .

SLVO ...... 3.2% position

HPYT ...... 3.79% position

HYLD ......6.72% position { the lowest yield at 11.2% } May replace wtih SDAY or start a new position .

I'm looking to increase my exposure to " honking big dividends " in the 14% or better category .... My shortlist includes UMAX { 14.83% yield } and ECAT { 22% yield } I realize the higher the yield the higher the risk.....But could 5i give me three names other than the two mentioned above that you think are interesting at 14% or better and three you find interesting above 18% ..... Accompanied by a brief comment on the risks ........ I used the word " interesting " as opposed to " what 5i likes " to reflect the associated risks of high yield investing ......Thanks for your terrific service .....

Q: It is a general rule that the day a stock goes ex-dividend there is a corresponding drop in the stock price .....Could 5i tell me the movement of GDXY the day it went ex-dividend for the last four dividend payments ? I didn't notice any movement myself that I could attribute to the security going ex-dividend but I wasn't watching closely ..... Also if there was movement what was the average recovery time for the ETF to return to the pre ex-dividend price or better ? Please tie your calculations to a corresponding rise or drop of the price of gold at the time of the events ? .... Thanks for your terrific service ! .....

Q: I just got my semi annual one page share holders report from GDXY .... I'm sure you did as well as I see it in your disclaimer below ..... So I'll just refer to sections and you can reference your copy of the report ....... I thought this was a gold miners ETF ? .... Looking on the left side of the page I see

Security Type - Investments U.S Treasury Securities ....... 64.9%

Cash and Equivalents ...... 31.9%

Purchased Call Options ...... 3.9%

On the right side of the page I see " What did the fund invest in ? " ..... And other than the treasuries and the call options a list of very small negative numbers ......

So in my best Wendy's advertising voice { where's the beef } .....Where's the gold ? ..... And what do those negative numbers mean ? ....... This fund appears to be 96% treasuries and cash . How the heck do they come up with a yield of 43% ? It looks to me like there is very little option trading going on ..... Please explain how this works ...... { in words an idiot can understand because that would be me } ...... Thanks for your terrific service ......

Q: I've asked a few questions on GDXY before but I'm still trying to get my head around the reasons for the fluctuations in yield . As I understand it they invest in the Van Eck gold miners index writing covered calls .... Nothing particularly spooky there. There are other covered call ETF's that invest in gold mines . But none of them have a yield anywhere near what GDXY does..... So I would like an explanation of why ? Two months ago the dividend that went into my account was 59% { calculated annually " } . Last month it was 68% { calculated annually } . This morning it was 26.9% { calculated annually } ...... That's a considerable difference from the previous two months . And looking at both the VIX { for volatility in option pricing } and a graph of gold prices doesn't account for it ..... Please explain just exactly how this fund works ? .....And why the considerable drop ? ...... Also please confirm my calculation of this month's yield ? ..... { If my financial institution screwed up the amount that should have gone into my account I want to know about it } .....Thanks again for your terrific service .....

Q: I just got my monthly dividend for GDXY in my account dated June 23/25 ..... Multiplying the amount by 12 and then dividing it by the current value of the position { and then multiplying by 100 } I came up with a 68.62%% yield { annualized } for the month of May. { April was up too at 59% } ..... That is considerably higher than the 42% the ETF is shooting for .... First, are my figures correct ? ..... And second can this increase be attributed to what I call the " Trump Option Premium " ? .... Trump's on again off again tariffs, and whichever country he decides to threaten or bomb the snot out of ...... This makes for a volatile market which makes for higher option premiums ? ..... If not to what does 5i attribute these two months of higher than the norm yields to ? ...... { In a few days my SLVO dividend will be deposited. It will be interesting to see what that annualized return will be . It was 32.5% for April } ...... Thanks for your terrific service .....

Q: What are your best ideas for generating yield in the precious metals space? Can you name some ETFs, miners and streamers that have decent yields?

Any thing specific in the silver space for yield?

Thanks!

Q: Would I be correct in concluding that Trump's on again off again tariffs are good for covered call ETF's ? When he announces a tariff the market takes a dive. When he backs off the market rises ..... Under those conditions can not the call writers charge a higher premium ? I've noticed GDXY yielding 43% was at 52.9% the previous month. And SLVO is yielding 23.2% . Even the US treasury ETF HPYT is yielding 20% .....Even boring old UMAX a utility covered call ETF is yielding a hair under 16% ..... Do you see a relationship between the amount of the premiums covered call ETF's can get to " Yeah I'm going to tariff the snot out of you " to " Nah, i was just kidding " ..... market swings ?
Basically I'm wondering if Trump is the perfect storm for options .....

Q: I know 5i doesn't like to give out portfolio weighting advice so I won't ask .... I'm considering increasing my position in GDXY to 10% { from it's current weighting of 4.72% } . With the US dollar on a rather steady decline, and Powell unable to lower rates due to tariff inflation .....I think the outlook for gold is positive .....

First given the first two facts would 5i consider this a conservative , moderate risk, or risky approach ? ..... And second what dollar amount would gold have to drop to take me out of the black of that currently 42.3% dividend {That yield is from TD Waterhouse feel free to correct it if it is wrong } ..... ? In spite of the recent drop from my purchase price { down 11% } I am still way in the black collecting my rather large monthly dividend ..... I would like to know how much the price of gold would have to drop to put GDXY in a negative position relative to it's current yield ?.....

Though GDXY has only existed for a year I imagine a correlation between the movement of the price of gold compared to the movement of GDXY unit price could be calculated..... I just don't know how to do that ....... Thanks for you terrific service ......

Q: Hello
Can PHYS, GLCC, GDXY and XGD be held in TFSA/RRSP accounts?
Is this collection a good mix?
Would AMAX be a better option than some of the aforementioned and if so, which would you replace with AMAX / drop completely.
Thank you.

Q: Could 5i speculate on the current volatility of gold ? I'm not buying the " Investors are in a sell everything mood " argument ..... Investors are selling Mr Market because of the tariffs and gold " should " be exactly where they head to . The price of gold is unaffected by tariffs ......

As well as speculating on the reason " why " could 5i speculate on how long you feel the volatility in gold will continue? ..... I tend to think gold should continue it's upward rise once investors figure out that it is unaffected by tariffs and look for a safer haven ....... But I trust 5i's analysis more than my own ..... Thanks for your terrific service .... Garth

Q: Just few more covered call gold ETF questions and I promise to stop flogging this horse and make a decision ..... Of the five ETF's 5i recommended { AMAX, CGXF,BASE,GLCC,GDXY } Could 5i give me the return, unit price gain/loss plus dividends for each ETF as a percentage ? .... As both AMAX and GDXY have only been around a year just go back for that period of time for each one. This will be long enough for me to assess as I am looking for gold volatility pre and post Trump's election.....

I notice all have an upward trend except GDXY. Could 5i speculate on the reason why ? Of course the question is does that 32.5% dividend more than make up for it ? I should be able to see that by your evaluations of returns for the other ETF's in comparison ......

And finally, hypothetically, if 5i were forced to choose one or two of these to " hide " in while assessing just exactly how bad Trump is going to make things for Canada . Which would be your two favorites, first and second, and why ? ...... Thanks for your terrific service ..... Garth .....

Q: Just a little more clarification on my question on GDXY . First what is a " synthetic call/write strategy " ? I suspect understanding that will help me understand the very large 32.5% yield ......And second the only GDX gold stock I can find is a 5 cent stock Goldex Resources Corporation ? Which I don't find encouraging for a purchase of GDXY . Could you elaborate on the relationship ? ..... Or if I have the wrong company point me in the direction of the right stock symbol ? .... Thanks again for your terrific service ......

Q: Thank you for your list of available covered call ETF's . A bit to unpack here . Could 5i give me some assistance doing it ? .....

The current Yield of each ?

The structure of each ? .... { for example part of your answer was " GDXY may be of interest. " I'm assuming some leverage here as the yield shown in TD Waterhouse is 29% . How much leverage ? And what is the structure of this and the other ETF's ? }

The risk profile of each ? ...... { for example on the Yieldmax website they outright tell you GDXY is high risk . I would like to know why and what that risk is ? And a similar assessment for each ETF recommended ? }

Also if 5i were going to hide in some high yield covered call gold ETF's until after April 2/25 { tariff day } and likely longer as I'm convinced it isn't going to be a good year for Canada. Put a numerical value for each ETF listed from one to ten with one being most favored and ten being least favored and why ?

Also if there are any tax consequences inside a RRIF ?

Thank you for your terrific service .....

Q: Could 5i give a list of the various covered call gold ETF's offered and their yields ? Canadian and/or American ...... The only one I am aware of is AMAX on the Hamilton website. The yield is indicated at 9.52% but it always says that no matter what the daily unit price is. So if you could update the yield based on current unit price it would be appreciated ? .....Also are there any enhanced yield gold ETF's and if so their targeted yield ? Thanks for your terrific service . Garth