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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: In our unregistered, income account I recently sold LIF and have decided not to return to that stock after 30 days. Instead, planning to buy more of one or two of the existing stocks.

Since this is an income account, yield is important and also quite happy to see total account balance steadily increasing whilst tapping off the cash.


I need some help deciding which ones to add to, and have 3 criteria:
1. Best yield
2. Current portfolio weighting
3. Best value over next 5 to 10 years

1. From highest to lowest yield:
TCL.A, BCE, AQN, EIF, BNS, CPD, T, SLF, QSR, ZRE, RY, LNF, FTS, BEPC, NTR

2. From lowest to highest weighting:
ZRE, LNF, TCL.A, QSR, AQN, NTR, BEPC, SLF, CPD, T, BNS, EIF, BCE, RY, FTS

3. Can you please help me to rank these stocks from highest to lowest value / growth prospects, or if that is to big a task. Please recommend overall best 3 selections given my criteria.


Thanks,


Jim
Read Answer Asked by Jim on June 13, 2022
Q: Could you give me 7 diversified income etfs for 200000 rank them in order which ones you would pick up first etc. thanks
Read Answer Asked by Ken on May 09, 2022
Q: In regards to CPD or just pref's in general. They have sold off a lot over the past month. Fair to say they have priced rate increases in and are now forecasting a slowdown and rates going lower? Would a partial switch to a TLT-US make some sense here if that is the thesis?
Read Answer Asked by Michael on May 02, 2022
Q: I think I misunderstood your previous answers on ZPR to mean it was the better preferred ETF to be in considering it holds rate resets, which should go up as interest rates rise. However, your last answer indicated it holds significant long exposure preferreds, which would cause it to fall more heavily under the current environment?

To be clear, what is your best idea for a preferred ETF right now?
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on April 19, 2022
Q: Hello Team.. As interest rates climb my strategy is to slowly buy into bond funds (now in cash).. maybe ZAG or XSH. For example at 3.48 % for ZAG, that's a reasonable dividend and the rate hikes have barely begun. My question is -although the unit price of the fund will decrease "is the payout stable or increasing" as maturing bonds are replaced at higher yields.Steady buying at lower unit prices (and higher dividend)could help kill the pain of the early buying-what do you think.( 71 year old income investor soon to be starting RIF withdrawals) Thank you yet again..best regards Gary
Read Answer Asked by Gary on April 12, 2022
Q: Have these ETF's in my portfolio for at least 5 years. With the current interest rates environment... keep or swap? If swap which one? What would be a better option?

Thanks for your great service

Kevin
Read Answer Asked by Kevin on March 11, 2022
Q: Hello 5i,

I purchased these four funds in an income account in the summer/fall of last year. To date ZRE and CPD have hung in there, while the other two are slightly down overall including divs. Are these funds behaving the way you would expect for an income investor?
Read Answer Asked by Kelly on February 10, 2022
Q: It seems certain there will be several interest rate increases this year (and possibly more in 2023). That means fixed income will become more attractive. Please provide your outlook on this change and discuss how various fixed-income types (bonds, mortgages, mortgage-backed securities, consumer financing, etc.) will be affected and what opportunities for individual investors are likely to appear in the fixed-income sector as rates rise over the next 12-18 months.

Thank you,
IslandJohn


Read Answer Asked by John on January 24, 2022
Q: I'm entering retirement and won't be adding much more new capital to savings and so capital preservation is paramount as I look at drawing down phase in the next 6 months. Right now I am still heavily exposed to the markets with about 85% equity exposure. I want to increase the amount of safety but am concerned with the loss of purchasing power and feel the old 60/40 rule isn't adequate anymore. The big dilemma in today's environment is that there really aren't a lot of alternatives to stocks for keeping up with inflation, but this involves capital risk. What balance do you think is more appropriate in this environment? I'm thinking around 75/25 while trying to keep around 12-18 months of expenses in high interest savings so one doesn't have to sell into a down market.

Are you aware of products offered in the market that may provide returns of 5-8% while being "fairly" safe for the capital invested?

Any suggestions on perhaps bond funds that offer returns that will at least keep pace with inflation after fees without undue manageable risk for capital safety?

Looking for any ideas..preferred shares ETF's? (know there is still some capital risk here). Thank you for your help and input.
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on January 13, 2022
Q: Hello 5i Team,
I have a mixed basket of ETFs across assets types (equity, bond, preferred, etc...) in my TFSA for income.

I was looking at the dividend growth over the past 5 years and noticed that many of the ETFs have had a negative growth. Namely, bond indexes (VAB,XHY, HYI, and ZEF) have trended downward as well as prefs, REITs and europe/emerging equities (CPD, XRE, and ZWE).

I was wondering why that is? Is it because of low interest rates over the years or rising debt levels(or something worse)?

Thank You,
Andrew
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on January 09, 2022
Q: I currently own CLF,CPD,ZAG and HLY in a LIRA account. The weight of these 4 ETFs are all 2 %. each. I would like to sell 2 and then use the cash to increase the weight of the other 2 that I will keep. Which 2 ETFs would you sell?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked on January 09, 2022
Q: Thanks for your comprehensive answer to my question on fixed income. Just a further clarification. I have often wondered about the usefulness of preferred shares. It seems to me that they are just as vulnerable as stocks, so why have them rather than stocks? I know that you get paid first if the company goes under. But I am not sure that is a big consideration in most cases.

Secondly, i wonder if you might suggest some symbols that correspond to such an arrangement for fixed income.
Thanks for the excellent service
Read Answer Asked by joseph on December 15, 2021
Q: Hello,

I am concerned in a rising interest rate environment CBO (5.0%), CPD (1.92%), XHY (7.4%), VAB (4.13%) are positions that need to change in my portfolio. Portfolio Analytics recommends holding 35% in fixed income. I currently hold about 18%.

Should I be selling some or all of these positions and then re-investing in other fixed income vehicles given the rising interest rates?

I would appreciate your feedback/suggestions on current position. Thanks again for all your great service.
Read Answer Asked by Mauro on November 08, 2021