Investment Q&A

Q: I very much appreciate 5i along with your ETF site. From your ETF site, I have been playing with the ETF sector balancer and have found it quite useful to see the % of the sectors my postions occupy .
My questions
1. I am considering a 1/2 position of XHC, XGI, and XCD and a 1/4 postion of VUN and XQQ. Is now the time to buy these or should I sit on my cash for a while or should I be considering some alternatives to these within their sectors?
2. If I execute #1 above, my overall holdings will be 57% CDA, 29% USA, 14% INTL and my portfolio will consist of 2% materials, 13% consumer cyclical, 5% financial, 3% communication, 10% energy, 10% industrials, 6% technology, 17% consumer defensive, 13% healthcare and 18% utilities.
I would very much appreciate your critique and observations.

John

Q: 1)Can you recommend a CDN ETF for the US consumer discretionary index?
2) Should it be hedged or unhedged?
3) Is there another Canadian ETF that is a more general reflection of the US market that you recommend for a long term hold?

Q: Is the current yield 1.32% less the 0.65% MER or is the yield after the MER has been taken out? The yield seems low. Is there another ETF in the same Consumer Discretionary sector which has a higher yield?

Usually when companies have a low dividend they are often growth companies. Does this ETF behave in the same growth like fashion?

If I understand correctly XCD is CAD hedged. Are there any US ETF's in the same sector which are not currency hedged?

Thank-you.

Q: I read with interest your recent article in the Post and was intrigued by the comment that research shows 90% of portfolio returns come from sector allocation - if a person wanted to take advantage of that, in a simple, easy to manage and inexpensive way (ignoring taxes for the moment) what would be your view be on an approach where one's equity component of their portfolio consisted entirely of a number of ETF's with each one of the ETF's focused on a particular sector, with a periodic (say quarterly) rebalancing? What specific ETF's would you suggest for such a portfolio? Thank you.

Q: What do think of XCD - iShares S&P Global Consumer Discretionary Index ETF (CAD-Hedged) as a way to gain some global diversification without currency risk? Do you think this sector will do well in the next 3-5 years?