Investment Q&A

Q: MY pf is low in the materials sector and my diversification is low on international side.

I am considering ETF's as a means of flushing both out and wondered if you had two or three that you would recommend . . . from Canadian to international.

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: Not a question, just an observation. Evergrande is in the (mainstream) news again this AM Dec 9. Blackrock is being reported as being the second-largest institutional holder of Evergrande shares, and I wondered what impact there might be on my portfolio specifically as regards my holdings in XAW. In looking on Blackrock's site for XAW's holdings, I found that out of total XAW holdings of $3.8 billion, Evergrande accounts for a mere $21 thousand, less than 0.01%.
I haven't looked at other iShares ETF's, but as far as XAW is concerned -- I'm not worried.

Q: Do you know of an equivalent ETF on the Toronto market?

Q: I'm looking at XAW and VEQT as global index funds that (other than Canada in VEQT) have similar exposure. What puzzles me is that XAW has an average P/E ratio of 24, and VEQT has a ratio of 14. I don't see how the Canada exposure at 25% in VEQT can make this much difference. Can you help me understand this apparent anomaly?

Q: I have these ETF's in a TFSA with a primary goal 8 to 10% annual return. I'd like your opinion if there is overlap in this portfolio and if there would be another ETF to add. This is a smaller portfolio and I don't think it would be efficient to buy the individual stocks in your balanced equity model portfolio.
Thanks!

Q: Hi, would these two ETF's compliment each other or would they have too much overlap, thanks for your very valuable service?

Q: What are your top 10 ETF’s to hold forever?
Would you buy them on the US or Canadian markets if available. I know some of the US listed ETF’s are more liquid. Thanks

Q: I would like to invest 50 thousand in a etf or two investing outside of Canada. Please give a couple o f recommendations and a specific country or investment idea you would consider attractive at this time as well. I already own US banks through ZBK as well as Alibaba. Do you consider XID attractive at this time? THANKYOU I have been well pleased with 5i over the years and consider your advice a good investment.

Q: Hi. I want to buy an ETF for US or International exposure and therefore need to understand the impact of the withholding tax. In doing so, I need to determine the type of ETF they are such as; Canadian equity, Canadian dividend and income, U.S. Equity, International Equity Fund or Can Bon fund. So, wow do I determine what type of fund XAW or QEF fall under such that I can understand the withholding tax implications. Looking at the website/fact sheets/etc is still difficult to determine the "holdings" which has a direct correlation to the with holding tax.

Q: I have the time and interest to invest in individual stocks and have benefited greatly from your advice, My 28 year old son is looking to me for investment advice and I was hoping that you could help me. He is young with a long investment horizon so he is not interested in any bond or fixed income components and is comfortable with a portfolio holding a diversified mix of 100% stocks in various geographies. He wants to control his own portfolio but does not have the time to research and stay on top of individual stocks and is leaning towards an ETF portfolio. I am not well versed in this area and was hoping you could provide some guidance.

He is looking at XEQT and VEQT as possible one stop solutions. There are some minor differences between the two, but overall they appear very similar. XEQT has a MER of 0.2% and VEQT has a MER of 0.25%, VEQT holds more stocks than XEQT and XEQT is weighted a bit more towards US stocks and a bit less towards CAD stocks compared to VEQT. Would you recommend one over the other, or hold both?

Instead of buying one of these he is also considering holding a two (or more) ETF portfolio using VCN and XAW ETFs. VCN tracks the Canadian market, XAW tracks the global market excluding Canada. A portfolio of 25% VCN and 75% XAW would replicate XEQT/VEQT very closely, but would have a weighted average MER of about .18%. The trade off is that this one would need to be rebalanced, whereas with XEQT/VEQT all rebalancing is done automatically. Would a 25%VCN/75% XAW be preferable to XEQT/VEQT?

If it was you at 28, would you do either of the above or would you prefer a portfolio of other ETFs and if so, what would those be?

Many thanks

Scott

Q: Any recommendations for US or international (listed on US stock exchange) stocks for RRSP and TFSA accounts to help overall diversification with non-registered accounts that are overweight Canada geographically and within that financial, energy, and utilities overweight. Thanks.

Q: Hi team,

Two questions in one. Currently own DOL and MG for consumer cyc stocks. Although both have headwinds in the next year or so, I am more frustrated with DOL. Can you please suggest a large, medium and small cap which 5i really likes in that space to replace DOL.


Second, I hold XAW in my rsp, they also offer XAW.U.ca. Would it make sense to sell XAW and buy the .U version. Adding another layer of diversification in currency?

Thank you
Rino

Q: Hi 5i, I believe in diversification and sector capital allocation as the way to help protect yourself over the long term and am currently building out a well diversified portfolio with dividends in mind. With that said my Canadian investments are good (thank you 5i) In the US I am missing exposure to small and midcap companies can you recommend a ETF or mutual fund while keeping dividends in mind currency doesn't matter to me as i have both Canadian and US accounts. Also for the rest of the world I have VXUS ETF can you help me with exposure there.
Many thanks!

Q: Can you recommend a few ETFs that have good exposure to US industrials and materials? Preferably in a single security if there is one, but separately is fine as well. I'm indifferent as to whether it is a CDN ETF listed in Canada or USD ETF listed on a US exchange.

Q: Currently our portfolio is 15% too high in Canadian stocks and ETFs and am
needing to add to International I would appreciate 3 stocks or an ETF that would be the highest on your ratings. Thanks!

Q: I'm retired without a pension and have done fairly well investing with the help of 5i over the past 4-1/2 years. My question is regarding diversification and has a few parts.
1. Do you think it's important to be invested in Europe, Asia and the Emerging Markets?
2. If so would ETFs be the safest way to get decent access to those markets or individual equities?
3. Please suggest 1 or 2 EFTs/equities (your preference) for each.
Thank you for your direction.

Q: I am thinking of investing in VXC (or maybe XAW) in my RRSP. I understand that since this is a fund of funds and some of the underlying ETFs are US based, that there will be foreign withholding tax of some amount. To avoid the tax, am I better off to invest in the underlying ETFs (Canadian versions only) specifically VFV, VIU and VEE? (small cap I could not find). How much of an issue is the foreign withholding tax? Is it small enough to not bother buying all these underlying ETFs directly? Your thoughts please.

Q: In my RRSP I would like to take a long term, very low maintenance approach. For this reason I have it all in index funds. I have a 30 plus year time horizon. Which funds would you recommend here? I currently have $60,000 invested in VFV, VUN, VGRO and XAW. Looking to front load these with $2000/ mo for the next 3 years and then stop contributing as I will be "semi-retiring." I'm 29 for context

Q: First a comment, I went through the paper on fantom distributions, have invested for 25 years and never heard of it before? If you do your own taxes like me, I would just say the CRA is getting double tax on my etf’s.
On that note could you advise on a couple of global etf with small or no exposure to Canada, as I would like to diversify to USA and other countries. Dividends would be nice but not necessary. Would be for 7+ years and may add to yearly as funds are available.
Thanks