Investment Q&A

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

Q: I am helping a grandson (age 22 in medical school) set up a TFSA with a small initial investment in one ETF. I am trying to choose between an international ETF (XAW or VXC) or a Canadian ETF (XIU). What would you suggest?
Many thanks.
Judith

Q: Hi,
I'm looking at XAW for US and International exposure in my TFSA account. Retired income investor for 8 to 10 year hold. Can I get your opinion on this ETF or if you can recommend some other names.
Thanks

Q: In a cash account, from a taxation perspective, which ETF would you prefer between XAW and VXC and why? Thanks

Q: So I'm a lot less diversified than I thought and have something like 35+% of my investments in Tech. I have a good deal of money in XUS, XUU, and XAW. I thought I was getting diversification, but I didn't realize how heavily weighted in Tech (25% or more) these ETFs were. A few smaller investments (SKYY, IGV, GOOG) put me far more into the Tech space than I realized.

What's the best way to invest in broad ETFs without being so heavily invested into Tech? I feel like 20% is already a high weighting for this sector

Q: Hi 5i,
Could you explain why you prefer XAW over ZGQ. I understand XAW has no Canadian exposure but ZGQ has much better returns and only .85% of the ETF is exposed to Canada.
Thanks
John

Q: I recently borrowed from my HELOC to top up our TFSAs. I'm thinking of potentially keeping it simple and going TEC + XAW (40/60 split). This would give me quite a bit of US exposure but thought of bumping up US exposure. Would it make sense to instead buy VUN + VIU + VEE in a 70/23/7 split instead of XAW which has a lower US allocation? Do you think US equities will continue to outperform world over 10+ year horizon?

Also thinking instead of the 40% allocation in TEC, should I take a small position in ARKK or other ARK funds? Maybe 30% TEC, 10% ARKK? I feel like many of the names in ARKK fund are priced to perfection. Thanks

Q: Hi gentlemen,

is there a way to buy the snp 500 on the tsx? Also, what is your favorite index/etf for exposure to foreign stocks?

Thanks