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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: Hi Peter,
I would like your opinions on Discount Bonds ETFs vs regular bond ETFs. My understanding is that discount bonds etf is earning interest income comparable to regular bond etfs, but when the central banks decide to cut rate down the road, discount bonds etf will generate higher capital gain than regular bond etfs. So at this point of inflation and rate movement, is it better to purchase discount bonds etfs? Which discount bonds etf is your favourite? How’s your favourite as compared to DXDB and ZDB? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Willie on February 23, 2023
Q: Hi Gent, For balancing purposes I’m looking for taxe efficient bond ETF for non register account. Looking for short term bond ETF and international exposure.

Thx

Luc
Read Answer Asked by Luc on November 24, 2022
Q: Thanks to 5i, I've had the best year ever in the stock market. I've recently been trimming some high beta stocks that have become overweight in my portfolio. Not knowing much about bonds, never owning any, I'm looking at ZBD to park the cash. In Feb 2019 you said" . Any mutual fund or ETF technically does not guarantee any capital, so although ZBD is very safe and provides a higher yield than a high-interest savings account, there is always a 'risk' with bond funds." Can you expand on what the risk is, does the current enviroment add to the risk?
Read Answer Asked by Charles on October 19, 2020
Q: Hello 5i Team. My question relates to the dividend on HFR. My plan is to use this ETF as a cash savings fund in hopefully a tax efficient manner. As such, can you confirm or comment on the following: from the Horizon web site (T3 Tax Distribution 2019) it lists the dividend as 93% "other income" and 7% as "foreign income". Can one assume that other income would be taxed as interest income by the CRA? If my assumption is correct, what other ETF options might one look that combines safety and tax efficiency? Many thanks. Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on October 13, 2020
Q: We have an unregistered account with 74% cash and want to buy some index funds (my wife read Millionaire Teacher and is convinced index funds eliminate some human error with stock selection). We are considering XIU, ZSP and perhaps ZDB; we do have a significant bond holding with Phillips, Hager & North and not sure if bonds should be part of this unregister account? Long term investments 7+ years. Thanks you very much for your comments on index funds.
Read Answer Asked by Grant on March 31, 2020
Q: Good day 5i team:1. Would you consider ZDB as the safest way to beat a high interest savings account for money that may or may not be needed for a uncertain time frame?thus is it the surest to have my capital back? and 2.any thoughts on xdg being the best option available for global diversification outside of Canada with a decent yield for monthly income for retirement? 3.any thoughts on why PBH did not give any downside protection in the recent correction and seems to be not getting any traction since I am down 5% would you advise to hold?TksLarry
Read Answer Asked by Larry on February 28, 2019
Q: i have about $500,000 to invest for 10 or more years. i don't need income from it. in order to keep it simple and be able to easily rebalance every six months or so, i am considering investing in only 3 etfs, as suggested by the canadian portfolio manager.
1. do you see any problems with this strategy? (i already have another portfolio in individual stocks.)
2.would ZAG be preferable to the suggested ZDB?
3. would ZLB be preferable to the suggested VCN?

thanks in advance. take whatever number of points necessary.
Read Answer Asked by Astrid on January 10, 2019
Q: I am nearing retirement. Most of my savings is in a non registered account (75% non registered and 25% RRSP). Can you suggest tax efficient ways of managing the fixed income portion of the non registered component? I understand ZBD and BXF are tax efficient. Would you recommend these or do you have any other ideas? MERs are important and I noticed the management fee for BXF is about .2%. With a return of only about 1% does an investment in this make sense?
Read Answer Asked by BRYAN on November 17, 2016
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