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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: I need to add some utilities stocks or ETFs in Canadian and American currency What your top picks
Read Answer Asked by Roy on April 09, 2026
Q: hi,
a 5 year chart shows diminishing share price of ZWU, and slight increase in ZUT. can you explain this? is this because the covered call strategy is somehow eroding value/share over longer periods of time? it seems to be too much of a discrepancy to be explained by getting having to sell the underlying equities occasionally due to the call options in a rising utility equity market?? your thoughts would be most appreciated.
Read Answer Asked by chris on April 02, 2026
Q: I seem to recall a question quite a while ago (years?) about the maximum % of your portfolio should be by fund company. If I remember correctly, your suggestion was to cap each fund company exposure to 15%. Am I correct and do you still feel the same?

My BMO ETFs are just over 16%.
My iShares ETFs are just over 15%.
I have smaller exposures to the fund companies holding HMAX, HHL, NNRG (around 5% each).

Please remind me again what the dangers are of exceeding your suggested threshold? For the larger fund companies, is the threshold higher?

Thanks for your help....much appreciated....Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on March 13, 2026
Q: I have $ 60000 to invest in my tfsa. I am retired. What 3 etfs would effectively give me a good somewhat conservative diversity especially for these chaotic times. Stability and income would be my main focus
Read Answer Asked by Eric on February 23, 2026
Q: Have 11 holdings in a Non Reg account, 5 of which are ETFs as above . The other holdings are BAM, CNQ, EIF, ENB, GLXY, PNG, ZDC.
Would like to reduce the # of ETFs and distribute proceeds into ETFs/Equities that are left.
Your thoughts on which you think would be best (if any) to eliminate with a view to a tilt towards growth. Many thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Alexandra on January 21, 2026
Q: I am setting up a retirement portfolio. i know that in your view allocations are personal but if you were setting up your retirement portfolio what would be your highest ZUT allocation that you would be comfortable with? what would be your allocation per dividend/conservative non-overlapping ETFs? what would be your top 5-6 ETFs for such a portfolio?
Read Answer Asked by JR on December 04, 2025
Q: hello 5i
your analytics say that i need to increase my holdings in basic materials and the utilities sectors. I have avoided these in the past because I wanted to avoid dividends, favouring capital gains instead. but i am wondering whether i should top up a bit here and how to go about it.
can you advise me on whether i would be wiser to buy a handful of individual stocks rather than an etf for conservative| sectors like this/ if so, how many stocks would i need and can you suggest a few of the best
thanks
Read Answer Asked by joseph on December 02, 2025
Q: I am looking at fixed income potential across sectors as a low risk offset to my equities and would appreciate your recommendations. It doesn’t look like the space has good future prospects overall with rates having just dropped.
Of notable options, high interest saving accounts, bond funds, utilities, dividend index’s and perhaps reits, the reits and dividend indexes have superior yields.
Could you please comment on the space overall, which sectors are advisable and possible suggestions for purchase please?
Read Answer Asked by Peter on November 26, 2025
Q: What do you think about VIG, VDC annnd PPA as defensive purchases and is this time to think about adding defensive positions to a portfoliio? Do you have any suggestions for a defensive play?
Read Answer Asked by Ron on November 25, 2025
Q: For safety's sake, and some income, can you suggest some Utilities ETFs?
Read Answer Asked by James on November 19, 2025
Q: I noticed this yesterday nov 13th: ZUT -2,9% , XUT - 1,5% ,the equal weight ETF being the underperformer by far ( double) on that day . I know that the " equal weight" version is probably a better choice for longer term..What utilities ETF would you suggest on CDN market and ranking your best choices !
Read Answer Asked by Jean-Yves on November 17, 2025
Q: What is the best way to play Utilities in Canada & US? Stocks or ETFs? Which ones? Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Austin on October 24, 2025
Q: I am under weight in utilities and consumer defensive could you please provide your top picks for each category including stocks and ETFs
Read Answer Asked by Roy on October 23, 2025
Q: I have owned all 3 for a few years. I am wondering if I do just as well or better with moving the money to non covered call investments ? I also own ZWU which you like. Please deduct appropriate credits for a comprehensive answer. Thanks Steve
Read Answer Asked by STEVE on October 22, 2025
Q: Hi fellows,

Looking for a utilities ETF for a growth portfolio.

What do you think of HUTS-T, HUTL-T, UTES-n (Virtus Reaves Utilities ETF)?

Any other coming to mind?

Many thanks,

Jacques IDS
Read Answer Asked by Jacques on October 21, 2025
Q: Do any of the utilities held in these ETF’s offer the same kind of energy power support for the mega computers running AI applications as something like VRT in the US?

If not are there any Canadian companies that do so and would be an attractive investment in this area?
Read Answer Asked by Donald on September 23, 2025
Q: UMAX = covered call, UTES= covered call + 1,25% leverage. In a downtrend, UTES would probably go down around 25% more than umax (ex -10% vs -12,5%...) and ZUT.Since the markets are presently high +the economics, do you believe that there could be a significant probability of a downtrend in 2025 and in such case ,would it be safer to sell UTES for ZUT now (or another stock), in order to reduce the risk ?
Read Answer Asked by Jean-Yves on September 03, 2025
Q: Hi,

I’m a real estate investor and I love monthly distributions—HMAX and UMAX felt a lot like collecting rent. However, after realizing a significant portion of their payouts is ROC, I’m exploring alternatives that offer high dividends, low ROC, DRIP eligibility, and potential capital appreciation.

My horizon is 20+ years. Could you suggest 2–3 ETF ideas in Financials and Utilities that fit this profile in the Canadian market ideally or global.

Thanks,

Read Answer Asked by Richard on August 25, 2025
Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. I have long term holdings in both ZLB and ZUT. Both are in registered accounts...no tax issues.

For asset allocation reasons, I am considering trimming ZUT and adding the proceeds to ZLB. When I use your charts and compare these two, ZLB appears to be the better performer over most timeframes.

Normally I would simply proceed, but this is a minor asset allocation tweaking. Also, I think that the BOC may be reducing interest rates this fall, which should have a positive impact on ZUT. Do you agree with this assumption?

Would you proceed or wait....I know this is a bit of a "market-timing" question?

Thanks for your help....Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on August 14, 2025
Q: Have had XCD for years and done ok. I’m looking to trim/replace on theory consumer spending is not as robust and there are etfs in better sectors going forward. Can you name a few sectors and best etfs that will be better performers going forward.
Read Answer Asked by Craig on July 08, 2025
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