Investment Q&A

Q: I'm thinking of switching my CPD to ZPR because the return of ZPR has been significantly higher and the dividend is slightly higher. Curious what your thoughts are. Do you prefer one over the other? Any reason to own both - half in one, half in the other?

Q: Hi Team,
Could you suggest Canadian ETFs of the following sectors for Senior incomes :
1 /Reit 2/ Utility 3/Prefer 4/Bank/Financial 5/Energy.
Please deduct as many question credit as needed.
Thanks as always,
Tak

Q: Which preferred share ETF would you recommend among these four: HPR, ZPR, CPD, and ZUP, and is this sector worth investing in. It pays a nice dividend but the invested capital tends to get depreciated. Is now a good time to put money in this sector?

Q: Hi! I have an ETF portfolio and a portfolio of Canadian and U.S. stocks. I have 10% of my ETF portfolio in Fixed Income given the historically low interest rates. This accounts for about 5% of my overall portfolio which is pretty low. Difficult to add here. I have some XHY and CBO which offset the risks of rising rates somewhat. Should I add to my fixed income portfolio or wait for rates to rise a bit. If I do add, rate reset preferred might be another option or continue adding to CBO and XHY?

Thank you,
Jason

Q: Looking forward, with yield and stability in mind, how would you rank these three ETF's? Thanks as usual, great service.

Q: What are your thoughts on DXP ETF or do you prefer another ETF. Preferred shares perform better in which environment.

Thanks for the great service.

Q: How do you like Preferred's these days? I've recently replaced some of my bond ETF's with ZPR. I understand they carry equity/credit risk but do you see pref's as offering better protection against rising rates? Thanks.

Q: With interest rates moving up on growth optimism, do you like CVD as part of your fixed income allocation. Seems it might hold up better than other bond funds and it pays a decent yield. I'm also considering ZPR in the fixed income side for the same reason. If this is two questions, please deduct accordingly. Thanks.

Q: Are you aware of any etf,s that are composed of just rate-reset preferred shares?

Q: Good morning,
I am a retired investor with a 50/50 asset mix and an equity focus on solid dividend payers with some growth prospects. As a bond matures in my RRIF, reinvestment opportunities in fixed income are unattractive. With projections saying low rates will continue for some time, I'm wondering if it would be a good time to buy a rate reset preferred stock ETF for income, and as a hedge against future rate increases. I would appreciate your thoughts, and if you support it, which ETF would you suggest?
Thank you.
Edward

Q: Hello, looking for emerging markets, ETFs you recommend ex China and ex India (as I already hold INDY and FXI). Also looking for non-Canadian REIT ETF recommendations (I hold XRE). Finally what are your thoughts on preferred share ETFs and which would you recommend (Canadian or not) outside of CPD.
Thanks!

Q: Hello 5i Team
Is there a website where I can download the CUSIP and/or ISIN for Canadian Preferred Shares and/or other securities?
I am trying to analyse the holdings of CPD/RPF/ZPR and each one presents the holdings with different information (CPD has the CUSIP, RPF has neither, ZPR has the ISIN), none of them indicate the underlying TSE stock symbol and the security description is extremely truncated (mostly company name).
Some of the company websites have the CUSIP and/or ISIN, however the majority do not. Short of emailing the investor relations department do you suggest any other means?
How successful are you in receiving answers from investor relations representatives?
Thanks

Q: Hello Peter,
If you owned these as full-positioned laggards in your portfolio, but were also a patient, long-term investor and appreciated the dividends, which of the following would you currently hold, sell or add to at this time? FSZ, AW.UN, CSH.UN, T, EWJ, HCG, MX, KBL, APR.UN, ZPR, NTR, TECK.B and CN?

Q: I'm trying to make decisions for my retired mother's taxable account.

In the current environment, do preferred shares make more sense than bonds or other fixed income strategies? If so, can you recommend a few of the best preferred share funds (or would an ETF like CPD or ZPR be a wiser option)?

Q: Lowest sp in 7 years. Down 50 % over 7 years. Ouch !!
Preferred shares overall have been hit very hard for some years.

I don"t get it.... Why ?
The current yield is 6.3%. Why would you not buy?
....thank you

Q: Hello, is there a 15% withholding tax on XHY income in a non-registered account? Is the income of XHY treated as interest? Is the income of ZPR treated as dividend? Would you consider these two ETFs risky at this time? Thanks, Gervais

Q: France is starting to see food inflation. In some cases, it's quite impressive numbers percentage wise. If we do get more wide-spread inflation, due to the massive stimulus, would that be a positive for preferred share resets, which I've read go up with higher interest rates? The ETF ZPR currently pays 7% annually, which is usually a sign of future cuts, but on the other hand, it's been going up for 3 weeks. This question is for an account that is 60% in bonds and needs more income.

Q: I hold this in my Cash account (for income) and it is underwater (has been for a while). In your opinion, would I be better off to harvest the loss and purchase 2 or 3 individual top quality preferred shares? If so, can you provide some specific suggestions (I am overweight financials). I assume I would have to wait 30 days to purchase the individual shares to avoid the superficial loss?
Please deduct credits as appropriate.
Thank you.

Q: In my RRSP accounts I have built up a laddered GIC portfolio in addition to a variety of stocks and equity etfs, taking the income generated by the portfolio and adding to the ladder. Given the low rates for 5 yr GIC, under 2%, I’m thinking of taking this years income and purchasing CVD, which has a lower payout but more stability than the above mentioned Preferred share ETFs.
I may split my purchase between CVD and one of the above Preferred Share ETFs and am leaning towards ZPR as performance and MER of the 3 is similar but ZPR has a higher dividend payout.
In addition to better income, interest rates should be close to bottoming and if I stage my purchases over the next 3 months I will benefit from unit price appreciation when rates start going up and will have locked in a 5-6% return.
Your thoughts please.

Q: You are right when you say preferred shares are not bonds, they fall fast in a bad market.

Would it be wise to add a modest amount of ZPR or CPD during this period and take the dividend for a while? This would be in an RRSP