Investment Q&A

Q: I recently transferred my TFSA to a discount brokerage. CIF843 was part of this and then converted to CIF823 (non-trailing). I believe you are not in favour of mutual funds - nor I. Your opinion of this one? And a more attractive/similar ETF? Thanks, as always.

Q: your thoughts on this etf and if you were to change what would you recommend

Q: What do you think of this ETF as a buy and forget type of holding? It would be held in TFSA & RRSP. Track record is fairly impressive. Do you see any drawbacks?
Thanks

Q: In this environment are you still OK with ZGQ for growth with the high concentration of Tech & Healthcare? The list of holdings is quite impressive and seems like a good way to a variety of foreign holdings.
With 300 different companies, some US heavy Techs as top holdings and an MER of .51%, and their great returns it seems like a good foreign option for a growth portfolio.
I'd appreciate your comments.
Thanks

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: Hello 5i,

I am looking for a Canadian dollar etf alternative to the above international quality factor etf. IQLT has 1% USA assets. Could you suggest two CAD etf alternatives: one with some USA assets and one without? I suspect the mer will be higher, but that’s ok.

Many thanks,

Q: If you were to start an resp now, would you consider these etfs as suitable or a combination thereof,or do you have alternatives? Thanx.

Q: The rise in stock prices of a few mega-caps (Apple, Facebook, Amazon, etc.) has distorted the concept of broad diversification through index investing (S&P 500). While the index rises, many index constituents have performed poorly.

Some ETF providers have created funds that hold a subset of the components of existing indices. Inclusion is based on their concept of company "quality". Presumably this eliminates poor performers and results in a "better" fund.
Examples are: ZUQ, SPHQ, QUAL, ZGQ, ZEQ.

Please comment on this idea of "quality" subsets of existing indexes. Do you consider this to be a useful investing strategy? Would you consider the examples listed to be preferable investments compared to the broader indices?

Thank you.
IslandJohn

Q: I am about to become a Canadian non-resident for tax purposes. (once borders reopen). I understand I can keep my TFSA in Canada with no tax issues, but cannot contribute anything more to the TFSA. Does that make sense to you? If so, would ZGQ be a good all purpose ETF to leave in my TFSA. Any issues with this etf being in a TFSA? Any other ideas? Thanks.

Q: Hi 5i,
Can I get your thoughts about any of these 3 ETF's from BMO for a buy and hold investor? Should one be concerned with the relatively low trading volumes? The general performance of all three ETFs look better than their underlying indexes.
The ETF's appear to rebalance/reconstitute semi-annually so my thinking is these might be good as core holdings for a long term investor since they are always suppose to hold the best quality stocks.

Here is the BMO summary of the product;
1. selects high ROE stocks
2. selects stocks with stable year over year earnings growth
3. selects stocks with low financial leverage
4. caps max. stock weighting at 5%

MER Holdings AUM AvgVol Description
ZUQ 0.34 126 330M 7,200 US High Quality
ZEQ 0.45 126 260M 6,400 Europe High Quality CAD Hedged
ZGQ 0.50 330 80M 2,500 All Country High Quality

Q: I am retired and hold the above ETFs in my RIF, TFSA accounts. Please advise which ETFs you would hold in this environment and which are duplicated. I am looking for stability and safe dividends. Thanks for your input.

Q: I have the above international ETF's in my RIF at a total allocation of 39%. I am interested in your assessment of my choices. Any duplication? Should I delete any? What should I add in it's place? Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks for adding analytics. It's a great assist.

Q: I currently hold the above etf's, which totals 25% of portfolio. Equities held are US and Canadian and am invested in all sectors with financials@17%,Tech 10% and Utilities 8%. Remaining 40% equally allocated to the other sectors. Am looking at reducing ETF's and would appreciate your thoughts on which ones are good holds and which could be sold due to over diversification! Thanks for your valuable input!

Q: Hello

I m looking for a etf or mutual fund of quality blue chip who can growth in bull market and minimize the the risk during a bear market for a long run minimum of 5 years.

Which product between VIG, ZGQ, MAwer global equity, edgepoint global, black creek global,do you suggest me?
If you have other suggestions let me know.

Thank you for your help

Have a nice week end

Q: I'm a conservative investor and planning on investing 60% of my Portfolio on the following ETFS.
ZLU, NMW, ZUQ, ZGQ, ZWH and FHC, what are your thoughts?

Thanks Valter.