Investment Q&A

Q: I am looking to put a portfolio of ETF's together to provide exposure to the total US market as well as some limited International exposure. I would like some FX protection hence the inclusion of some hedged ETF's.

For the US segment - I came up with the following holdings
VOO - 50%
ZAA - 20%
ZMID.F - 10%
VIOO - 10%
VIG - 10%

For the International Segment - I am looking at ZDM

Do the ETF choices and mix look reasonable to you - any other suggestions.
Thanks

Q: Should I hedge my EAFE ETFs considering that their holdings are from multiple countries? I am considering either XEF or ZDM? they seem pretty much the same except one hedges to CAD and one does not.

Q: Hi,
On Jan 9th I asked the following question
Q: can you tell me 1) if there is any difference in XEF and ZDM in terms of tax efficiency and 2) which accounts are best to hold these ETFs in in terms of tax efficiency (please rank from best to worse) ?

You answered the first part but not the second part. 2) Could you please rank from best to worse in regard to tax efficiency, which account (e.g., RRSP, TFSA, nonregistered) is best to hold them.
Thanks

Q: can you tell me 1) if there is any difference in XEF and ZDM in terms of tax efficiency and 2) which accounts are best to hold these ETFs in in terms of tax efficiency (please rank from best to worse) ?
thanks

Q: Hi 5i! I have the above noted 5 ETFs in various dollar amounts in 5 different accounts. Average weight in each is less than 3%. The results have been varied with IYJ and VXUS beiong the strongest recently. I am thinking of consolidating 5 into 2 holdings, probably IYG and VXUS which would give me apporoximately 5% in each ETF. These 2 would complement each other since one is all US and the other non-US. Your thoughts please.

Q: My current portfolio is somewhat similar to your BE portfolio but with a small (15%) portion of foreign holdings (more if you consider BEP which I also hold, as foreign since it has a lot of foreign investments). Foreign is far too small in my estimation. I have some cash to deploy which would bring it up to about 30%.
I currently hold VEE, DXG and DXU, an awful lot of US. Do you have any suggestions of ETFs I could or should add? I have held ZDM in the past.

Q: I currently have about 20% of my portfolio in ETFs which track the MSCI EAFE index (XEF & XFH - about 10% , ZDM - about 10%) . I noticed that Vanguard's international developed fund (VI) tracks the FTSE developed all cap index.

I am wondering whether it would be beneficial, for diversification purposes, to sell ZDM and replace with VI, so that I have a better balance for my international core funds. These two funds seem to have similar compositions, so I am wondering whether this would really make a difference.

What is your view?

Thank-you for your excellent advice

Q: Last week, I asked for a few suggestions to diversify outside Canada. One of you suggestions was VXUS. I already have ZDM in my portfolio and I find that it outperformed VXUS over the past 8 years by a substantial margin (84% vs. 38%) However, ZDM has one possible major disadvantage: it is thinly traded (does that matter for a small investor?). ZDM tracks MSCI but I couldn't find the info for VXUS; their Canadian website doesn't recognize VXUX (vexatious that). Do you see any other problems and are they similar?

Q: My portfolio review tells me that I need to add 20% to the international portion of my current holdings. At the moment, I hold only ZDM. Should I add to that or do you have another recomendation? I also need an Emerging Market ETF recomendation for diversification.

Q: Hello

I am aiming to have about 20% of my equity portfolio in international stocks (ie. not US or Canada). I currently own ZDH (4.3%), ZDM (5.06%), ZEQ (1.87%), ZLD (4.19%) and ZEM (4.15%).

Do these ETFs appear reasonable to you? Do you see any need to change/consolidate, or to reduce MERs? The Portfolio Analyzer recommends VIU, XEF, VEE and XEM. Do you think it is worthwhile replacing my ETFs for the recommended versions?

Also, VEE and XEM do not appear to be as tax efficient as ZEM, or am I missing something?

Thank you for this great service!

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: Hi Guys: . . Thank you for this great service; I am learning new things frequently. Two questions: I hold VEE and ZDM at about 6-7% each in my registered accounts. The share was higher, but I trimmed it recently in favor of individual stock holdings. Q1: With rising oil and US dollar prices, would you say that VEE is likely to remain stressed for another year or more? As per Vanguard it does have large India, Brazil, and South Africa components, countries I suspect might be more vulnerable to these stress factors than perhaps China & Taiwan, the biggest components. Q2: With Brexit approaching fast would you consider ZDM rather risky at this point with a 17% UK component? Again, what's the outlook in your opinion for the next 1-2 years.

Q: Hello 5i
When i look at the yield for both VE and ZDM in both Morningstar and in the ETF Newsletter i`m getting significantly different values . The ETF newsletter says Yield while in Morningstar it always gives the 12 month yield . Shouldn't`t the figures be the same ? Isen`t any stated yield generally refer to a 12 month time period ?
Thanks
Bill C.

Q: Hi 5i;
!`m wanting to diversify my Portfolio and have ETF investments that include Europe and Asia . !`m considering ZDM which has a 35% Asia component but of that 35% its mostly Japan . So if one is expecting Japans economy to do well then this could be good but other wise the Asia component is in itself not very diversified throughout the rest of Asia .
That being said is Japan a good place to invest in over the next couple years or am i best to go with VE or ZWE for Europe exposure and VEE for Asia exposure separately ?
Thanks
Bill C

Q: I own HEWJ and ZDM as my International exposure (5% of my portolio). Neither are doing well, especially after the Brexit vote and I'd like to replace them with ETFs with a more positive outlook for the next 2-3 years. Your thoughts and recommendations please!

Q: For international exposure, I have some ZDM in my portfolio but should I be worried enough about BREXIT to dump it?