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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: Retired investor can wait, not ready to leave risk assets.

My current allocation is 9% International markets, 38% US, 27% Can and 27% Cash and bonds.
Would like to start dipping some Emerging markets. For long term hold, how would you proceed and in what % in can$ ?
I just sent a question regarding ZEM, actually if we need to reduce the US allocation than us$ can be used to buy EM. Please make the necessary correction to the previous question if need be.

Thank again.
Yves

Thank you
Yves
Read Answer Asked by Yves on April 14, 2025
Q: I’m wondering which type of account would be best for these ETFs. I assume they would not all be best in the same account. The choices of accounts would be personal taxable, RRSP, TFSA, and corporate.

Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Federico on November 20, 2024
Q: This is a follow up question to my previous question about using ETFs instead of stocks.

You mentioned that ZEM was “fine,“ whereas your comment on XEF is “solid,” XUU “we like it quite a lot,” and XIC is a “go-to.”

Do you have an alternative to ZEM that you would consider to be better? If so, please explain why.

Read Answer Asked by Federico on November 13, 2024
Q: As I’m running low on time to spend on investing, I’m thinking of selling all of my equities and buying ETFs instead. I’m considering the following ETFs in a 1:1:1:1 distribution.

XIC
XUU
XEF
ZEM

Could you please give me the pros and cons of these ETFs, and alternatives if you feel there are any that are better.

Thank you very much for your service.
Read Answer Asked by Federico on November 11, 2024
Q: Dear 5i
Is now a good time to invest in the emerging markets ? I'm considering ZEM , VEE , and XEC .Which would you recommend for an RRSP account? Do you really think there is a major shift to small cap stocks currently and if so do you see it continuing for awhile ?
Thanks
Bill C
Read Answer Asked by Bill on July 12, 2024
Q: Can you tell me the approximate P/E of ZEM? The fact sheet dated Dec 31/23 gives a P/E of 20.66 for ZEM. But can that be right, when for the same date VEE lists a P/E of 7.8x and XEC 12.39x?
Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Grant on February 14, 2024
Q: Setting aside currency considerations, which ETF-- VWO.US or ZEM.CA-- is better to hold within an RRSP? (I am asking this question because I know that based upon the different ways that ETFs are structured, some have less losses based on foreign tax rules and considerations.)

Ted
Read Answer Asked by Ted on January 09, 2024
Q: can you tell me if holding VEE, ZEM, or XEC has any advantage over the other in terms of tax efficiency? Also, can you rank order in terms of which account emerging market etf should be held for tax efficiency (please rank best to worse).
thanks
Read Answer Asked by Mary on January 09, 2024
Q: https://www.rbadvisors.com/insights/4-for-24-year-ahead-outlook/

RB advisers recommend the following 4 themes for 2024 and as a value investor I am looking for ETF recommendations:
(1) US small caps: I am using XSU (100% IWM)
(2) US cyclicals: I found IYC but P/E is 27! Recommendation?
(3) Non-US and emerging markets: I have been using XEF and ZEM. I like XEM (100% EEM) because it posts a P/E each day.
(4) Theme 4 is "Industrials: deglobalization spurs infrastructure". No idea what ETFs to use here.
Thanks for your recommendations/comments!!!
Read Answer Asked by Grant on December 21, 2023
Q: Can you please compare the following ETFs: ZEM vs VEE. In the past you had commented that ZEM may be more tax efficient because most stocks are held direct. Which ETF has the most exposure to China?
Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Grant on November 22, 2023
Q: I listed in descending order securities that under performed since their 2022 highs. Please rank the securities in order of the best chance to recover their losses when we get back to the risk on mode. Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Richard on July 25, 2023
Q: For non-NA coverage I own ZDI, ZEM,XIN, and VWO. Do any other ETF's need to be added or do I have the world covered? Thanks Ron
Read Answer Asked by Ronald on July 20, 2023
Q: Regarding the T1135 form, my understanding is that by owning both ILF (U.S. ETF) and Vale (ADR), they would need to be declared (i.e. not exempt from reporting) above the $100,000 threshold correct? I believe this is true unless they are held within an RRSP or a TFSA, in which case both would be exempt.

On the other hand, ETF's with foreign holdings that are created by Canadian institutions such as the BMO's ZEM would also be exempt from reporting, even if that one was held within an open account.

If the above is true, is there a Canadian-based alternative to the ILF ETF ? I would like to have some exposure to Latin America. ZEM, for instance, has holdings I'm not really interested in.
Read Answer Asked by James on January 04, 2023
Q: Happy New Year to all the 5i team!

Question for you: should we be adding to ILF for emerging market exposure? It's dropped the past year with most everything else but is paying a monster dividend now (like 12.7 % going off of trailing year's payments). Am I missing something?

Should we be looking at something like ZEM instead?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Marc on January 03, 2023
Q: Hi
can you recommend a proxy for zem for tax loss harvesting?
thanks
Read Answer Asked by Mary on December 09, 2022
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