Investment Q&A

Q: Over the next few months I’ll be duplicating the ETFMU Growth ETF portfolio inside my LIRA with retirement being 30 years away.

Out of the 13 ETFs in the portfolio , Which ones do you feel are a strong buy currently? Wanting to start purchasing the strong buys, highest convictions ETFs first.

Thank you,

Q: I am not sure that i got the correct information but is it possible that over the last 10 years the unhedged ETFs have far outperformed the hedged ETF. If that is the case, why
Thanks, Peter

Q: In a previous question you recommended ZSP be held in a RRSP so as to avoid the US withholding tax on dividends. Does the same tax rule apply to a RESP? If not & there is a US withholding tax on dividends, is it still worth holding ZSP in a RESP. Thanks … Cal

Q: Please explain the advantages and/or disadvantages between ZSP & ZSP.U. Thanks … Cal

Q: I want to invest in the S&P 500 in my unregistered accounts with HXS. Are you comfortable holding this total return ETF? Are there any known government issues with total return ETFs - I recall the Fed Government challenged these in the past? In registered family accounts I plan to use VFV and/or ZSP - do you prefer one over the other? For safety, would it be a good idea to use both?
Thanks!

Q: Dear 5i
For an RRSP , TFSA and cash account which ETF would be your preference , ZSP or VFV ?
Also do you expect the recently announced OPEC cuts to have a long lasting affect on oil prices ?
I`m reading that the price per barrel could reach $105 again within a few months . That being said do you believe there is going to be another leg up in oil stocks ? Gas stocks ?
Thanks
Bill C

Q: Dear 5i
If i have ZSP in my portfolio (RRSP`s, TFSA`s and unregistered acct ) do i need to have VGG . In other words is it different enough to own as well as ZSP or would just owning ZSP be sufficient ?
Thanks
Bill C

Q: Dear 5i
If i have a sufficient amount of ZSP in my portfolio is there a need to buy AMZN , AAPL . MSFT and GOOG stock individually , within an RRSP account ?
Thanks
Bill C

Q: My sister has an RDSP with BMO. She has 75,000.00 in each the above funds. The lifestage money will mature in June and automatically go into a money market fund. The money will not be needed for years. She also has a trust fund. Do you have any suggestions for the 75k? Also, I believe the Cad and Usd equity funds are mutual funds. Should I move them to a lower cost ETF?

Q: Dear 5i
The above noted ETFs are the ones i commonly use in my RRSP , TFSA and non registered accts .
CDZ and ZLB are used for CDN content and the rest for US content.
I believe there is probably some redundancy in these and was wondering which ETFs could be left out .
Which ETFs would you use for RRSPs , which for the TFSAs and which for the non-registered acct .?
Thanks
Bill C

Q: I purchased some ZSP last week for my Grandchildrens RESP, in an answer today you chose SPY , was the reason simply for currency diversification?

Q: Could you give me 7 diversified income etfs for 200000 rank them in order which ones you would pick up first etc. thanks

Q: The S&P 500 looks good in the current market and long term, with about 72% in the follow: big tech 26%, financials 14%, health care 13%, communication 10%, consumer defensive 6% and utilities 3%. 5i seems to prefer VFV, but its yield is listed at 1.12% on Yahoo and ZSP at 1.3%: is this because VFV has deducted the 15% withholding tax on US dividends? I assume the 15% would still be withheld in a registered account? Thanks!!

Q: Dear 5i team.

Further to Cyril's question where you "hand selected a few of your favs from the three portfolios", is this a diversified enough list to put a small ETF portfolio together based on? Can you suggest which ETFs may be appropriate?

I recently upgraded to include your ETF portfolios. Can you "handpick your favs" in these given the current market backdrop, risks, and opportunities ahead?

Many thanks.

Q: 65 yr old retiring this year. I hold the following: XAW (35%), XBB (20%), XIC (12%), CDZ (7%), ZSP (7%), VTI (7%), ZIC, VTI and ENB at 5% each.
In view of the current conditions, would you increase the fixed asset portion and reduce equity? Which ones would you add to and which ones would you reduce/remove?

Q: Hello 5i,
These three make up the fund portion of a senior's portfolio. All of these have a US focus. Can you suggest 1-2 ETF's that would compliment these three with more diversification and some balance. Nothing risky; 5-year horizon.

And should the TD mutual fund be replaced with an ETF with lower fees?

Thanks for your guidance.

Q: I have some new money to invest in my TFSA. I am well diversified in my other accounts, and am now wondering what to add to my TFSA. I am a senior so I would say about a 5 year time frame that this would stay in the TFSA, maybe more.
Any suggestions you have would be helpful.
Thanks so much for your help in the past, it has always proved very lucrative.
Shirley

Q: Hello,
I will be switching to an indexing strategy in the near future and have a few ETFs that I would like your comparisons/advice/opinions. All ETFs will be held in TFSAs or RRSPs over a long term.

1)S&P/TSX: XIU, XIC, HXT*

2)S&P 500: ZSP, HXS*

3)Emerging Markets: ZEM, XEC*

*denotes commission free trades.

4) In registered accounts, is there a long term advantage to having capital gains vs dividends distributions as is the case for HXT and HXS? I would reinvest any potential dividends in other ETFs.

Thank you.

Q: What Canadian ETF would you recommend that follows the S&P 500 index. Of your top choice please suggest a hedged and unhedged ETF and which would you recommend, hedged or unhedged. Is your recommendation solely based on the ETFs MER. Thanks … Cal

Q: I am looking for some US exposure. Out of these two ETF's what would you choose for US exposure and why? Thanks.