Investment Q&A

Q: Could you please recommend 3 or 4 Monthly income ETF’s for a portfolio amount of $100,000 for a retired couple. We would divide the etf’s equally. Thank you
Sharron

Q: I am sure your recent article regarding foreign content was aimed specifically at me...haha. You nailed it! My method (illustrated in your article) resulted in 35% foreign content. The Domiciled method was 10% It sparked a fair bit of inflection on how I determine my asset allocation and I am still working through some scenarios. Probably another question for another time.

Q#1 = I am a retired, conservative, dividend-income investor. If I wanted a one-stop shop USA ETF that pays a good dividend, I was thinking of ZWH-ZWS. I already own ZWC and ZWE. I like the covered call strategy, especially at this point in the market cycle. Are there others I should consider?

Q#2 = Would you go unhedged...I am guessing yes, based on your previous "hedging" answers?

Q#3 = I understand that if I wanted to buy a USA ETF, like ZWH or ZWS, that the preferred placement would be in my RRSP...due to the withholding tax issue and the "distribution" tax benefits. That, however, would require a major overhaul on a reasonably successful asset allocation already in place.

What about purchasing ZWH-ZWS in my Cash account? I understand the distribution would be comprised of Capital Gains, Interest Income, Dividends and ROC and each would be taxed accordingly....no problem. What about the withholding tax? I thought Canada had an agreement with the USA that there would essentially be no double taxation. So, if the USA withheld tax, then this would become a tax credit against Canadian tax owing...with this being reflected in the T3-T5 issued annually. Please help me to understand.

Thanks for your help...again, great article...Steve

Q: How is the dividend for this ETF taxed?

Q: Hello 5i,
I am not very bullish on the Canadian economy considering the provincial and federal politics and lack of leadership in regards to the Energy and now Agricultural Industry.
So I am thinking of splitting my portfolio up into 3 categories, Growth Stocks, Dividend Paying Stocks and ETF's for global and sector diversification. ZLU & ZWH for US low volatility and Dividend, CDZ for Canadian Dividend and VGRO & XWD for global diversification and growth. Your thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks,
SF

Q: Good Morning 5I.

I have the following positions in my RRSP ...
BNS 6.5%
TD 5%
BCE 5%
ENB 4%
BEP.UN 4%
SRU.UN 4%
MFT 3?
CDZ 5%
ZWE 4%
ZWH 9.5%
The list above cover the equity side of my portfolio.
The other 50% is in a GIC ladder yielding over 3.0%
I plan to retired within the next couple years.
Could you please comment on any changes needed that stand out to you?
I think I should add more US exposure and possibly another reit, what would you suggest?

Look forward to your reply.

Q: I have a very good gain this year and my technical are telling me we will be probably in a sideways or slightly down market until the fall and I am looking at a combination of zwh and zlu to put the harvested gains. my question is where they fit in my portfolio either in a registered account or non registered acct. if you could help me with this small problem it would be appreciated. thanks for the great service...gene-

Q: Hi 5I,
I own the following stocks (approx 1K shares of each).
AQN,BCE,ENB(2K),BEP.UN,RY,SLF,CPG,IPL,NGD - U.S. - TD, BT & GE. My ETF's are anywhere from $1k-3K shares of each of the following:
ZEF,ZWE (3K),ZWU,CYH,REEM (2K),ZMI(3K),CYH,MFT (3K),XTR,ZWP,ZDM.ZPW,ZWH. - Also holding approximately 40% cash. I feel my portfolio is lacking U.S Exposure. Which of one HEA or ZDY would you recommend and what kind of weighting? I am retired and as you can see my portfolio is heavily weighted for monthly income. Looking at a 5-7 year hold. Any other suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Q: I hold both ZWH and TXF - both "covered calls". I would like to switch out of "covered call". Do you know the equivalent ETF for these two that have no "covered call"?

Carl

Q: Folks can you recommend one or a few ETFs that trade in US dollars that would compare with the ETFs listed. I want to put some US cash into lower beta equities and strategies and am thinking that the ETF fees may be worthwhile to gain the covered call approach and enhanced income that results at the additional cost of sacrificing upside in rising markets. Also any comments on this intended approach for an equity investor who is transitioning from a balanced to an income tilt is appreciated - all the best.

Q: Good morning, my US equity is entirely in ZWH, VGG, and VIG. Each about 5% of total portfolio. Monthly income from ZWH is convenient for RRIF withdrawals (over 80) but both VIG and VGG have significantly outperformed ZWH over at least the last 2 years. I am thinking of disposing of the ZWH (covered call ETF) and using equal amounts of VGG and VIG to total 15% of portfolio. I have available $US cash to do so. Any other ideas for US equity exposure are welcome.

Regards Ted

Q: In order to get us exposure, I currently hold a number of individual canadian companies with us operations, e.g. aqn, td, bpy.un and etfs txf and zwu. In addition, I hold about 10% of my portfolio in zwh. I am not unhappy with the latter, but am considering reducing the 10% exposure with something other than a covered call approach. What would you consider appropriate, preferably hedged, to pair with zwh to achieve a more balanced approach to the us portion of my portfolio.

Thanks for the great service.
David

Q: Hello 5I,

My Question.
I would like to buy ZWH for income.
Do you think todays price at $19.75 is reasonable?
Or do you expect more down days for ZWH?

Thanks

Q: Hi 5I.

I'm looking for ETFs that are comparable to ZWH and ZWE..
I have these in my RRSP now and would like similar ETFs for my TFSA for more diversification or these are diversified enough?

Thanks

Q: Dear 5i
I own VGG , VFV , and ZWH ETF`s that all trade on the TSX . I bought these ETF`s because they hold all US stocks and i needed some US exposure. It seems however that when the US markets are up big but the TSX is down a bit on the same day the US ETF`s are down . So my question is if one expects the US markets to outperform the the TSX then would it not be best to buy said ETF`s on the US exchanges ? It just seems like i`ve got the US exposure but even on big US market days coinciding with low TSX market days i`ve lately been missing out lately on the current US market rally . Should i stay the course or switch some to the US exchanges ? This is assuming that we believe that the US markets will do better then the TSX this year .
Thanks
Bill C.

Q: What percentage would you put into each of ZWA (hedged) and ZWH (unhedged), for long term, as a rule of thumb, without knowing the rest of one's portfolio, but figure it's a reasonable percentage of one's U.S. component. Thanks for your advice.

Q: Happy New Year Peter and team.
I keep hearing that US Banks will do great in 2018 and am switching from ZWH to ZUB in my RIF where I have a 8.4% weighting. Is this a good strategy or do you have other ideas and why?

Q: Happy New Yea 5i, I am looking for income, please rank/rate the above, considering future interest increase influence, perhaps suggesting a better choice. Many thaks,J.A.P., Burlington

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: I own ZWH at present in a registered account. Is there any advantage to adding XDU (hedged or unhedged) for diversification? I am also looking at ZWU as a possible addition. Thank you.

Q: Would there be any withholding taxes on dividends from these products when held in a TFSA ? Joe