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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: I am interested in the ZWH or ZWH.U for a registered account. Is effectively the only real difference in these 2 the fact that distributions are paid out and converted to CAD for ZWH whereas the distributions for ZWH.U are paid in USD? While ZWH is "held" in CAD it would be fully impacted by FX movements. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Gary on September 21, 2017
Q: I am a fan of covered calls. I am retired and like the income, tax treatment and downside protection. In addition I like the diversity an ETF brings.
I hold all the above but am looking for more diversity. Are there equivalent US offerings? Does BMO have competing products that are more diverse?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Don on September 20, 2017
Q: I am considering converting the holdings in our investment account from the couch potato to a dividend portfolio consisting of the 4 etfs listed. In both cases cash replaces the bond component. I want to draw a larger dividend from the portfolio. Do the 4 etfs provide satisfactory diversification and how do you see the pros and cons of implementing this change. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Richard on September 19, 2017
Q: My understanding of options is not very good other than the basics. Is ZPW a bull play or bear play on the market ? Part of me thinks that a put means a bear play but if the market goes up the put expires worthless and the fund collects the premium. So could you explain what conditions favour this ETF over one like ZWH which uses a call strategy ? What is the difference between how a rising, flat, or falling market will effect these two ETF's ? I notice ZPW has a slightly higher yield. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Garth on September 05, 2017
Q: Hi Peter: I currently hold ZWH in my rrsp and as it is the only U.S. exposure that I have, am wondering what you else you would suggest as a compliment to it. ZWH currently is 6 % of my overall portfolio. I am looking for something of a moderate risk to hold for 3-5 years or longer.

Thanks, David
Read Answer Asked by david on August 31, 2017
Q: For diversification of U.S. blue chips I have been looking at a combination of HBF and ZWH. There is about a five company overlap in holdings, HBF is not as liquid or as diversified in its holdings, is smaller in size but pays a higher dividend. Income and reduced risk are my primary objectives. What are your thoughts on HBF, would it be desirable to hold both and if you were to consider a combination what percentage would you consider?
Thank you for considering my questions
Read Answer Asked by Gail on August 24, 2017
Q: Good Morning: I am thinking of increasing my position in ZWH and have been reading your responses to past questions on this etf. You note that approx. 50% of the dividend is in US dollars and therefore is susceptible to the US govt. withholding tax (in a non-registered account which is where I would be buying it). However, I assume that this amount would be recovered at tax time since that is the normal process for withholding tax on US dividends. I want to buy this fund with Cdn. dollars because the Cdn. dolar is up recently and it seems to be like buying US equities at a reduced rate. Am I correct in both these regards?
In the same vein, do most brokers automatically exchange the dividend payouts into Canadian dollars (no doubt charging their clients an exchange fee) and is this negotiable with your broker? Many thanks for your help.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on August 16, 2017
Q: Good morning, If I sell ZWH, VGG and VIG in taxable accounts and replace with ZWA and VGH (both hedged and in Cdn dollars), will this trigger the disallowed tax loss? i.e. are they too similar to replace within 30 days? If so what would be a better solution? What would be your suggestion for US representation at this time?
Thanks for your never ending help.
Ted
Read Answer Asked by Ted on August 02, 2017
Q: Hi 5i,

I'm thinking on adding ZWH 5%-10% to my RRSP to cover my US exposure. This is for a income portfolio.
My portfolio now consist of 50% GIC's and
5% in each of the following stock.. BNS,EMA,ECI,ENB,SRU.UN,BCE.
10% in CDV.
Can you suggest another ETF that would fit better then ZWH? Or would you consider ZWU a better position. I see 5i income portfolio doesn't have any US equity holdings.
Would the US dividend be tax excempt within the ETF?

I look foreward to your answers.
Thank for all the excellent info!!
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on August 01, 2017
Q: I hold small weightings in cdz,zwc,zwh,zwe as well as holdings in Canadian utilities. I am thinking of replacing cdz with either zdh or cyh to increase my international holdings. Would you please look under the hood of zdh and cyh and would you recommend this move or do you have another recommendation?. Thanx. Great service.
Read Answer Asked by Steve on July 26, 2017
Q: BMO ETF ZWH is seriously underperforming YTD, in a strong US market. According to BMO website it is negative YTD whereas ZWA is up over 7% in the same timeframe. Is there some reason for this ? Longer term ZWH outperforms ZWA. Thanks for your insight.

Ted
Read Answer Asked by Ted on July 24, 2017
Q: My daughter has these 4 ETFs in equal weighting in her TFSA. Do you think she needs more diversification? Would you add something else with future contributions or just add to her positions when opportunity arises? Thanks for providing your great service.
Read Answer Asked by Rudy on July 06, 2017
Q: In order to avoid individual stock risk, my wife (retired) has asked my opinion on investing 30% of her total portfolio in 10% each of Canada, Europe, and the U.S. (The remaining 70% is composed of 5-year laddered GIC's) I have suggested the following... Canada would be broken down into ZWC and CDZ (on a 40/60 split), Europe would be broadly broken down into ZWE and XIN (40/60 split), and the U.S. would be broken down into ZWH and CUD (40/60 split). What do you think of this strategy? Would you recommend different ETF's to balance the covered calls for the three geographic areas? Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Paul W on June 02, 2017