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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: In terms of total return which are the 3 best Canadian ENHANCED YIELD ETF'S over the last 5 years?

Thanks, Hugh
Read Answer Asked by Hugh on August 11, 2025
Q: Hi. would like to know in what account (RRSP,TFSA,NON-REGISTERED) would be best suited for these ETFs and your best to less favored in order for each account type please. ZWB, HCAL, ZWK, ZWE, ZPW, UMAX, HYLD, HDIV, HDIF, ENCC. Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Stan on June 09, 2025
Q: Given the current volatile market, option selling etfs seems to offer some tax efficient income while waiting for things to cool down somewhat. What is your opinion on investing in these vehicles? What is the risk / reward equation in an uncertain market. Is there one that you would prefer if you were considering for your income portfolio. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by mitchell on April 09, 2025
Q: I understand that TGED and TUED ETF's use both Call and Put option strategies to produce income. One is a global ETF and the other is a US stock ETF both available on the CDN exchange. Can you help suggest some ETF's available on the US exchange that use both Call and Put option strategies targeting the World and US stock markets. thanks
Read Answer Asked by Ian on February 28, 2024
Q: What ETFs best mirror selling put options on the S&P 500, the Nasdaq, and the Dow? Would they be a viable hedge against a falling market without having to sell individual long term positions that I wish to continue holding?
Read Answer Asked by Robert on April 03, 2020
Q: Greetings
Being retired I am interested in income and I am unwilling to give up a lot of upside for income security. As a result I own all the BMO covered call ETFs: ZWB,C,E,H and U. It has occurred to me that, if you feel the market will rise from here, buying the put strategy of ZPW and ZPH would make more sense as since calls limit the upside puts should limit the downside. Is my logic correct?
Thanks
Don
Read Answer Asked by Don on March 08, 2018
Q: Two ETF questions:
1. I invested in ZPW primarily for income and it has been fulfilling this purpose. However its price performance has been less than stellar and I am wondering whether you can suggest an alternative that would provide excellent income but offer some possible small market upside as well;
2. Is there a Canadian dollar equivalent to VOE?
Thank you for your assistance.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on January 17, 2018
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: I purchased ZPW in April 2017 primarily as an income source in a stagnant or rising market. Since that time, the ETF has fallen 5%, and the monthly income has also dropped from $0.105/share to $0.095/share. At the same time, the S&P and DJIA have both risen 5%, so this ETF does not appear to be behaving as I would have expected.

Can you please explain why both the NAV and dividends have dropped for this ETF while markets rise? Is it related to the rise of the CAD vs USD or are there other factors at play here? If something fundamental has changed with this ETF, would you suggest any comparable alternative that would provide reliable income that is not fully taxed as income (e.g. bond ETF's). Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Alan on July 17, 2017
Q: Hello 5i team. I'm new here.
With volatility perhaps increasing soon, but not wanting to be entirely out of the market for next 100 days, which U.S etf, would you recommend, ZPW(put write), ZWH(covered call), ZLU(low volatility)or other ?
Read Answer Asked by Bernie on January 24, 2017
Q: Hi 5i team,
My US portfolio is currently about 9% and consists of GOOG, FB, SBUX, GE, MCD, PM & DEO. I want to buy ETFs to bring the % up to around 20%. In a recent newspaper article about the high valuation of US stocks and possible volatility, the author recommended ZWH and ZPW instead of buying broad base market ETF.
What are your opinions of these two ETFs? Would they be useful tool to reduce risk while still participate in the US stock market if it goes up and also earn some dividends? Which one of the two is more effective or they should be employed as a pair? Many thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Willie on January 06, 2017
Q: Could you comment on ZPW, which I am looking at as a small position for income (being too cowardly to buy puts directly myself). Some points in particular:
- is a bull, bear or stagnant market best suited to this strategy
- the BMO site lists this as low to medium risk - do you agree
- can they really earn enough through puts to justify the dividend/fees
- is the US a good market for this strategy

Thank-you
Read Answer Asked by grant on November 25, 2016
Q: Good afternoon,
You recently responded to a question concerning put write etfs. My understanding is that such an etf may perform poorly in a bear market. Is there an etf trading in Canada employing an option strategy that would benefit from a bear market, apart from the highly leveraged short term products?
Thank you for your advice.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on October 07, 2016
Q: Why are the put write index etfs so far under the radar? In Canada there is only ZPW which has a market cap of 110 million, and in the U.S. there is only HVPW with a market cap of 38 million. There is also ZPW.U which accepts only U.S. funds but it's extremely small at 5 million. The dividends on these etfs are over 7% and they don't seem any more unsafe than a covered call etf, though it is clear that the share prices could deteriorate as much as any etf under certain market conditions.
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on October 06, 2016
Q: I currently hold BPY (up 50% over cost) and H&R in my portfolio 4% and 3% respectively.
I am considering swapping BPY for BEP for the additional income. Your thoughts?

I also plan to crystallize my capital losses and purchase the following ETFs:
Non registered:
ZPW – US Put Write
ZWE – Europe Covered Call hedged to CAD.
ZWH – US covered call
CPD – CAD preferred
XRE – Capped REIT

Registered (RRIF):
PGX:US – Preferred.

Each would constitute 2% - 3% of my portfolio. Diversification is my intention, but risk and surety of income is the primary consideration in all of the above noted.

Again, your thoughts.

Thank you for considering my questions

Gail
Read Answer Asked by Gail on August 02, 2016
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