Investment Q&A

Q: Dear 5i,

Can I please get your opinion regarding these 3 Canadian Aggregate Bond ETF's.
MKB and HAD have MER's approx. 4 times higher than the passive XBB ETF. It looks like the overall Total Return performance is better with MKB and HAD but, only by about 0.5 to 1%.
1. Do you think it is worth paying the extra fees for MKB and HAD?
2. If yes, which one would you choose between MKB and HAD?
3. With interest rates already very low does it make any sense to purchase any Canadian aggregate bonds?

thanks

Q: Hi 5i:

I have a set percentage of my portfolio dedicated to fixed income, with a primary focus on safety, but also with the hope of some return. I have focused on short term bond ladder ETFs, corporate and gov't. Over the last few years I have seen the reported distributions drop, slowly but steadily, and also the price of the ETFs drop steadily. For example, CBO now shows a dividend of about 3.6% wile I'm down about 3.3% on the market value of the ETF. I would have been much better off over the last few years in a GIC. I have some of the latter and like the ETFs because I can redeem them at will. Is there any other alternative to these bond ETFs (most that I have looked behave similarly)? What about RBC's Target Bond ETFs? These are held to maturity, though it seems to me that this might not help if the main problem is that the bonds included in the ETFs are bought at a premium. Your advice would be much appreciated.