Investment Q&A

Q: I plan to retire in the next few years and have in mind to replace employment income with dividends. I have moderate to high risk tolerance. What dividend generating index funds or ETFs do you recommend to be in each of the following. My funds are split as noted below.
RRSP: 70%
TFSA: 10%
Cash account: 20%

Q: Can you suggest an alternative to CDZ? I believe one was mentioned some time ago but I can't find the reference.
Thanks

Q: First a big thank you for the terrific returns we received in 2020 thanks to your stellar guidance (our largest holdings we first discovered through 5i -hello LSPD,XBC and WELL!). We gifted our kids memberships in December and praise your service to everyone. This is truly an invaluable service.
Now to the question, my brother is tired of paying high fees for his CIBC pension holdings. When I looked into this for him last year, some pools had MER in the 2% range! He’s moved the following into cash and is looking for lower fee/higher return alternatives in the following areas of his pension account:
-Imperial Canadian Dividend Income Pool
-Imperial Canadian Equity High Income Pool
-Imperial US Equity Pool
-Imperial International Equity Pool
-Imperial Short Term Bond Pool
-Imperial Long Term Bond Pool
Please charge as many questions as required.

Q: Hi Team, Wondering if you could please suggest a good
ETF for growth - Canada and US.
Also a good ETF for Dividends - Canada and US.
This is for RRSP account.
Thanks

Q: Looking for 2 dividend paying ETF's, one CDN and one USA with low MER.
Suggestions please, thank you

Q: Most major North American indexes have recovered to within 5% to15% of their previous high. However the ETF "XDV" is still 22% below its high. What is your opinion for that lag?
Secondly, at a current dividend yield of 5.7%, do you recommend it for income and a long term buy and hold at this price?

The same question applies to DVY, the US equivalent which is 25% below its high and yielding 4.5%
Thank you.

Q: Hi 5i
Hope you can help me. I've managed my and my wife's registered and unregistered accounts for a number of years and I'm satisfied with the results. Those accounts primarily hold equities and I spend quite a bit of time overseeing them and tweaking as I think necessary.
I've now been put in the position of acting as trustee of funds for two minors. The time frames the two trusts will run are 7 and 9 years respectively and the principal amount of each is approx 75K. I want to invest the funds but I don't want to put them in individual equities and manage them as actively as I do our personal accounts. I would prefer to put them into ETF's that I can keep an eye on monthly or quarterly and not worry too much about tweaking.
Being optimistic by nature I'm hoping to arrange to get it all for these two trusts - capital appreciation, income, sensible degree of risk, Canadian, US and international exposure, favourable tax treatment, etc.
There are an awful lot of ETF's out there and I really don't know how best to evaluate them to shake out a reasonable number to look into further - especially considering how difficult it can be to identify individual holdings to effectively avoid overlap and provide diversification.
With all that in mind, could I ask you to list 5 (or so) equity based ETF's for each of CDA, the US and internationally that you think might accomplish the goals I've listed, so that I can then look into those ones further and make some decisions about where to put these funds I'm charged with managing.
Also, if you do have any general or specific advice that you think might be useful to me in the situation I've described, I would certainly appreciate your including it in your answer.
Thanks very much and please deduct credits as you feel appropriate.
Peter

Q: My son approached me on some advice on investing. He is just starting off. My inclination is to suggest to him to stick to ETFs. Ideally a mix of CDN, US, Bond and International oriented ETFs . I have my preferences, but would like to know what you would suggest? I am guessing he is looking at a year window to start.

Q: Good morning,
This past week, I've been reviewing each holding in my Non Registered account to identify suitable tax loss harvesting candidates. Before selling any of these tax loss harvesting candidates, I must identify the best proxy replacement.
One my tax loss harvest candidates is XDV which I've held for many years now but like so may other stocks and ETFs these days, is now quite underwater. Although I still like XDV as a core holding and it pains me to sell it, I'm looking at selling XDV and purchasing CDZ as a proxy. Your thoughts on this tentative plan would be appreciated along with any other proxy that you would consider more appropriate. Thank you.
Francesco

Q: Retired dividend-income investor. I currently own ZLB (in RRSP, max'd out, love it) ZRE (Cash account, purchase for LT hold-distributions, plan to add to it over time) and ZWC (Cash account, purchased for LT hold-dividends).

I have a sizeable capital loss in ZWC....2 choices. #1 = Keep it, top it up over the next several months. #2 = Sell it, save the capital losses for future years (don't need them for 2020) and replace with either CDZ or XDV. I flushed XDV right away due to the very skewed asset allocation (to financials & utilities).

So that left the comparison between ZWC and CDZ. Their metrics are, for the most part, similar (beta, P/E, P/CF, ROE, MER).

ZWC is down 39% YTD, pays a current yield of 11%, has a reasonable asset allocation (the 22% energy allocation initially may seem high but might be good for the eventual rebound). However, I don't have the knowledge on how the Covered Call part of ZWC may impact the comparison with CDZ.

CDZ is down 43% YTD, pays a current yield of 6%, but has a slightly more diverse asset allocation and has performed better than ZWC over a 3 year period, but has a higher Beta.

I entered the comparison exercise believing I would conclude to sell ZWC. Now however I might just periodically top it up. Your thoughts please?

Thanks....Steve

Q: 5i Team,

Please provide your guidance on US based ETF's that you believe could be a buy now, and perhaps others that could be placed on a watch list pending a market adjustment or a new developing trend line. Goals would be moderate growth (lean towards safety) with a steady and growing dividend. I currently hold VIG and would want to expand my US based exposure. Position would be held in either a cash or rrsp account. Many thx. Steve.

Q: Hello,
I would like to know if there is an easy way to find ETF's which provide dividends on a monthly basis. Is there a list out there I can use or would you have a short list of such dividend payers? I do own XDV which is a monthly payer. I believe that using a DRIP in my account with monthly dividends should grow my portfolio faster over the long term.

Thanks for all your help.

PS: I love the portfolio analytics feature you have added.

Q: Hi. Given the current market and economic situation, what is your opinion of ZWC as part of an income portfolio for the next 12 months. I had thought of using both ZWC and XDV to generate some income. Thanks

Q: Hi. What are your current favorite Canadian high-yield dividend etf's? thanks, JR

Q: I am retired and have gone with a strategy of owing Canadian Dividend Aristocrat stocks in my unregistered account and Canadian ETFs in my TFSA. My RRSP and LIRAs holds US ad International ETFs such as VYM. I would appreciate you opinion on this strategy and can you make a recommendation for the best ETF for my TFSA.

Q: Hello 5i,
for my grandchildren ages 7 and 10 with $26,336 invested for them: 20% in LSPD, 20% MCR 30% XDY and 30% XHY for somegrowth and some income. Would this mix and distribution be considered appropriate for them and if not could you suggest an appropriate one?
Thank you
Stanley

Q: Good Day 5i,
Which Canadian Dividend ETF's do you recommend, The main choices I have been looking at are CDZ, XDV, XEI, VDY, ZDV. I Currently hold CDZ and XDV.

Thanks,
Dan

Q: Good afternoon,
I began building an Investment Account with the ETF's approx 10% weight each. I added CGX(for Dividend) and a GIC when I was unsure of what to do.
I realize the overlap with XDV;XIU;CDZ; and the Royal Dividend Mutual Fund. What do you recommend I do with the overlap? Diversification? I would like to begin to add individual stocks. Long term horizon. Have RRSP and maxed TFSA.
Growth and medium risk profile. Thanks Paul

Q: Good morning,
I'm 70 years old and with yet a new year upon us and a review of the holdings in my non reg equity portfolio, I'm concerned that my $650K non reg equity portfolio has slowly grown into a "hodge podge" of miscellaneous holdings that need to be trimmed, better concentrated (minimum 5% per holding) along with the addition of a few additional names in sectors that are not currently represented. My current holdings are as follows:
AQN (3.3%),BCE (11.6%)BAM.A(3.8%),CU (4.5%),DIV(2.8%),EMA (2.4%),KEY(2.2%),XIU(5.2%),XIC (33.2%),XDV(18.4%),SLF(3.6%),T(2.9%),T(2.9%),MAW120(3.1%)MAW102(3%).
I would very much appreciate your suggestions on how to best to adjust my current non reg equity portfolio to make it easier to manage and follow. I'm open to adding an appropriate mix of ETFs or Mawer equity funds as need be. My RRSP and TFSA are pretty much all populated with a mix of relatively low MER Mawer equity funds which have performed well over the years. I thank you in advance and look forward to hearing your sage advice and recommendations.
Francesco

Q: Gents,
I am interested in the Beutel Goodman Canadian Dividend Fund BTG875. It has had a bit of a rough go over the last 6 months perhaps due to interest rate increases. As more rate increases are anticipated do you think that this fund will continue to suffer? Are there other funds in this space that will fair better?
Thanks Chris