Investment Q&A

Q: I need to increase my Global ETF or ETFs (ex- North America) exposure. I currently have some VIU but am wondering if I should consider a couple geographic areas: Europe, Asia, Japan etc. My preference would be something I can hold in CAD non-hedged and preferred non covered call.

Q: Looking to increase my exposure in International Equities. Currently have 20% of entire portfolio in XEC/XEF at a 75/25% split. Are these fine ETF to continue to purchase or do you recommend better international ETF.

Q: Hi,

I use these two broad ETF's to get exposure outside N.A. I'm in my late 30's and a growth investor. I know you can't give personalized advice, but what would be your suggested allocation towards these four buckets, VEE, XEF, Cdn, and US stocks? I have a spreadsheet to keep track of my holdings and allocate my holdings based on where they trade, although many companies may generate revenue in other countries. Is this too simplistic? I'm just trying to keep it easy to manage.

Thanks!

Q: Hi 5i
I am looking to add international exposure to my portfolio and would like your recommendations

Q: Which currently available Canadian EFT/s with would you recommend for purchase to increase international companies content in a portfolio?
Thank you,
Miroslaw

Q: All of my international holdings in my portfolio are in XEF and ZDI. I'm an income investor primarily. Do these two holding offer enough diversification? Is there a international dividend ETF that your prefer over ZDI?

Thanks,

Joe

Q: Hi 5i,
I am considering selling my position in XIN. Would you have a better replacement in this inviroment

Q: July 10 2019 you gave the following opinion on EDG100
"We are generally not huge fans of mutual funds for their higher fees, but EDG100 is an exception that has consistently justified the higher fees through its performance. We would be fine keeping it."
1) Just wondering what your thoughts are on this mutual fund today and are the high fee still justified by it performance?
2) What alternative that operate in the same space would you suggest looking into?

Q: As part of my shift from managed products to ETFs I need to top up all or a combination of ve, spy and xef. This will be a rather large transaction so I am leaning towards 25% of the amount in each ETF and keeping 25% in cash counting on covid related market dips over the next few months.

Q: Looking to add some tax efficient income to an otherwise well diversified portfolio. What do you think of the above mentioned ETFs? Could you suggest a couple of more?
Thank you!

Q: I'm looking to convert a RESP invested in mutual fund (chorus II agressive growth) to lower fees and menage it more actively. Kids are 5 and 2 years old.

I was thinking to diversify with 3 or 4 ETF for 70% of this portfolio. What are your thoughts about a combinaison of VFV, XIC, XIT, ZQQ and DXG for long term? Do you have better suggestions?

Althought, is investing in XIT and ZQQ and DXG a good idea on short term since tech valuation is already high at this moment compared to other sectors?

For the rest of portfolio (30%), i would go with stocks. What would be your top 4 on short term (next 6-12 months) and on long term?

Q: HI 5i, I would like to replace these 3 ETFs with a more robust/aggressive ETFs or individual stocks.
Thanks
f

Q: 5i Hello,
I have these EFTs on my RRSP and not feeling happy with them, can you suggest some possible candidates I could switch to, or just sell them all and with profits buy CSU LSPD SHOP GOOG AMZN.
Thank
F

Q: Thank you for answering my question yesterday. You guys are the best. If you could choose 5 ETF's for a 40,000 RESP for a 8 and 10 year to hold and continual buy for the next number of years - which are they?
I appreciate it,
Brent

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: IF and that is a big IF we have all missed the bottom on American larger caps should I be now focusing on US small caps and International markets? When I look at SPY and VIG all th money has jumped into American large caps and more or less erased the huge loss and pairs back some of my gains from 2019...so huge collapse gone...for now. I've topped up some VIG but missed on SPY. When I look at US small caps they are lagging and I assume this is due to the higher risk and lower volume, Same story for Europe, International and emerging markets. So my question is should I be shifting to adding IWO, XEF, and VE. I need to add some international content to my portfolio anyways as I am a bit light at 12% international ( developed) and 10% emerging markets. If you agree or don't strongly disagree what ETFs do you recommend right now ( I already hold the one mentioned). I am leaning toward a bit of IWO and larger positions in VE and XEF.

5 year window, high but slowly lowering risk tolerance, Balanced portfolio follower ( shifting slowly to income follower), overweight canada (40%) and US(40%) ,

Q: HI, I just recently made the switch from mutual funds to ETF’s and a DIY strategy and am looking to lock down 4 low cost ETF’s that I will invest in for the long term (30 + years) and leaning more toward the aggressive side for these. I am looking to take advantage of some dollar cost averaging to enter the ETF market for some broad market index ETF’s in my TFSA and was looking for you opinion of some that I am trying to choose between.
Canadian Market – I am trying to choose between XIC, VCN & ZCN. They all have significant overlap and same MER so I don’t see a whole lot of difference between the three, although I am leaning towards XIU, thoughts on which one you would choose for your portfolio?
US Market – I am trying to decide between VUN & VFV. The VFV has lower MER than VUN and has outperformed VUN as of late. Smaller and mid-cap companies historically had higher volatility than the large-cap companies found in the S&P 500, and so the trade-off is potentially higher growth, for potentially more volatility if you go with a total market index like what is found in VUN. The S&P 500 has outperformed the total market index as of late so I guess the question is will this continue, I am leaning towards VFV, thoughts on which one you would choose for your portfolio?
International Developed – I am trying to decide between XEF & VIU, both have similar MER, thoughts on which one you would choose for your portfolio?
Emerging Markets – I am trying to decide between XEC & VEE for a small percentage of my portfolio, thoughts on which one you would choose for your portfolio?
These are some ETFs’ I have come across from doing build wealth Canada course and reading other materials and listening to podcasts that seem to fit my long-term outlook. I am by no means experienced in this matter and just looking to hit the ground running so If you have better suggestions for certain markets that I may have missed feel free to outline them.

Thanks
Sean

Q: Hope everyone at 5i is doing well in these times!

I have been sitting on mostly cash in my RRSP/LIRA and would like your recommendations on the best ETFs to consider for my full US and International exposure. All of these would need to be listed on the TSX as I am purchasing in CAD $. While I know you prefer non-hedged, I’d greatly appreciate if you could explain benefits/workings of hedged vs. non-hedged considering the current environment. And provide ETF recommendations for each.

I am looking to achieve a balance of diversification, reasonable MER, minimizing any withholding tax while optimizing the potential in market recovery. For US, I would like to have a technology ETF, health care ETF and a broader spectrum ETF – but also open to ideas. Also, looking for recommendations on International – one broad ETF or perhaps that and a mix of ETFs. I recognize there can be overlap (e.g. between a tech and broad sector fund), so if you can give me a sense of the degree of duplication that may be present in your recommendations. Perhaps going heavier on tech right now could be a good thing.

While I started off thinking ETF selections would be relatively simple, in reading various Q&A there seem to be many important considerations - your assistance is appreciated. Again, all of these are being purchased in RRSP/LIRA accounts with the goal of optimizing my returns over a 10 year window.

Q: I have exposure to these etfs in my rrsp. Would you recommend selling zwe and adding zeq? How much overlap is there between xef and zeq?

Q: I'm looking for tax-loss harvesting guidance with some ETFs. Can you provide alternatives to hold for XEF, XEC, and VUN that would likely be accepted by the CRA as non-wash? Thank you!