Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5i,

A portfolio construction question. I've selected a mix of XTR (36%), XSB (7%), CDZ (17%), XAW (19%), and then a mix of laddered GIC options (17%) and a small cash holding (4%). This is for a family member's portfolio, retired, needing income, security, and modest growth (in that order).

This ends with an allocation of approx. 55% equities and 45% fixed income/cash, and 69% Canada, 22% USA, and 9% Global.

This mix also generates distributions/dividends almost dead on 4%/year, so following the 4% withdrawal rule more or less allows for not needing to sell anything to cover cash flow needs.

Wondering if you could comment on the ETF selections and overall structure with the understanding of course that its always a highly personal decision. More just want to know if you have better ETF or security selections for this scenario...

Thank you so much!
Ryan

Q: Hi 5i team,

I have 817k in a LIRA to invest. This is a portion of my retirement money that I will rely on for income. I still however would like some growth too. I was thinking 50% in VFV and the balance in a high yield dividend paying etf. Your thoughts and could you please recommend a high yield dividend paying etf. Thanks for your amazing insight!

Glen

Q: Lately my capital investment in ZPR has been decreasing. This forms part of my income investment portfolio. I am thinking on making a switch. Which investments would you recommend for income with a little potential growth as a replacement.

Thank you,

Bob

Q: In a recent posting you replied that you favoured both for high dividend etf. If you had to choose one over the other, which one. I hold both in equal amounts.

Q: age 80, have large amount to invest, looking to make up low risk portfolio that doesn't require constant watching

Q: Assume for the moment that I believe that the current market has just experienced a pull back as opposed to being at the start of a longer downward trend (bear market, recession, ...).

I have about 25% of my portfolio in income generating, relatively diverse, ETFs (xhy, xpf, xtr, ...) but I don't currently need the cash flow. These fell more or less in line with the TSX - in some cases less.

I feel like now would be a good time to move these ETF holdings to solid individual companies that have done worse this year (BNS -20%, TD -18%, ctc.a -23%, etc.) and in a recovery period should do better than the ETFs.

Your thoughts on this strategy?

Q: Hello 5I,
I will be retiring in 3 to 4 years and I would like to know if the following ETF would provide a suitable diversification while reducing volatility and providing a monthly income to compliment my pension.
50% CND: CDZ/XTR/XEI/PDF/ZRE
30% United States: ZWH/ZDY
20% Intl: ZWE/ZDH
Feel free to add/remove ETFs as required
Finally, would you limit the exposure to each ETF to 15%?
Thanks
Sylvain

Q: In my portfolios (700k), I have 14% cash, 11% preferred share, 50% equities and 25% etfs (5.3% ZWC, 3% ZWU, 4.8% MFT, 1.4% XHY, 3% ZWE, 5.5% ZWH) all in two RIFs. I need some income to augment my pensions from the RIFs. I plan to increase the ETF holdings another 5 - 10%.
Should I increase the ETFs that I currently hold or buy XTR? Note: I am not a fan of XHY.
Thanks as always
Jim

Q: Would you please recommend:
A couple of well diversified Canadian equity dividend ETF’s
A couple of well diversified Canadian equity High dividend ETF’s.
Thanks.

Q: I would like to derisk my portfolio and pull out of trading equities myself. I am near 70. What mawer products or other etf/mutual fund products can I hold in my trading account that would give a fair dividend , would have preferred tax rate on those dividends and reasonable MER.

Q: My friend has $150,000. to invest, she has a time frame of 10 years minimum before she will need the money. She is interested in dividend stocks and wants to have a balanced portfolio, can you suggest what stocks she should purchase for this portfolio, she does not own any stocks at the present time.
Thank you for your help.
Dorothy

Q: just wondering where the best place would be to put student loans with no interest owing for at least 4 years would be, out of the companies above? any other suggestions would be appreciated as well

Q: I will be retiring in 15 years. At that time I will have a livable pension.
I currently am 100% invested in equities (40 cad/40 us/ 20 international).
At retirement I plan on having a 50% equity and 50% bond/fixed income portfolio.
I am going to allocate 10% of my portfolio to bonds/fixed income shortly.

I plan on buying XSB and XTR.
1)Do you recommend a more diversified bond/fixed income portfolio? If so what geographic weighting and bond etfs would you recommend?
2)With a time horizon of 15 years would you hold off on purchasing long term bond etfs until after impeding interest rate increases?
thanks

Q: Hi 5i team,

My dad is almost retired with a +/- 5 year timeline of when he will need a majority of his savings. I feel he should move it out of a bank account that earns him 0.07% and into an ETF or into some blue chips stocks. Can you recommend some ETF's or blue chip stocks for his timeline?

Thanks.

Q: For safety's sake I believe you recommend not allocating more than 5% to any individual stock in the event it went poorly. What about an ETF such as XTR for the fixed income portion of a portfolio - would 5% still hold as a maximum? If it is higher what percentage would you be comfortable with?

Q: Hello I hold the BMO monthly Income A mutual fund. I am trying to find a replacement in the etf world that can reduce my fees and give me approx the same income and somewhat stability. Current yield is approx 3.5%. Do you have a few suggestions? Thanks

Q: We will be putting 50,000 in my wife TFSA inNovember. we are looking for relatively safe investments with decent return.We think perhaps 10 investments @5000 each.Can you suggest other names I could look into.We have RRSP maxed out with varied portfolio.Deduct as many credits required. Tks 5i

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

In your answer to Michael, you said: "We think XTR is a good option in either account, considering its income focus and very low fees."

According to the Blackrock website, XTR has a M.E.R. of 0.62%. Because it's an ETF of other ETFs, is 0.62% considered to be "very low fees"?

Thanks in advance. I'm continuing to learn so much from 5i.

Q: Hi team
I have some money in XTR and FIE, both etf for income in my RRSP
which I am happy about

in my non registered account
I am looking for an income/dividend fund Canadian
and an international income/ dividend fund

would you recommend anything in the Royal Bank family of mutual funds for the
above ?
or an equivalent ETF
I have VIG already

many thanks

Michael

Q: Hello 5i,
I would like to add a comment regarding Richard's post about his friend's LIF. My wife also had her entire LIF in RBF 461 and we finally chose to move it to RBC Direct Investing and put it all in XTR. This immediately reduced the MER significantly and increased the distribution income as well. In terms of holdings, I believe XTR is about as close as you can get to RBF 461 in one holding, although there may some others out there as well.
While making this move we also took the opportunity to tweak some other aspects of the LIF such as payout amount and frequency, withholding tax amount and added our children as Contingent Beneficiaries. While we could have done some of this without making the move, it was very easy and quick to do with the change. This, along with some recent experience as an Executor, motivated us to add our children as Contingent Beneficiaries to all of our other Direct Investing accounts that we could.
Please note, this is not meant to be a recommendation of any kind, merely a personal anecdote for what it is worth. I hope it is of some help.
Cheers,
Mike