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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 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


Read Answer Asked by William James (Jim) on November 12, 2018
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.
Read Answer Asked by Gary on October 25, 2018
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.
Read Answer Asked by brian on October 23, 2018
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
Read Answer Asked by Dorothy on October 04, 2018
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
Read Answer Asked by matthew on October 02, 2018
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
Read Answer Asked by Timothy on September 06, 2018
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.
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on August 24, 2018
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
Read Answer Asked by pietro on August 15, 2018
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
Read Answer Asked by Guy on August 13, 2018
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.
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on July 20, 2018
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
Read Answer Asked by Michael on July 20, 2018
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
Read Answer Asked by Mike on July 19, 2018
Q: I am developing an income portfolio which will fund our retirement as we have minimal pension income. We are looking for monthly income that is relatively stable. We have a number of the big Cdn banks and Utilities owned in this portfolio. Which of the 2 monthly income funds would you prefer?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Nancy on July 11, 2018
Q: as a follow up to a previous question and answer: The ETF XTR might be a good substitute for FAP....I'm heading into retirement. what account would be best to add this to. tfsa? or a taxable act? my tfsa holds su, t and cgi. my trading act. is a mixture which i am trying to organize.
Read Answer Asked by Karen on July 03, 2018
Q: Hi, . I want to invest in 5 stocks ,mainly for income , I would like your thoughts on my ideas , and give me your ideas . p.s. I hold BNS and TD . I would buy 1 at atime over the next several months thx Jack
Read Answer Asked by Jack on February 23, 2018
Q: Good evening 5i.

I just want to say I have enjoyed this forum lots over the past year and it has helped me stay in the game.

My question is.

I need ideas for a few dividend etfs for my non-registered portfolio. To date I'm holding some large cap Canadian dividend stocks and fixed income. I find it easier to manage with less stocks and a few etf.
I now have 10% CDZ in my RRSP, would it make sense to put CDZ in my non-registered also?
Is CDZ dividend taxed the same as a Canadian stock dividend when held in a non-registered account?


Thanks Steve

Read Answer Asked by Stephen on February 08, 2018