Investment Q&A

Q: Would you prefer XIC or XIU or a combination of both for a purchase at this time, and why? Long term hold . Thankyou for your knowledge

Q: Hello,
2 part question regarding the above companies for a 30 year old investor with a 10+ year hold horizon:

1. In a TFSA account I currently own BNS and BUS. Would you swap these 2 out for LSPD, KXS and DND today? If so, would you please rank the 5 companies in order of preference in a TFSA account?

2. I have some cash to deploy in my RRSP account. I was wondering if you could also rank the following companies to buy today once again for a 30 year old with a minimum holding period of 10 years: BAM, BIP.UN, BIPC (in case you think that one is better than the other in an RRSP), BNS, XIU and VEQT. I would be able to purchase 3 of the 6 mentioned so what would be your preferred mix in this case?

Thanks for your help!

Q: Hi,

I want to get my investments into more manageable ETFS. If you had to invest in only 3 ETFs for the Canadian market in the next few years, what would they be? Could you give me a list of some top contenders?

Q: A few questions re best index ETFs for safety, total return and tax efficiency:
(1) S&P/TSX 60 (unregistered account): Is XIU, XIC or another ETF better?
(2) S&P 500 (RRSP/TFSA): What CAN listed ETF is best for long hold: ZSP, XSP or other ETF? If held in an RRSP (ie US dividend tax except), can you recommend the best US listed ETF for the S&P 500?
(3) NASDAQ 100 (RRSP/TFSA): What CAN listed ETF is best: ZNQ, ZQQ or another ETF? Is QQQ the best US listed?
(4) Ex-North America index (RRSP): Can you list the best CAN listed ETF index fund? Would you stick with large caps or all? XEF? VIU?
(5) Emerging market index ETFs (RRSP): ZEM, VEE or other?
(6) MISC: Has HXT, HXS and HXQ permanently resolved gov't issues and are these ETFs safe for long term hold?
Thank you!!

Q: Hi,

I'm looking for an ETF that holds a small number of high quality Canadian stocks - say about 25 holdings. A yield similar to XIC or XIU would be nice but not critical.

HBF and DXG are a couple of ETF examples that I use for US and international companies. So something similar to these but holding Canadian companies. I don't mind paying a slightly higher MER for a somewhat more active portfolio management style.

Thanks,

Gord

Q: Words you hear often -"You can't beat the Index" . If one was to follow this theory - what would you invest in?

Q: If I wanted to add a single ETF for each of the following what would be your suggested ETF: S&P 500, TSX 60 and Dow 30?

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

Q: Can you please recommend a couple of ETFs for an RESP with a six year time frame? Thank you!

Q: I am helping my niece set up with ETF. She is holding the below funds right now. Can you please advise their fees and which ETF would you suggest replacing them with? Is there a site where you can check the mutual fund fees and performance?

PH&N LifeTime 2045 Fund
RBC Canadian Equity Fund
RBC Balanced Fund
BLK Balanced Index
Capital Global Equity
BLK US Equity Index

Thanks for your help
Hector

Q: Which is better for an RESP in terms of growth and returns within the next 2-3 years? Perhaps a ranking?

Q: Which one of these would be the best choice for a RESP. Beneficiary is an older child (grandson) who will start to draw funds from mid 2021 onwards. Looking for the best return within the 2 to 5 years remaining before total drawdown of funds would be completed.

I plan to establish a new RESP for a great granddaughter soon. She is not yet 2 years so has a long time horizon. Any suggestions?

Q: Good day
If I wanted to purchase ETFs instead of Mawer funds what would be the equivalent ETFs in Canada or the US
Thanks

Q: I am trying to find the average returns of the TSX, and the TSX 60 (XIU?), for the last 5, 10 and 20 years - including and excluding dividends. Am I right to use the XIU for the TSX 60, or is there something better? Could you please complete the missing 'including dividend' and let me know where I could find that in the future? Thank you very much.
TSX:
5 year: 5.21% (excluding dividends). 5 year: _____ (including dividends??)
10 year: 4.4% (excluding div.). 10 year: _____ (including div.?)
20 year: 6.1% (excluding div.) 20 year: _____ (including div.?)

TSX60 (XIU ETF):
5 year: 0.094% (excluding div.) 5 year: _____ (including dividends??)
10 year: 4.54% (excluding div.) 10 year: _____ (including div.?)
20 year: 2.38% (excluding div.) 20 year: _____ (including div.?)

Q: Hi, I am wanting to invest in an ETF that comprises the TSX 100, could you please recommend some ideas.

Thanks

Q: My son has asked my advice on how best to invest ~$13K he holds in GICs in registered accounts. He has a very young family and wants to begin investing on the right foot with this initial investment while adding to it over time, funds permitting. My personal investing approach has been to invest in high quality, primarily Canadian, dividend paying equities but for him, just starting out and with many investing years ahead of him, EFTs seem a far more appropriate and safer choice.

Would you consider 60% CDZ and 40% ZDY a good suggestion for him or would you recommend other EFTs that better track the indexes like XIU and ZSP? Do you consider just two EFTs sufficient diversification until his portfolio grows larger? What about the percentage Canada/U.S. split? Does 60/40 seem OK? Many thanks for your thoughts on the matter.

Q: Hello 5i,
I'm considering swapping xiu for xqq inside my RRSP, would you consider at this time a good move, pros/cons I need to be aware of?
Thanks
f

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: I currently own XWD in my RRSP, is this a good ETF or is there a better ETF that is similar to XWD that would be better?
Thanks

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: We have an unregistered account with 74% cash and want to buy some index funds (my wife read Millionaire Teacher and is convinced index funds eliminate some human error with stock selection). We are considering XIU, ZSP and perhaps ZDB; we do have a significant bond holding with Phillips, Hager & North and not sure if bonds should be part of this unregister account? Long term investments 7+ years. Thanks you very much for your comments on index funds.