Investment Q&A

Q: My daughter is 27 years old and is looking to invest around $35,000 as her first investment. She is considering investing 40% in Canadian equities (ZLB, PDC, and XRE), 50% in US Equities (VUS and DXU), and 10% in International Equities (FCIQ and VEE).

As an initial investment, does this balance seem reasonable or would you have other recommendations? Is this sufficiently diversified or are there too many funds?

Thank you!

Q: hi 5i .. for a retired income investor, which of these three ETFs would you pick to buy today, given these market conditions, and why ... thanks!

Q: Would you buy a REIT today? What would be your top choice?

Q: Good Afternoon 5i,
Thanks you for the Market update and special report on March 9th I found it very helpful...
My Question. Is this a good time to buy Reits? I'm thinking about adding a ETF reit. Do you have a favorite Canadian ETF Reit?

Thanks


I

Q: Hello 5i, I am looking to invest in one or two Canadian real estate ETF. Can you suggest me 3 names with low cost, a good performance and low debt. Thank you! Jean

Q: If you were to choose between the 3 above. How would you rank them in terms of security (first and foremost) and total performance for a 3-5 year hold?

Thanks to all for your fantastic service and a very successful year in all your endeavour.
Y

Q: Hello
Reits took it on the chin today. I know the FED standed pat on any further cuts to interest rates. Can you explain why you think the Reit index on the TSX dropped? I would have thought the news would have been baked in...

Q: Is now a good time to invest in REITs? As a Canadian, is it good to invest in US REIT? Is there any tax drawback investing in US REIT? Do you have any recommendations for REITs? Thank you for your great service.

Q: I am a retired conservative dividend income investor. I've held Sentry Global REIT for years (love the 6% distribution) and have been monitoring its performance as compared to ZRE and XRE. I didn't mind paying the 2.4% MER as long as it was outperforming. However, on a total return basis, Sentry has lagged significantly and I have sold it today.

With interest rates appearing to be on the decline and, more importantly, for portfolio asset allocation, I still want to have REIT exposure. I am leaning towards ZRE, due to the equal weight nature (as opposed to XRE).

I am normally a long term buy-and-hold investor. ZRE has had a good run recently, but I think the future still looks good, due to the macro environment. Your thoughts?

My target REIT allocation is 7.5%. I also have a position in CSH.

Thanks for your help...Steve

Q: Greetings 5i

I continue to focus in on dividend producers that offer security as I enter retirement. At the present time in my TFSA I already have a 20% weighting in VBAL and 5% in XRE. I have another 5% to allocate which will be coming from my sale of BAD as I slowly transition to more security. Which do you suggest as the best alternative? Any other suggestions?

I know VBAL and XRE are very different in context and dividend payout so I need your insight. What I do know is that I’m having a great long ride with Shopify. For that I’m happy not to receive a dividend. Thanks 5i!

Peter

Q: I have held XRE for over 10 yr. in RRSP - so, with dividends I am up over 400%. I was thinking of selling this ETF and buying BPY.UN because the latter regularly increases dividends and is a broader based property/real estate holding company. I did not think it prudent to own both: either would be a very small holding in the portfolio.

Q: Have all of these and so far all performing fairly well---they all around 2%
Want to top 2 of them up to 5%----or maybe you have a better choice.
Please advise your thoughts
Peter

Q: I have a question about XRE and the real estate stocks in general

I noted that the above has been going up recently
is there a fundamental reason for it ?

I have REI.un, I am thinking of selling it and putting it in XRE

thanks
Michael

Q: Hello 5i

Thank you for your prompt reply to my question as to which account was best to put XRE.

Would all interest from the security only be sheltered in an RRSP or would the same rules apply for a TFSA? At present, I have no room in my RRSP but so have my 2019 contribution money waiting for a home.

Thanks, as always, for your support.

Best
Peter

Q: Read a question this morning about investments in REITS. Considering all the variables, and with a focus on the future economic outlook for Canada, what makes adding a number of REITS to one's portfolio at this time a wise decision.

Q: Greetings

I have cash to deploy and I do not have any REIT’s in either my Canadian Cash Account or my TFSA.

What is your opinion of XRE and in which account would make more sense to place it?

I am retired, a conservative investor, and do not need the cash flow at this point in time.

Thanks

Peter

Q: I would like to buy a REIT etf for my TFSA, to capture some tax-free income, and trying to decide among XRE, ZRE and VRE. What would be your recommendation? Or is your choice none of he above but something else?

Q: Conservative, retired dividend investor. I've held Sentry in my Cash account since 2012 and sold 25% in 2017. My current weighting is 3.8% of my equity holdings. I didn't mind paying the hefty 2.44% MER when it was performing well. The last few years I have periodically compared it to ZRE and XRE, hoping for a turn around but my patience is running out. Now to be fair, Sentry reconfigured their REIT Fund a few years back to make it a global fund. Therefore the comparisons are a bit or apples vs oranges.

For the 1-3-5 year periods as of Dec 31/18, Sentry has returned -1.5%, 2.5% and 5.7%, while paying a 6.7% dividend.

ZRE = 3.2%. 11.3%, 7.3%, while paying 5.0%

XRE = 5.8%, 10.5%, 7.0%, while paying 4.8%

Question #1 = please confirm that all of these returns include the dividend payments.

Q#2 = while I love the higher dividend via Sentry, it really is all about Total Return over the long run. Is the global nature of Sentry (diversification) worth the lower returns?

The goal for this allocation is for stability, income, then growth, in that order. I am leaning towards selling Sentry and buying ZRE, due to the equal weight allocation. There are minor income tax ramifications.

Your advice is appreciated...Steve

Q: Hi - I have no REIT exposure and am considering adding either VRE or XRE. They are both promoted as tracking the TSX/S&P capped REIT index. When I overlay a graph of their 2 year price performance sure enough they are virtually identical. At first glance it would seem a no brainer to go with VRE since the MER is 1/2 that of XRE (.35% vs. 61%). However, it also appears XRE pays a substantially higher dividend ( ~ 4.7% vs. ~ 3% depending on the source I check). Can you shed any light on why the difference in the dividend when they are both tracking the same index? Do you have a preference for one over the other? Thank You

Q: Hi 5i Team.

I have positions in the three ETFs listed above representing financial and Canad/US real estate sectors. The ETFs are at a reasonable cost and provide good yields. What is 5i's opinion about these three ETFs.

Thanks

Iqbal