Investment Q&A

Q: For a ultra conservative retired income based investor can you please give us your 10 best portfolio building blocks starting a new portfolio?...many thanks...

Q: How would you invest 40K USD (which stocks and/or ETF's) in a balanced way, to limit downside risk, but maximize capital appreciation over the next 1-3 years. What timing would you use to make this investment. Thanks

Q: I am currently managing my TFSA/RRSP funds and some money outside of registered accounts, which are largely individual stocks. With the market volatility, potential recession and war in Ukraine, I am finding it more difficult to keep on top of the individual stocks and am therefore considering going to ETF's. I am a year away from retirement but would be ok with more risk in the TFSA/RRSP's.
Could you please suggest 5 ETF's for the registered accounts and 5 ETF's for the non-registered accounts.
Thank you,
Jacquie

Q: Dear 5i
The above noted ETFs are the ones i commonly use in my RRSP , TFSA and non registered accts .
CDZ and ZLB are used for CDN content and the rest for US content.
I believe there is probably some redundancy in these and was wondering which ETFs could be left out .
Which ETFs would you use for RRSPs , which for the TFSAs and which for the non-registered acct .?
Thanks
Bill C

Q: What ETFs/mutual funds ( not limited to Canadian equities ) would you recommend for a young couple (in their early 30s) for their TFSA. It will be for a long term hold. If more than 1 ETF is advised, what percentage in each ETF. Thank you

Q: is there an etf that closely mimics the income portfolio? or do you suggest an etf for a income, thanks, Jean

Q: Good morning,

Truly enjoy reading your reports and answers to queries asked by members!

In your response to Chris, on April 8th, you outline a starting strategy for a young 16 year old investor.

You state: "we might start out with a broad market ETF that pays a dividend"

Would you be comfortable listing a few broad market ETF that fit this criteria taking into account a 10 year lock up of the funds?

Perhaps suggesting a few for high, moderate and low risk tiers.

Have a great weekend!

Art

Q: I’m looking for a low cost (preferably)ETF that focuses on CDN Dividend growers as opposed to high yield,my thinking is if they have extra cash to grow the dividend their EPS must be growing which would hopefully lead to a higher share price,would I be right in assuming this and preferably an ETF with decent volume ……Thanks

Q: I have a relatively small RESP portfolio that will have to change to an RRIF. I would like the RRIF to be able to generate enough dividends to cover the required withdrawals. If that is possible. Can you tell me your top ten highest dividend-paying Canadian companies or maybe even better ETFs or a combination that you would be comfortable owning?

Thank you.
David

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor.

I just flushed a legacy mutual fund that was planned to be merged into a different MF. I didn't like the new MF asset allocation. I plan to top up some of my existing ETFs and stock holdings to my maximum comfort level re: asset allocation, then (if needed) add an additional ETF to complement the portfolio.

Q#1 = I own CDZ and ZLB. For a conservative, long term, core ETF what guideline would you use for maximum asset allocation? I currently am at 7-8% each for the equity portion of my portfolio.. Is it reasonable to stretch this to 10% each? When I look at the top 10 holdings in CDZ and ZLB, there is no overlap at all.

Q#2 = I also own LIFE and ZWC, both covered call ETFs...total exposure is 11% of my equities. What maximum exposure to CC would you recommed? I seem to recall a question a while back that you suggested 10 or 15% was reasonable.

Q#3 = depending on your above answers, I may need an additional ETF with the following attributes for a long term holding = conservative, dividend >3%, Canadian holdings (ok to have some foreign). holdings should hit as many of the 11 sectors as possible and if possible, little overlap with the top 10 contained in CDZ or ZLB.

Thanks for your help...much appreciated...Steve

Q: 65 yr old retiring this year. I hold the following: XAW (35%), XBB (20%), XIC (12%), CDZ (7%), ZSP (7%), VTI (7%), ZIC, VTI and ENB at 5% each.
In view of the current conditions, would you increase the fixed asset portion and reduce equity? Which ones would you add to and which ones would you reduce/remove?

Q: Hi. I hold a considerable amount in CDZ and none of VCN. My thinking is that through CDZ I have large Canadian companies that raise their dividend but VCN may offer more diversity at the expense of income. I do like the dividends and concentration of CDZ. Would you stay with CDZ or shift some funds to VCN?

Q: Do to a few errors/mistakes in switching brokerages, I ended up removing these from an RRSP and TFSA accounts and left them in limbo in a non- reg account. I am aware of the serious overlap among the RBF266, XDV,CDZ and XIU. (They were in separate accounts at one time). If I should consolidate, what are your thoughts? What stays and what goes? If I were to begin selling and adding stocks, I was thinking BAM.A and ?Twenty year time frame. Have maxed TFSA.
Cheers and thanks,
Paul

Q: In yoor recent reply to my question regarding how to evaluate returns, you suggested CDZ. Thanks for that, it does seem a better comparison. Of interest, though, I did a comparison of CDZ to the TSX return, and found that the only difference over 10 years was the actual management fee of .66%.
I also appreciate your comments about risk. I had about 20% of my investment assets in "play" money, but over the last 2 or 3 years I have reduced that to essentially nothing, since - as you pointed out - an extra percent or even more would not make any difference to my lifestyle. That frees up my time, and I do sleep very well at night!
Thanks again!
Paul K

Q: Can you explain why for all periods up to 1 year VGG has a larger drawdown than CDZ? In other words CDZ seems to be less affected by the current expensive growth sell off. Going forward for a 3 year hold, what etf would you favour? Thank you.

Q: I have 5,000 cash in my RRSP come available. I plan to retire in 4-5 years and am looking for a reliable dividend paying stock(s) or ETF(s) to put this money into and forget about it.
Can you please provide a recommendation for this cash. Thank you.

Q: What is the distribution for this fund and when is it made? Happy New Year!

Q: What ETFs do you recommend for a retired senior with a company pension age 79. I am a conservative investor. How should covid developments affect my selection?

Q: I have about 10% of my portfolio in these bond ETFs XBB 2%, CLF 4%, XSB 2%, XSH 1%, PMIF 1%. They have shown a negative performance recently with CLF down 7%. The coupon reduces the losses. Will increased interest rates improve their performance? An alternative is to reduce my exposure and buy something like BCE with a low beta and a better yield (5% +). I am 79 years old and have pension income. My portfolio is conservative holding a large proportion in banks, telecoms and utilities. I am looking for stocks, ETFs with a low beta and good yield..

Q: Would you still recommend CDZ as the best Canadian Dividend ETF for retirees? Is it a good basic Canadian equity fund?