Investment Q&A

Q: I have held these three funds since early 2016 for the stability component (maintain capital and some income) in my portfolio. The annual MER's are .44, .86 and .84. respectively, I have series F in the PMO funds. Extra year end distributions for the PMO funds were nice but they stopped after 2018 year end.

Their total capital growth has been very modest, about 2-4% total over several years.

I am not too comfortable with the higher annual MER's.

Could you comment if I might see significant capital drop if interest rates go up? Also, could you recommend any different holding or stock that I may consider instead of these funds for stability and income?

Thank You.

Q: Please comment on the uptick of the US investment grade corporate bond ETF XIG today. Do you still feel this is a suitable complement to a core fixed income holding of ZAG? Thank-you.

Q: I currently have 20% fixed income in my portfolio. 10% is laddered GICs and the other 10% is in ZAG ETF. I'd like to add another 5% to fixed income and was wondering if you think XIG would be a good source as it adds some US exposure and a slightly higher yield. How risky would it be? Or do you have other suggestions? Please note that I am not interested in junk bonds.

Q: Could you please suggest one or two currency hedged bond ETFs to compliment ZAG. This would be for a long term core position. I am trying to slowly increase my bond exposure and my only other holding is ZAG. I prefer to ex out currency fluctuations for my bond allocations, hence looking for hedged position. My initial thought was VBU. Your thoughts are always appreciated.

Q: Hello 5i,
My wife is concerned that our exposure to bonds is far too high, so I thought I would turn to the experts for advice.
Fixed Income is 31.1% of our total, combined portfolio broken down as follows:
CBO 4.8%
EMB 6.9%
VEE 1.0%
XHY 5.0%
XIG 4.7%
XPF 2.4%
XTR 3.0%
RBF 461A 3.30%
Note: these percentages reflect only the Bond or Fixed Income component of these ETF's, not the equity or other holdings.
We each have modest private pension as well as CPP and (1) OAS.
Our total portfolio income will soon be required to help cover living expenses - and presently looks to be able to do so for the most part.
So, my question is: given the foregoing do you see any areas of concern or any compelling changes that would be required?
I know this might sound a lot like a mini portfolio review, but I have added a lot of detail so that it might assist others who read the Q&A as I know asset allocation is an area of concern and interest for many members.
Please feel free to deduct as many questions as you deem appropriate.
Many thanks,
Cheers,
Mike

Q: I am re-evaluating my Fixed income holdings and looking to increase my holdings from 10% up to 20% of my total portfolio. Currently hold CBO and XHY and based on your answers to other questions am looking to add XIG and XBB.
In doing my research I notice that, with the exception of XHY, the Yields to Maturity after MER are well under 2% for CBO and XBB and around 3% for XIG, based on Blackrocks website. Given that XIG is US Bonds with Ave Maturity of 12.7 years I would think that any increase in US rates in the next few years would have a larger negative impact on this ETFs performance.
Given this info why would I not simply buy a 5 year ladder of GICs where I can get slightly more than 2% guaranteed for terms of 2-5 years with no possible loss of capital. (based on rated quoted in my discount brokerage acct.

Q: Hi, 5i.

What are your top picks for fixed income at this time? I have a small position in XBB and that's it.

Thank you,
Robert