Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5i Team - What would your top 5 ETF's be as I'd like to purchase the best ETF's that you will recommend.
Thx - Doug

Q: Can you please recommend an equivalent to VDY that holds U.S. Companies and is Canadian Hedged?
Thanks

Q: I am looking for the top 2 Canadian dividend ETFs to hold mostly in registered accounts. I screened for MERs less than about 0.4 and current yields of about 4.5% or more and came up with: ZDV, XEI and VDY. How would you rank these for long-term holdings; best first. XEI is tied for the lowest MER and has the highest yield, with 29% energy, 29% financial and 17% utilities. VDY has the largest AUM at $2B but high financials at 54% and low utilities at 6%. Finally, I would like to invest in HXH in unregistered accounts but I am concerned about the low daily trading an small AUM at $92M. Thank you!!

Q: 5I team: Being a retired income investor and stuck on the nice yield for this fund I can still not be keen on it's substantial return of capital. Can you advise on a better alternative etf or fund for hands off solid yield as a replacement? Tks. Larry

Q: Hi, I'm slowly transitioning from a growth portfolio to a dividend portfolio for retirement, starting with positions in JEPI and JEPQ. Can you suggest a couple of US and a couple of Canadian ETFs with high dividends (+6%) that would complement these two? Thanks!

Q: Hi 5i. I hope all is well and you took a break at Easter.
I have noticed in the G&M that john heinzl reports on a dividend portfolio. I like his sense of humor on Stars & Dogs but I really wonder about his dividend hog portfolio. The same newspaper lets me create portfolios for comparison. I started with the same about of money (about $116K) and pretended to invest in October 2017 like he did. I made three one ETF portfolios. Made one portfolio with ETF HXT, One with VDY and One with WXM. All three of these one ETF portfolios beat JH’s significantly and WXM was a clear winner beating it by about $50K i.e., turning $116K into about $200k from Oct 2017 to now. The other two ETFs were not far behind. $50K can pay for a few dinners!
My question is whether you see any issues with WXM in the current investment environment and with the above comparisons.
Thanks as usual for this great service and patience with my questions. Thanks Danny-boy

Q: Any thoughts about VDY as a long term hold in my RRSP

Q: Hello 5i, I am retired and am looking at PWI for income and growth could you comment on the company Sustainable Power.

Q: From a dividend growth and overall return perspective, could you please rank the above etfs ? I do not need the income so my preference would go to HXT. Am I getting exposed to a lot more volatility in your opinion ?

Q: Good morning.
We are retired and rely on our investments for income.
We are looking to simplify our portfolios and would appreciate your opinion.
We are hoping to utilize etfs in our rrsp and tfsa.
In our non registered we would like etfs and Canadian dividend stocks to utilize the the dividend tax credit as this is our main source of income.
At present our set up is:
TFSA. VDY
RRSP. VIG
non registered. 70 % (VDY. XIU. VCE with 15 individual canadian stocks )
30%. ( VGG. ZSP. ZNQ)

Is this too simplified?
Are there any etfs we should add or delete or would be better.

Thanks for your help.
Victoria

Q: Hi there. I am looking for a dividend growth company or ETF to add to our kids RESP with a 10 year time horizon. What do you recommend from the 5i Research universe to initiate a position in now. After the initial purchase, I intend to dollar cost average on an ongoing basis. I already have Telus, Abbvie, and BMO in two other accounts and those are my highest dividend payers.

Q: I am looking for a good ETF focusing on dividends. What are you thoughts on HAL. Are there others you would consider better options?

Q: Good morning,

I'm looking at selling my VDY holding to harvest some capital losses. I would appreciate your recommendation on a suitable proxy until I can buy back VDY in 30 days.
Thanks

Q: Can gou compare and contrast these 2 etfs. I've always held CDZ and paid the higher MER on the basis that research backs dividend growers performing better in the long run. However VDY seems to be performing as good or better. Considering a switch to take advantage of the lower mer and thus higher divided yield.

Q: Good morning, what ETF's would you advise for a new portfolio today. Mid age investor, including sector allocations please. TFSA and Non reg'd accounts

Thank you

Q: Can you compare and contrast these 2 etfs. I've always leaned towards CDZ on the basis that the research shows dvd growers perform statistically better in the long run and thus also paying the higher MER was worth doing. However it seems VDY is performing as good or better and provides a higher dvd stream. I'm thinking I should swap.

Q: Recommendation for best Canadian dividend ETF for long term hold

Q: 1.For Canadian coverage would you choose xic, vcn or xiu?
2.Would it be worth putting half the total amount in one of the above(xic, vcn, or xiu)and the other half in vdy?
3.For the U,S. allocation should I choose vig or spy which both require payment in u.s. dollars which I don't have, or would it be adequate to simply choose vun.

Thanks in advance. I plan to hold these allotments for many years and I appreciate dividends but do not need them for my living expenses.

Q: Can you comment on the investment merits of these two etfs.Are there others that you would see as more attractive for a diverse long term hold of both Canadian specific and US specific etfs?

Q: Hi 5i,
In regards to XEI and VDY ETF's.
I looked at their T3's for the last couple of years using the CDS services site
and found that: XEI seems to consistently have ROC and for VDY it is inconsistent from year to year. These are supposed to be Canadian equity income ETF's so why do they pay a portion of their distribution as ROC? Can you help explain why this might be happening to other ETF's?