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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Hey 5i, I would like your suggestions on portfolio construction for a retired individual. Basically I would like your suggestions for percentage breakdown between Canada, US, and international. My plans for international is just buying VXUS and calling it a day. For Canada I’m buying ETFs XDIV and CDZ. For the US I’m going to buy the 11 sectors (including REITS) through ETFs, either Vanguards or ishares. So I would like your suggestions on percentages put to the 11 sectors in the US for a retired individual. Thanks so much and what a great service you have!
Read Answer Asked by Mark on December 01, 2025
Q: Is VIU actively managed? What or who determines weightings in each international country ? Or is it just by stock screening that certain countries get a higher percentage weighting? Finally, if VI is the hedged version, what is it hedged against ? The Vanguard website says USD but this ETF is ex North America.
Read Answer Asked by Thomas on November 28, 2025
Q: Wanting to diversify my holdings to include international markets.

Could you please recommend an ETF for India, Japan, Europe and emerging markets.

What percentage do you recommend to be outside North America?

Thanks Dave
Read Answer Asked by David on November 26, 2025
Q: these ETFs are my main yield workhorses. Can you suggest others to compliment them?
Read Answer Asked by Mark on November 25, 2025
Q: Hi team,

Could you come up with a list of « sleep at night » ETFs, with a 5-10 years horizon, ranking them from best to lowest potential growth and from highest to lowest risk ?

Please deduct as many credits as you see fit.
Gratefully,

Jacques IDS
Read Answer Asked by Jacques on November 14, 2025
Q: We have $50,000 we want to invest and leave alone for 3-5 years. We understand there is a good chance of a market correction, and unknown market volatility the next couple years. Would you suggest putting it into an ETF, and if so, can you give us 3 or 4 names to consider?
Or, a couple sectors, with company names, to purchase shares in. Thank you.
Grant
Read Answer Asked by Grant on November 10, 2025
Q: I have US stocks and CAD stocks but also want to keep a large portion of my portfolio in indexes. I have VFV and similar for trakcing S&p and have added VEQT in the last few years for world diversification. I have a small amount in XAW, but does it make sense to have more in XAW since i have a bunch of individual canadian stocks? or do you have a preference for canadians to own one of these over the other?
Read Answer Asked by Danielle on November 09, 2025
Q: I don’t have any international ETF. Can you please suggest 2 to 3 ETF

If you need to buy one ETF which one would you recommend to buy.

Thanks for your excellent service
Read Answer Asked by Hector on November 06, 2025
Q: I currently hold the above ETFs in a RESP and wonder if I should add any other ETF or this is good enough and just keep adding to these ones. Money not needed for 9 years.

Thanks
Read Answer Asked on November 04, 2025
Q: Morning troops. Just wondering of there is a hedged version of VIU? I am a 65 y/o retiree looking for mainly income but not afraid to look for a little growth also. Am looking to hedge because I don't like playing currency fluctuations. I currently have 1% of my portfolio in XIN so am looking to boost my international exposure. Any other suggestions welcome. Cheers.
Read Answer Asked by Neil on November 03, 2025
Q: Hi There,
If I'm looking long term, and want to keep things really simple, what would you suggest as the best international ETF(s) to pair with an S&P 500 ETF such as TPU.TO? And do you see a drawback to leaning into the S&P 500 as it reaches new highs?
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Jonathan on November 03, 2025
Q: Could you give me three Canadian and three US
ETFs for international exposure.
Read Answer Asked by Roy on October 31, 2025
Q: I am thinking of selling my bonds for an an international (ex-North-America) ETF that is fairly non-volatile (defensive, consumer cyclical, industrial).

I heard this as a strategy in the Canadian Financial Summit and it made sense because the bonds I've held for stability offer less in returns and in stability than the diversification does.

I'd like to hear your opinion on this strategy. Can you also recommend 4-5 ETFs that would play well into this strategy.

Thanks as always.
Read Answer Asked by Kevin on October 31, 2025
Q: I need to add more global allocations to my portfolio. Can you suggest three Canadian and three U.S. ETFs?
Read Answer Asked by Roy on October 30, 2025
Q: If a new Canadian investor wanted to get into the North American market and use low cost index investing to achieve both diversification and simplicity what would you consider for such a portfolio. And if international exposure was desired what could be considered as additions for that.
Read Answer Asked by dave on October 23, 2025
Q: Hi 5i,

Looking to start an RESP for a newborn. Any recommendations in how to configure an ETF portfolio? If you had to limit yourself to a selection of 3 ETFs, which would you choose and why?
Read Answer Asked by Kyle on October 22, 2025
Q: please suggest 3-5 Canadian etfs for an 18 year old's first TFSA portfolio - something to keep him interested in the concept of growth through investing, including stability and risk. My thoughts are S&P, Nasdaq, Russell, large-cap and crypto. But please use your own judgement - thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Kim on October 22, 2025
Q: Creating TFSA for 25 year old daughter. Started off really timid with VBAL then slowly started to add individual names. Small quantity in US names. If 10,000 left to add, what would you suggest to balance it out and be diversified, based on current prices, value, potential upside, while managing huge swings in price with things like metals/oil/gas? I want her to see the benefits of investing and feel the pressure so don't want to make any huge mistakes. Thanks for your great advice!!
Read Answer Asked by Neil on October 21, 2025
Q: I'm looking to increase international exposure inside a TFSA account focused on long term growth. Is there enough difference between these two to own both ? If only one, which one would you add?

thanks
Read Answer Asked by Raymond on October 14, 2025
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