Investment Q&A

Q: where is the best return for $20000. US

Q: Good morning,

I'm looking at buying an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 for my TFSA account and am considering VFV.CA.

Withholding tax is a concern and given that VFV.CA holds US stocks, would there be a withholding tax on any of the dividends distributed and if so would you kindly recommend a few other similar ETFs that track the S&P 500 where the withholding tax is not a concern. Thank you.

Q: For a non registered account which etfs would your recommend for broad US and for tech exposure and what max weighting would you recommend allocating to these 2 etfs? Would these 2 etfs be the best for US exposure for the TFSA also or would you suggest different ones?
Thanks for your help.
Victoria

Q: Good afternoon,

I've owned the MAW 108 & MAW 106 mutual funds in my RRSP and TFSA accounts for a number of years and although I've been reasonably pleased with the absolute return of each mutual fund, the relative annual return compared to their benchmark index has not been that great...

Given that the MER of both funds is substantially higher than that of an ETF tracking the S&P 500 and the S&P TSX, I'm thinking of selling both Mawer funds and replacing them with one ETF that tracks the S&P 500 and another that tracks the S&P TSX, both with a much lower MER.

Q1. Do you agree with this course of action given that there would be no tax issue in selling these Mawer mutual funds and replacing them with two appropriate ETFs.

Q2. Would you kindly recommend your two best ETF ideas that would achieve my goal of reducing my MER fees and that track the S&P 500 and S&P TSX indexes.

Thank you and as always, your sage advice is much appreciated.

Q: Hi there,

The majority of my portfolio is held in XEQT. If I wanted to increase US exposure from 45% to 60%, in your opinion would to be best to layer in a hedged or unhedged US etf, considering XEQT already holds unhedged US exposure?

Thanks!

Q: Hi,

I'm looking to buy an S&P 500 ETF in Canadian dollars traded on the TSX.

What's your suggested ETF and which account should I hold it in?

I bank at BMOInvestorline if that makes any difference.

Thanks,
Robert

Q: As per your recent guidance, with interest rates plateauing, ZRE seems to be bottoming. What would be your opinion re moving some money from VFV, and putting it in ZRE. VFV has done very well and is scheduled to do well in the future. Do you recommend this kind of movement of fixed income from one group to another. Thanking you for the great guidance you have always provided.

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team.

Would you endorse a switch from ZLU to VFV? When I look at the sector breakdown of ZLU, I notice that ZLU is heavy in sectors that probably should currently be under-represented, and very light in sectors that should have higher concentration. And of course, the MER of 0.08% for VFV is better than ZLUs of 0.30%.

ZLU is held in our Margin account, and VFV is already held in our RRIFs.

Thanks as always for the timely advice.

Q: Good morning 5i:
Next year I will be retiring, and currently I have the outlined stocks in my RRSP, I'm happy with all of them, I think I would like to sell some of them (or trim down, slowly -no rush) and buy stocks/etf that will provide resilience , some yield, and perhaps some growth , can you please provide me with some ideas, 3 or more , I was thinking BN, add more to VFV.
Please use as many credits as required.

THANK YOU for all your help.

Q: Best S&P500 ETF for an RRSP?

Q: What are your top etf recommendations to purchase now given we are officially in a bull market, the latest cpi numbers are encouraging & the fed is possibly done?

Or is this too late and FOMO is leading me at the wrong time into investing more funds now?

Thanks.

Q: Hello Peter,
Thanks for your service. My renewal is coming up and yours is the only service i plan to renew.

For the three index funds, over a 5 year comparison, VFV out performs all , SPY 2nd and XSP is the last ... Why such a discrepancy? Am I better off with VFV going forward? Thanks

Q: Hello Folks:

We are seniors who would like to place 200,000 from a 1,300,00 investment account (all stocks) into a top rated Canadian based S&P 500 index fund. Another good alternative may be Berk. B. shares. Growth is more than income as they will reside in our TFSA accounts. I do understand Vanguard & Berk. B. good options, however have little practical knowledge; particularly with taxation issues.
You folks are truly amazing!!!!
brian

Q: Could you recommend a moderately aggressive portfolio suitable for a young person with a reasonably long time horizon (5 to 10 years)? Cash available is quite small at $2,500.00.

Today we harvested profits on SHOP and closed out two equity positions being held. We wish to still gain from above average growth however it is time to diversify and take on less risk.

Thank you

Q: Good afternoon,

I am starting a RESP for our grandsons: one born in 2021, the other born in 2023.

To maximize the CESG grant I contribute just over 2500$/year.

How would you suggest to invest the funds ? 2 or 3 index funds?
Would you include a NASDAQ -100 index fund such as XQQ, ZQQ or HXQ or even XIT (Canadian tech ETF)?

I would appreciate your guidance.
Kind Regards

Q: Can you explain the difference in performance between these two?

Also, I hold VFV in my TFSA and non-registered accounts, VOO in my RRSP. Is this the way to go?

Q: The proceeds of the MAGT takeover will be going into the new first home savings account... which stock would you yourself be buying with the cash? Thanks

Q: If a person had a modest amount to invest in their new RSP, say ~$8K, and a long time horizon, what would you suggest? Medium risk with DRIP if possible.

Q: Can you explain the difference between returns of VOO and VFV if one is preferable to the other in a non-registered account, RRSP, and TFSA?

Q: My Grandsons are 3 &1 old. They have 43% ZUT, 35% VFV, 21% ZWB and 0.9% BTCC.in their present RESP. I am looking for thoughts for the coming year deposit.
My thought are add to VFV (not enough now to reinvest),add a Reit ETF like TGRE or add an telecom ETF. I can not find a telecom ETF in Canada so maybe an alternative would be T.
All thoughts would be much appreciated.
Thank you