Investment Q&A

Q: My company has a one year horizon before we need the money that is currently invested in stocks and for the better part are under water. We are currently sitting on 50% cash and would like to invest the money to try to make some capital gain to offset the losses. I know as we all know that one year is very little but we trust that the market will be higher in April 2024. Do you agree with that thesis and if so where would you invest money in order to keep a safe and optimal return? Please answer by percentage of where through index funds and secondly would you put time horizon to invest in slices or all in now?
Thanks for your precious help.

Yves

Q: Dear 5i,
If one were to hold VFV and VSP for an infinite period of time and assume MER's were the same and effects of currency were neutral.
Is it reasonable to assume VFV would outperform VSP by approximately 1% because of hedging costs? If not, can you help explain.

Q: Hello, would you be buying VFV or VSP for a long term hold for a passive investor? Does it really matter? Would you own one right now and rotate to the other in the future ? Thanks.

Q: Dear 5i,
If one were to hold either VFV or VSP (CAD hedged) for approx. 25 years would you expect the Total Return to be the same for either ETF?
If VFV has long term better performance would it be because there are no CAD hedging expenses?

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: Hello Peter,
Are both etfs providing similar exposure to US 500 index (similar to SPY) and are they hedged? Would you recommend one over the other or both are about the same? Thanks very much. Does hedged mean the securities are protected if Canadian dollar goes up or down?

Q: Looking to park cash in a CAD ETF, inside spouse RRSP, until balance gets up to a reasonable enough figure to start buying individual stocks. Recommendations?

Q: Is there any difference in performance between between a US listed ETF and the equivalent Canadian TSX listed ETF? Is it best to keep it in Canadian currency?
For example: VOO// VFV/ VSP or QQQ// QQC.F/ QQC
Also what would you recommend for hedged vs non-hedged and also market weight vs equal weight?
Thanks

Q: Hi team,

I currently hold TD e-Series Funds in my RRSP and plan to replace them with other index ETFs. What would be your top 5 picks for this?
I have a high risk tolerance with a 25 year timeline.

Thank you

Q: This is a list of the ETF's in my portfolio, (I have omitted the fixed income ETF's that comprise of about 20%).

Do you see any issues with the selection? Any overlap? Perhaps there are better alternatives than the ones chosen.

Thanks for the great service.

Q: My 50 year young daughter is adding $100,000 to a balanced $1m conservative portfolio. Which 2 or 3 etfs (your suggestion or ours) would you suggest that fit a post pandemic world.

Q: Some recent news about the concentration of top five companies holdings on the S&P500. I hold VSP looking for inexpensive, easy, and broad diversification. I've looked at VUN in the past for same and not a big difference in relative concentration. Do you have any particular concerns in general for the concentration and secondly, any thoughts on VUN vs VSP over a 10+ year horizon. Welcome your thoughts on any alternatives that might come to mind as well. Thank you.

Q: I have 4 questions:

1. I have not diversified my assets outside the TSX and would like to do so. Between a TFSA, an RRSP, and non-registered account, which is best to purchase US stocks (for tax purposes)?

2. If I wanted to buy an ETF on the TSX for US exposure, what would be a good one?

3. If I wanted to buy an ETF (also on the TSX) for exposure to emerging markets, what would be a good one?

4. Would you buy an emerging markets ETF in your TFSA, RRSP, or non-registered account?

Thank you for answering my questions. The information you provide is very valuable.

Best wishes,
Terri

Q: I am beginning to swing trade ETFs. Which do feel more closely mirrors the SPY since one cannot buy the SPX? Feel free to mention others I may have excluded but should be considered.
Putting aside any tax implications or type of account (ie: registered vs non-registered)
Considering the state of the C$ and the price of oil, it would seem more logical to go unhedged , what are your thoughts?

Q: If you believe the Cdn$ (currently $.70)will strengthen against the US$ in the future ($.75) and you want to invest in a Cdn$ denominated S&P ETF would you use VSP (hedged) or VFV (unhedged) Thanks Mike

Q: I'm thinking of switching etf's, selling VGG and buying VSP to take advantage of tax loss selling (VGG) and also buying into a CAN dollar hedged fund as the CAN dollar has taken a beating lately and should rebound looking forward, appreciate your professional opinion? Thank you!

Q: I'm thinking of switching etf's, selling VGG and buying VSP to take advantage of tax loss selling (VGG) and also buying into a CAN dollar hedged fund as the CAN dollar has taken a beating lately and should rebound looking forward, appreciate your professional opinion? Thank you!

Q: I have approached my stop losses in these investments, should I sell to try to preserve capital to re-enter the market later after a bottom is more likely?? Say when the VIX is below 40? I kronor you can't give personal advice, just wondering what you would do, I'm 68 and retired, thank you.

Q: Dear 5i
I'm always a little confused as to which companies are CDN hedged and which are not . Just because it's listed on the TSX doesn't` always mean that it is hedged I'm guessing . I'm also assuming that it looks like the CDN dollar is going to be weak compared to the US dollar for awhile .That being said which of the ETF`s listed above are CDN hedged and is it wise to have a balance of hedged and unhedged anyways ?
Typically you expect share prices to rise as earnings increase . With the state of the economy ie covid19 it is likely that earnings will be lower for the next couple quarters at least so there are few expectations for higher earnings from most companies .Given this , would you expect the market to rebound higher even before there are rising earnings simply on the anticipation that higher earnings will eventually happen once covid19 is proven to be under control , or do you think we would actually have to wait for increased earnings to occur before we would see any meaningful bounce in the markets ?
Please deduct points appropriately .
Thanks
Bill

Q: Hello, Please provide ETF's that replicates TSX, S&P, DOW & NASDAQ
are there Hedged and non-hedged versions for US stock Indices.
Thanks.