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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: Recently we were surprised to see that my 86 year old mother in law sold an etf and purchased Manulife simplicity portfolio FE (568). I say surprised as the broker is well aware to discuss financial changes to her account with my husband and ETFs were specifically chosen to avoid buying mutual funds. What can you tell me about this fund and does it generate monthly income. It looks like the broker is selling shares every month and sending her a cheque. I do not see any info around fees (which I thought had to be disclosed under the new rules) on her monthly statement. My husband is meeting with the broker so any info you can provide or questions he should ask would be appreciated.
Read Answer Asked by Maggie on March 28, 2017
Q: What is your opinion on this ETF? Pros? Cons? Is it best to hold it in a registered account or TFSA?

"I’ve started to buy one of the newest additions to the BMO ETF lineup - BMO Canadian High Dividend Covered Call (ZWC-T) strategy. It’s expected yield is around 6 per cent and it has less risk than the overall index. It holds a basket of some of the best quality dividend payers in Canada with a yield enhancement from a 50-per-cent covered call overlay."
It was mentioned in this article:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/funds-and-etfs/etfs/larry-berman-its-time-to-get-defensive-after-a-troubling-budget/article34414534/
Read Answer Asked by Helen on March 28, 2017
Q: Based on bitter experience, I have concluded that preference shares are generally not suitable for an investor disinterested in gambling on interest rates.

My conclusion is based on the following:
- the only type of preference share which assures the investor of a fixed capital repayment amount is one subject to a mandatory fixed redemption date.

It seems to me (perhaps wrongly) that 1. reset shares will not necessarily trade for face value on the reset date and 2. floating rate shares would never necessarily trade at their face value
- in practice, the mandatory redemption type share is not available to a retail investor, if at all.
- apart from interest rate risk, I wonder whether there is a significant spread between bid and ask, placing the investor at an automatic disadvantage at the time of sale

Am I wrong?
Read Answer Asked by Carl on March 28, 2017
Q: From your experience did you find that, in an upward market, inflow of money into mutual funds increases and therefore accelerates the upward momentum and the opposite is true as well? Today with all these ETFS can this occur with ETFS as well? Is the popularity of ETFS (funds flowing in and out) is adding to the volatility of the market. Would you see a panic scenario causing a major collapse?

Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Saad on March 27, 2017
Q: I'm doing research on RPI.UN and came across the is on the March 2, 2017 Press release:

"Net income was $7.9 million, or $0.73 per Unit, down $2.6 million from 2015 which mainly reflects higher EBITDA offset by contingent consideration for the Healthmark acquisition and the mark-to-market loss on exchangeable shares due to a $5.61/Unit appreciation."

What are the contigent considerations they are referring to?
Can you explain the mark-to-market loss on exchangeable shares?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Larry on March 27, 2017