Investment Q&A

Q: With global recession concerns and uncertainty of energy supply to certain European countries, especially Germany, would you sell holdings in HEDJ (hedged to USD) and EWG (unhedged) ? Or would you hide under the bed and ride out the storms? These (along with Japan and Korea) were added in recent years to add diversification ). Under current conditions the proceeds could be deployed in the US markets where selling seems at least a tad overdone. The latter would dilute diversity in portfolio. What would you do? Take advantage of current US markets or leave investments spread out in the dismal markets in Germany and other regions.

Please do include your BRUTALLY frank opinion on the assumptions I have made (implicit in the question). Your frank opinion please (*BE* rude... please)

Q: I hold HEDJ in a non-registered account. At date of purchase some ten years ago, I thought protecting against weakness in the Euro would be prudent. Would you agree that there is no need at present to hedge as above? It would not be tax efficient for me to sell HEDJ and buy an unhedged version so I would rather add to exposure to Europe.
Question: What ETF of stocks of companies based in developed Europe ex-UK do you favor? Is an unhedged version of HEDJ, in US$ (not C$) available? What other r ETFs , in US$ and not hedged, look attractive to you? I prefer ETFs holding less than, say, 70 large caps, incl'g some multi-nationals, all based out of Europe.

Q: I noticed that you have recommended VGK for European exposure. Would you prefer this over a hedged product such as HEDJ? Is there a Canadian dollar vehicle that you could recommend, and is there a C$ hedged one? Thanks

Q: Could you give me your thoughts on investing in Europe at this point in time. Would you hedge to the US or C$? Would HEDJ be a good vehicle? Thanks.