Investment Q&A

Q: What ETF would you buy to be long the market in this volatile environment (moderate risk - some income if possible)? If you can suggest 3 with a brief comment that would be great. Thank you.

Q: During this mayhem I was telling a family member how I observed these mini-crashes since the mid-80’s and how we used to make transactions in the early days. I’m convinced a lot of recent investors, hooked my huge gains since 2020 have never experienced such painful losses. Zenfulness -if this is a word- comes with time.

Would you have a history of when all the self-directed accounts were created and available online?
For example, BMO InvestorLine was created late 1988 (fax! or phone) but available online in 1997, I was there …

Keep supporting us.

Q: What ETF do you recommend to mirror the S&P 500?

Q: At what levels would you be an aggressive buyer of the SP500?

Q: Hello 5i Team,
Currently building out a small portfolio for my son, with a VERY long time horizon (30 years +). Looking to add U.S. exposure, but instead of picking individual names, I thought I would do this through an ETF or two. Was considering putting 50% of the US exposure into SPY, and the other half into VGG. An alternative to SPY would be ZSP, which I can buy in Cdn. dollars in Toronto. Your thoughts on this strategy and the allocations?
Thanks very much!

Q: Hello, 1.How does one protect them selves from large market crashes?
2. If one were to start a portfolio with only index funds, etfs which are the ones you would suggest. Maximum 5 etfs. Thanks.

Shyam

Q: Mr Warren Buffet has recently sold his entire positions in SPY and VOO.. Can you explain or help rationalize this move?

I currently hold VOO. Would you consider these ETFs a BUY/HOLD/SELL?

Thank you for your time. Cheers

Q: could you pls suggest a couple of US denominated etfs that track the sp500 - preferably equally weighted. Thanks

Q: Is there a "Best" S&P500 Index ETF, or are all the same? Which has performed the best last year?

Thanks!

Q: Hi gang ,
I am looking into buying between VYM OR VFMV. That would be in my granddaughter’s RESP account.
Which one would you prefer or do you have any alternative. Probably 10 years buy and forget.
Thanks. Happy holidays .
Alnoor

Q: Good Morning and Seasons Greetings to the 5i team and everyone out there.
If you had to start a new TFSA account what 15 to 20 stocks, ETF,s Etc. would you buy in order of first to last. US and Canadian mix?

Thank You

Q: Best holdings for a US dolar RRIF, I already have QQQ and SPY, up sustantially and think I should take some profit and redeploy the cash. lookings fior capital appreciation not dividends
Thanks for good advice as always

Q: What’s the advantages or disadvantages in holding an s&p500 ETF in Canadian dollars (XUS) vs holding it in US dollars (SPY)? Which would way do you recommend? Would you still recommend buying in US when the Canadian dollar is so weak like it is right now?

Q: I'm planning on purchasing some additional US investments in my RRSP. I already own QQQ, which represents approximately 38% of my US holdings. I was planning on dividing the remaining 62% between SPY and VTI. I'm described as a growth investor with a 5-7 time horizon before possibly beginning withdrawals. May I get your thoughts on this division? Should I consider cutting back on QQQ to redistribute to the other two? The US represents 45% of my overall RRSP holdings.

Q: Donald Trump is causing so much uncertainty in both Canadian and US markets. Canada might even go into a recession.

I know that you mentioned that we should not react to the Trump threat.

However, if I had to sell all my stocks and ETFs ($400k) and start from scratch today, what would be the top 20 stocks/ETFs ( US and/or Canadian) that that you would invest in.

Would you just buy SPY/ZSP.to/ VGT/ SCHG ETFs in the USA market for safety?

Fyi, I don't like bonds.

Q: What are your top 3 ETFs (US dollars) for general market exposure?

Q: My portfolio is now heavily weighted to the US.

Can you recommend an ETF or 2 that would compliment my existing investments?

Thanks
Mark

Q: I am still toying with RRSP strategies - I have about 50% of my RRSP in US funds and 50% in Canadian funds. I plan on starting to draw my RRSP down in January and need about an 8% annual return, including dividends and growth for the next 10 years. I have slowly been rolling my Canadian side toward your income portfolio, and am about half-way there. On the US side, I hold the above positions. What are your thoughts on the following - mirroring your income portfolio with the Canadian side, and on the US side hold a combination of ETF's/Equities, or just ETF's. I have been actively growing my RRSP (with success thanks!) But hope to be able to spend less time on it once I retire. The above idea means, for the Cdn side, I can continue to follow your moves on the income portfolio. For the US side, I will continue to monitor/rebalance, but I don’t want it to be a daily task - please suggest a tactic, including whether to mix equities/ETF's, or just go to one or a few ETF's, and please suggest holdings in either tactic. Thanks!

Q: Hi, I am new (about 1 year) to investing. After being approached from the branch level financial advisor, I figured it might be best at the time. He put all my funds into two items namely:

BMO Covered Call Canadian Banks ETF Fund
and
BMO U.S. Equity ETF Fund. This one had the most funds.

Since that time I have redeemed some funds and opened BMO Investorline account and purchased about 10 different stocks/etf's. The branch level financial advisor never calls or emails any advice period other than to say I am making about 18% and should be happy with that. Really??

2 days ago a lady from BMO investment center calls me and tells me I am paying 1% in management fees and can save ~ 0.66% by purchasing BMO95722 which shows up as BMO U.S. Equity ETF Fund. Yesterday I put in a redemption request for the balance of the BMO U.S. Equity ETF Fund (on my bank account page that name doesn't have any stock symbol) and the funds will be in my bank later this morning.

What I am trying to accomplish right now is to just make enough via investments to pay for living where I am. And hopefully some growth in the value of the investments.

The question I have is, would buying BMO95722 be the right or best choice of investments.

Thank you for any assistance with this.

Q: If u were to buy only one all in one etf what would you suggest - for longer term 3-5 years growth