Investment Q&A

Q: What would be your recommendation for a total US stock market ETF?

Q: Hello, is there is US ETF you would consider purchasing in a non registered corporate account? Would you replace DVY? Presently overweight in financials.
Minimum 5 year hold. As a customer noted thank you for providing us with stability in these unusual time.

Q: Can you please recommend a couple of ETFs for an RESP with a six year time frame? Thank you!

Q: My US exposer is very low and I would like to buy an ETF to cover that sector I presently have VEE ZEQ FPXI which other ETF would fit in this
Thanks

Q: ETFs
Can you suggest your top 1-2-3 ETFs traded on the TSX for Canadian, USA and International markets that should perform well (after fees) over the next 1-2 years and have good trade volumes? Also, would this be a good time to purchase hedge or unhedged ETFs?

Q: Ishares US REAL ESTATE ETF (not in your data base)
can you comment on this ETF for a diversified real estate play. Do you view this as a decent entry point.
What's your view of starting a portfolio of these 5 ETFS with a 20% weighting in each, then rebalancing every year back to the original 20% weighting. Im hoping maintaining the 20% cash position will help smooth out the portfolio in these uncertain times, maybe it will outperform the more popular 60/40 portfolio.
thanks Gordie

Q: What ETF's are available to a Canadian RRSP investor that are not subject to a US withholding tax on the US market holdings within that ETF? The added cost of HXS makes it virtually equal to ZSP with the US tax withheld so anything other than HXS. Thanks.

Q: I have read about Vanguard Index Funds and would like to pursue.
I have excess cash that I would like to invest long term in the broad US stock market. I DIY via Questrade - my current portfolio follows your Income Portfolio.
Which of the Vanguard funds would you suggest and could you provide the symbols for such? I'm assuming I could purchase these thru Questrade.
Thanks for your help.

Q: Hi Team,
Is there a ETF similar to VGRO but sold in $US without converting to Cdn? I have some cash on the US side of my RRSP and like the set up of VGRO but would rather not convert back to Cdn at this point.

Q: Hello 5i Team
I am comparing two ETF from Vanguard Canada and from Vanguard USA.
Vanguard Canada – US Total Market ETF (CA:VUN), trades in Canadian dollars on Canadian exchange, tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index. The MER is equal to 0.16 %. The 2019 distribution was composed of $0.99538 foreign income, $0.00076 ROC and $0.1593 foreign withholding tax (approximately 16 % of the total distribution, applied by Vanguard).
Vanguard USA – Total Stock Market ETF (US:VTI), trades in US dollar on US exchange, tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index. The MER is equal to 0.03 %. The 2019 distribution was US$2.8747 with no withholding tax applied by Vanguard.
Questions are:
1 – Are these two ETF essentially the same (one trades in C$ on Canadian Market, the other trades in US$ on the US Market) as they both appear to track the CRSP US Total Market Index?
2 – If I hold CA:VUN in a non-registered account, will there be withholding tax applied by my broker to the distribution?
3 – If I hold US:VTI in a non-registered account, will there be withholding tax applied by my broker to the distribution?
4 – Is the difference in the MER (0.16 % vs 0.03 %) essentially the 15 % withholding tax applied to US dividends?
5 – Which is the better ETF to hold in a non-registered account, ignoring the cost of currency conversion to purchase US dollars in order to buy US:VTI?
Thank you

Q: Would you know a particular ETF that might contain many of the above tech companies?
Thanks, Murray

Q: Hi Peter/Ryan, my 20 year old son wants to get into Vanguard ETF's. He has a TFSA stock account and now wants to add a Vanguard ETF. What is your opinion of Vanguard and is there one you would recommend. Thanks, Nick

Q: Hi Peter & 5i,
Which of these 2 ETF's would you prefer and why, or if you have any other that is better, would be much appreciated. Thanks for your wonderful service. Stay safe. Ivan

Q: US ETF
What US broad market, unhedged ETFs do you recommend?

Q: International ETF overlap query. I have the first four above now (more or less equal amounts) constituting 9.72% of total portfolio. Considering adding some more international exposure for geographic and currency diversification objectives, i.e. either VXUS or VIGI but wondering about the overlap with current holdings or should I just increase current holdings. Generally attempting to increase sector holdings in USA (fdn, ihi, hack, fivg, ipay, vbk), under-represented in Canada and more international geographic exposure. All are/will be in CDN & USD non registered accounts. Views?Suggestions?

Q: Which would you prefer today, VTI or VUN?

Q: Hello,
I am currently waiting out this deep downturn in the market. At some point the market will start recovering. I have followed your recommendations in the Portfolio Tracking and Analysis tool.

If you had $500,000 sitting in cash which you want to deploy once the market turns around, which sectors would you look towards investing in for the eventual upward trend? Would you be able to provide your favourite stocks /ETFS which you would use to cover the sectors you think will be first to recover?

Thanks for all your help.

Q: I am an 88 year old, investing for over 70 years, and an appreciative member of 5i since inception. My present objectives include creating capital losses; reducing my formerly 80 stock non-registered portfolio to only those in your Balanced Portfolio; thereby making my life easier so that I do not concern myself each day with fluctuations, and let you make the decisions;etc., I believe I have the following options; 1) Sell all present losers; 2) Henceforth buy or sell only stocks in the Balanced Portfolio 3) Where the 30 day rule applies, buy comparative stocks for the 30 days).. What is your opinion? Do you have better proposals in view of the present crisis? Thank you in advance for your usual consideration and advice.

Q: Good day team, did you guys post/suggest US names to keep an eye on during this market correction? If you did, I can't seem to find it.

Additionally, for broad US exposure what etf is the most efficient in a tfsa?
Cheers

Q: Good morning - I have owned VUS (CAD hedged US Total Market ETF) for many years in a taxable account. I would like to switch to VTI (the un-hedged version of the same ETF) but would realize a large capital gain. Is there any way an individual could synthetically gain the same USD exposure via a swap or option contract? I would obviously like to avoid high fees to do this. Thanks