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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: Hello Peter,
I know you have answered this about Topicus special dividend. I find it odd that in the early stages of the company's existence , it is paying out a special dividend. Could this be a sign that the company sees little appetite for acquiring companies and will focus on organic growth? What is a good etf that excludes the magnificent 7 , SPY minus magnificent 7.. Appreciate it and thanks for the service.
Read Answer Asked by umedali on March 11, 2024
Q: Thanks to Peter, Ryan and the 5i Team, my portfolio has recovered from the Tech Wreck of 2022. Much of this is due to my holdings in Nvidia and SMCI. I have been trimming some along the way up, but Nvidia is now over 12% and SMCI is over 6% of my portfolio. This time around, I'd like to hold on to my gains (unlike in 2022).

My questions are: What "sleep at night" ETF or stock might you suggest to put some of my profits into (sector doesn't matter)? Also, what percentage of your holdings would you be comfortable with SMCI going to?

My pension covers my living expenses, so I am able to take a little more risk.

Thanks,

Brad
Read Answer Asked by Bradley on February 27, 2024
Q: With recent gain in tech sector, are you concerned with valuations getting stretched. Is there some kind of euphoria being building which draws some parallel to 2000 tech bubble. Like 20-30% jump on META, NVDA, SMCI, ARM. Is there a suggested to mitigate risk while maintaining decent exposure. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by RUPINDER on February 08, 2024
Q: Hi Guys

It seems during the last year that the Mag7 have really had their time in the sun. I am wondering if there might be some rotation out of these names. Wondering where you thought the best returns would be over the next few years in a S&P 500 type ETF:

1) XSP - iShares Core S&P 500 Index ETF
2) An Equal Weight S&P 500 Index like Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Index ETF, 3) or or something like the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF.

What ETF would you think would do the best

Thanks

Stuart
Read Answer Asked by Stuart on January 29, 2024
Q: Hello 5i,

We have a full position in VGT and 1/2 position in BRK.B in an RRSP and NVDA, AMD, and Google in our TFSA's.

Do you see reduced growth in the VGT & BRK.B ETF's with AAPL downgrades and a possibility of consolidation of MSFT this year after stellar 2023 numbers?

Would you swap VGT or BRK.B to another ETF for 2024 or just let it ride?

Thank you for your advice

D&J
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on January 16, 2024
Q: Hello, Would you please provide your comments on EQL as a safety play (reduce MAG7 weight) to VFV? I hold a very oversized position between VFV & VOO and am looking for your recommendation for an equal weight in CA$. Could you also provide a US$ version that you would recommend?
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Randy on January 09, 2024
Q: I am considering making an investment in this ETF. I understand that it basically follows the returns of the S & P 500 and is equally weighted. Any information you may have on this ETF would be appreciated. Do you consider it a good investment. I look forward to your timely comments. Thank You.
Read Answer Asked by Brian on January 08, 2024
Q: I know you don't believe in timing the market but after the last few years i've ended up with a fair bit of cash on sidelines, yielding around 5%.
Post pivot i'm now thinking about when/how to deploy. Assuming interest rates have peaked and we start seeing cuts in 2024 i expect cash yields to start decreasing as well.
So if you wanted to "broadly" deploy your cash reserves throughout 2024 how would you proceed? Thinking some mix of SPY, RSP, EMV (much smaller allocation) as I have retained most of my high convinction Canadian stocks.
Dollar Cost Average monthly or quarterly
Wait for next broad pullback, we know it's coming just not sure when. Can still get a nice cash yield while waiting.
Read Answer Asked by Rob on December 18, 2023
Q: The U.S. is growing much faster than Canada. Canada’s much slower economic growth relative to the U.S. seems to be related namely mortgage debt, Given this situation, can you suggest 1) Individual U.S. stocks for capital gain 2) Individual U.S. stocks that pay dividends, and 3) U.S. ETFs? Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Ronnie on December 14, 2023
Q: I am looking for a good large cap USD ETF for my RRSP. I am 68 years old and would like a stable ETF with a lower P/E and OK dividend, hence considering RSP:US rather than the S&P 500 with a high P/E. Overall want an ETF with a good total return over 5 years.
I am considering the above 3 ETFs or perhaps you know of something better.
Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Grant on December 08, 2023
Q: ETF's. Is this true? Thank you.

Most funds allocate assets in one of two ways. The first and most straightforward way is equal-weighted, which means the money you invest is equally split between the stocks the fund holds. If a fund has 500 companies and you invest $500, each would get $1.

The other primary method is distributing investments by the companies' market capitalizations (market caps). In this case, companies with a higher market cap receive more of the invested amount. For example, if a fund has 500 companies, a $1,000 investment could mean $5 to the largest company in the fund, while $0.10 goes to the smallest. The exact distributions will vary based on the range of market caps in the fund.
Read Answer Asked by Ross on November 14, 2023
Q: There have been a number of questions recently asking how to construct the best etf portfolio. I thought you did an amazing job in answering these. I had a couple of questions, though, to which I like your response.

You recommend SPY. I believe you also answered QQQ in some place. Would one need QQQ if one already owned SPY? I am speaking here as an average retired investor willing to take a little risk. The concern is that the top ten holdings of the two funds is quite similar. The other concern relates to thèse top ten holdings. A lot of both funds is invested in high flying technology stocks. You often mention that the danger in investing in a Canadian index fund is that they are heavily weighted to three industry sectors. Wouldn’t the same fear hold true for SPY? And if so, would a good work around be a combination of a market weighted fund, such as RSP and an appropriate balance of SPY and QQQ?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by joseph on September 25, 2023
Q: Hi everyone at 5i!
I am up 370% with my stock in NVDA and would like to trim a third of the stock. With the proceeds I would like to add to a portfolio holding AWK, BRKB, BX,COST,EMR, ISRG RSP. QQQ. JPM MDT MSFT, NVDA , PEP, PG, O , VZ, V, WM . I am looking for two or three stock suggestions that would round out this list for growth or growth and income.
Cheers,
Tamara
Read Answer Asked by Tamara on April 03, 2023