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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: My question is what to do with my legacy fixed-income holdings.

I've been holding the above ETFs after being advised by 5i's portfolio analysis services to increase fixed-income holdings. Holdings are in registered accounts at a 25% weight combined.

They have all lost capital value over the past 5 years, however with distributions, they have returned approximately zero or flat over the last 5 years, I view this as a loss due to the inflation over this time.

What would 5i suggest I do with these fixed-income holdings moving forward? Should I hold for ballast or sell and move funds into dividend growers like Utilities or Pipelines eg. FTS, ALA, GEI, TRP, etc.)? The bond investments have put a drag on my investment returns.

Please advise your thoughts and wisdom, Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Maury on February 14, 2024
Q: Hi Ryan,
Several years ago I engaged with 5i for a portfolio analysis. I'm a recently retired investor. 5i strongly encouraged me to include a fixed income component to stabilize portfolio fluctuations and lower volatility.

With that advice and for tax purposes I purchased XBB, CLF, and PMIF into my RRSP. Now that the interest rates are marching steadily upwards I'm in a significant capital loss situation on my portfolio's bond allocation.

At this point do you suggest I just hold through the cycle and absorb the loss or should I sell and reallocate funds? Perhaps into some solid Canadian dividend payers? (eg. GWO?)

As always, much appreciate your advice and guidance in these unprecedented times. Thank-you.
Read Answer Asked by Maury on June 16, 2022
Q: Please take as many credits as you need to.

I'm so tired of seeing my fixed income portion of my portfolio trickle away. What would you think about equal allocation to the following?

I'm not so concerned with costs if the holding doesn't degrade, but I still want some yield. Please pick it apart and make suggestions. Thanks!

HORIZONS ACTIVE ULTRA SHORT .HFR

RBC CDN DISC BD ETF .RCDB

KRANESHARES TRUST IVOL

PIMCO MONTHLY INCOME FD CDA .PMIF

PENDER CORPORATE BOND FUND .PGF550

FIDELITY GBL CORE PLUS BD .FCGB

BMO PREM YIELD ETF .ZPAY

PICTON MAHONEY FORTIFIED .PFIA

DYNAMIC PREMIUM .DYN3361

BMO AGGREGATE BOND .ZAG

FIRST ASSET INVESTMENT GRADE .FIG
Read Answer Asked by Gregory on January 26, 2022
Q: Why is there such a variance in the performance of these bond funds. XBB seems to be the lowest and FTB the best with PMIF the second. What would you recommend holding in a portfolio. I am a 79 year old with a private pension.

Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on January 11, 2022
Q: I have about 10% of my portfolio in these bond ETFs XBB 2%, CLF 4%, XSB 2%, XSH 1%, PMIF 1%. They have shown a negative performance recently with CLF down 7%. The coupon reduces the losses. Will increased interest rates improve their performance? An alternative is to reduce my exposure and buy something like BCE with a low beta and a better yield (5% +). I am 79 years old and have pension income. My portfolio is conservative holding a large proportion in banks, telecoms and utilities. I am looking for stocks, ETFs with a low beta and good yield..
Read Answer Asked by Donald on January 03, 2022
Q: Interesting question on PKO recently. Is there a comparable fund in Canada? Also, if I were to buy the fund, what factors might cause it to lose money? In other words, what danger signs should I watch for?
Read Answer Asked by Les on August 05, 2021
Q: How does one approach bond investments given the low interest rates. I see XBB had a significant drop today. Why? How would you compare XBB to PMIF?
I am retired senior 78 with a pension.
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Donald on February 17, 2021
Q: I would like to park some cash, with the eventual purchase of a residence and am interested in more than GIC's and I understand that this will entail more risk, though less than equity risk. What do you think of MFT, XHY, PYF, PSA, HFR and PMIF and would you split them in equal percentages?
Thanks for your service
Read Answer Asked by Ozzie on August 21, 2020
Q: Could you please suggest few a) good fixed income high yield ETFs b) least volatile ETFs with some income ?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Dineth on May 01, 2020
Q: What are your top 5 Fixed Income ETFs (Cdn or US / International exposure) to hold long term in a RRIF or RSP in the current environment?
Thank you in advance.
Read Answer Asked by EDWARD on April 27, 2020
Q: How would you rank these bond funds. I sold FTB and bought PMIF but it is not performing well. Bond funds have not performed well due to the drop in interest rates. I am retired in my late 70’s.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on March 24, 2020
Q: The PMIF currently shows a YTD return of about 5.85% on their website. Sounds really good for a monthly income fund. This seems to include a change in unit price value from January 1, 2019 plus monthly distributions to date (Nov 2019). However is not the real return only the annual sum of the monthly distributions (around 2.5%)? The fund drops in unit value on the monthly ex-dividend date. Seems to me just the unit distribution (yield) should be the real return value. YTD is misleading when there is such a large unit drop in December to account for year end distributions.
Read Answer Asked by Blain on November 26, 2019
Q: Hi
I am looking to add a bond etf to my portfolio. I am looking for something with a reasonable yield, that is defensive with some possible growth opportunities. Could you recommend the one that fits that those criterion or if you have a better choice, I would appreciate it. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Leonard on November 07, 2019
Q: whats are your top 5 income etfs hedged Canadian Thanks Barry
Read Answer Asked by BARRY on August 14, 2019
Q: I currently own both these mutual fund and trying to own less stocks and mutual funds and would like to know if both of these need to be owned? I currently have a 6% weight in PMIF and only a 2.3 % weight in FAD5700 and thinking of selling FAD5700 and adding to PMIF, or should I sell both and invest all in a different ETF that recommended in my PA?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked on June 13, 2019
Q: Recently n January bought 5150 shares pmif.my brokerage showed a yield of 3.5%on a monthly distribution of .0230.your site has same monthly rate and a yield of 2.7. I have just received my first Monthly payment of 118.45 on book value of 100126$ . this would be a yield of just 1.42%.can you analyze and confirm what yield I can count on?And any suggestions for any other options in fixed income to yield 3%?

Read Answer Asked by Larry on February 06, 2019