Investment Q&A

Q: 2 questions 5i: do you think it would be prudent to have a canadian focust fixed income etf to compliment pmif considering it is almost all us? And secondly do you feel the dividend from LB should be safe and considering I am down 10% would averaging down make sense?tks

Q: Re:your answer to Johns question of august 27th. 10 pick of best company's to best weather a correction. Would you consider a portfolio of 30% pmif and 70% these 10 picks at 5% each to be a decent portfolio no matter an iminent significant correction is at hand or not or would you tweek it in some way. Thank you kindly. Larry

Q: Hello I hold the BMO monthly Income A mutual fund. I am trying to find a replacement in the etf world that can reduce my fees and give me approx the same income and somewhat stability. Current yield is approx 3.5%. Do you have a few suggestions? Thanks

Q: Hello. My parents are elderly, and we have taken over managing their financial affairs. Although difficult to predict, I expect my mother will still be alive for another 3-4 years, so that is the time horizon we are working with. They have total savings of about $2.5 million, which we are amalgamating from various mutual funds and from the sale of their house, etc. We are considering using the wealth management services of BMO. We have told them that we are primarily interested in capital preservation. My father has a pension, so their monthly income needs are met. The representative recommended the PIMCO Monthly Income Fund (Canada). I'm not sure if it the same one as has been discussed here before. The identifier on the sheet is "Series F fund code PMO205", described as a Global Fixed Income fund. In any event, they were recommending 65-70% in the above fund, and 30-35% in a "Dividend and Income Guided Portfolio" which consists of 25 blue chip Canadian and US stocks (I won't bother you with their stock selection; it looked okay to me). They said they would gradually move money from the income fund to the stock fund during market drawdowns.

My question is, what do you think of this PIMCO fund? One of my concerns is protecting their money in a market correction. Would this fund be okay? Also, are the bonds in general of high enough quality that they would not be downgraded into the high yield category if things really get ugly? Has it had any negative years?

Thanks for your help.

Q: Am I correct in assuming pmif is 100% bonds and would it be a good fit for the fixed income portion of a retirement portfolio along with a GIC ladder with vbal to pick up enough equity for the balance.other thoughts appreciated. Thanks

Q: For portfolio diversity using ETFs. what do you think of simply buying VGRO instead of an XAW/PMIF type combo or would you recommend another equity/bond mix?

Q: I am looking for a bond ETF to park a substantial amount of money $400K plus for the next 12-24 months. In today's environment with interest rates on the rise i am looking at the following MFT, HYI, XHY or is there a Pimco ETF that would be more suitable.My goal would be to make 3-4% in a safe investment. Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Q: I read with great interest your response to a recent query regarding Mackenzie Floating Rate Income. I have the same goal as the member who asked the initial question. Under what circumstances might MFT perform poorly? How do you think it compares with PMIF (Pimco Monthly Income Fund), in terms of correlation with equities, bear market/recessionary performance, and total return potential? I note that MFT has a greater proportion of holdings which are below investment grade, do you think PMIF would be the safer choice? Which would you prefer for long term, steady income and capital preservation, taking the relative MERs into account as well? Thank you.

Q: I have reviewed prior question responses on PMIF and PMO005. I understand that both should behave similarly (PMIF should have higher return longterm due to lower MER). My question is on the distribution. The distribution yield on PMO005 is about 3-3.5% it appears; the distribution yield on PMIF appears to be smaller and with variations in the distribution from month to month. Do you think this is temporary, as PMIF is relatively new? Do you think overtime, the distributions of PMIF will stabilize and approximate those of PMO005 with a similar yield? If not, why not, if the portfolio composition is the same in each case?

My feeling is that PMIF is 'safer' than high yield bonds such as XHY and preferred shares such as CPD/ZPR, do you agree? I hope to pair this with some VSB as my fixed income allocation. Do you think PMIF is worth the MER of 0.87%? This is for longterm, all-weather hold (irrespective of where interest rates go in the near-term/longterm) for consistent income.

Thank you!

Q: What are the basic differences between Pimco's PMO005 and PMIF, and what are the Mer's.
Thank you

Q: Good morning 5i,
There has been a lot of discussion lately regarding fixed income. Many, like me I suppose, are beginning to think about "de-risking" their portfolios. I would appreciate your thoughts on this de-risking venture. Would one, for example, be better to put all of their risky money in the stock market and in very save bonds such as like XBB and VAB. That is oppossed to something like PMIF, which may not be de-risking your money at all?
thanks as always

Q: I'm looking for investment vehicles that offer reasonable monthly income with the possiblity of some capital gain. I have chosen PMIF And PLV as possibilities. I would appreciate your opinion regarding the quality of the ETF'S. Safety and professional management being important to me. If there are other possibilities that you favour please indicate them.

Q: Hi 5i team. My RIF account has only ETF's except for ENB which is 8.8%. I have 15%EM, 21.3%INT, 21.3%US, 31.5%CDN, and my Fixed Inc. at 4.6% in Pimco PMIF. I am thinking of selling half (or more) of ENB and increasing PMIF or should I put into Pimco IGCF (not in your database) or some other you suggest.
As usual I appreciate your views and suggestions. I am 80, healthy and fully retired. Thanks.

Q: Good afternoon team
I’m looking to add to the income side of my portfolio and already hold 10-15% of ZPR and CPD.
I’d like to add another 5% to the income side of my portfolio so which one or two options do you advise?
I’m looking for more income with little or no growth as my equity weighting is fairly high in dividend paying stocks as well as growth stocks already?
Thnx in advance!

Q: Good Morning team, the only thing that’s more of a mystery is the weather

I am thinking of starting my ETF income portfolio with a 5% position in PMIF. With all the interest rate forecasts for 2018, do you think waiting for later in the year is advisable or strike now?

Thanks team and a prosperous New Year to all.

Q: Gordon Pape wrote an article on Fixed income vehicles that was published in the December 28 edition of the Globe and Mail. My question is on the Pimco Monthly Income Fund ETF. Apparently the fund has gained 6% in the last 5 years. can you comment on the fund and the ETF. Would you recommend either for the fixed income portion of a portfolio? Thank You.

Q: I am looking to move some cash after a year end portfolio clean up. I am considering 25% in each of VSC and VSB, 25% in PMIF, 25% in XHY. Would you recommend different ETFs and/or % allocations?

Thanks for you dedication
Merry Christmas to all.

Q: Is there any difference between the etf and the mutual fund pm005? Would a combination of pmif and cpd make sense for the fixed income portion of a portfolio? What percent of each would you suggest?

Q: Would you prefer the Pimco Monthly Income Fund (ETF version) or the PH&N Total Return Bond Fund as a satellite holding to an existing fixed income allocation composed of VAB, CBO, XIG (30% each), and XHY (10%)? Thank-you.

Q: As I type this question, "ask size" is about ten times greater than "bid size" on very light volume. This goes on most of the day, every day, with volume settling at end of day around 100,000.
Is there anything significant in this type of bid/ask action - are there positive/negative implications?
Thanks.