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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: Hi guys! Asking for my parents, hope that's okay, your service has been very beneficial for me. They are currently living off their pension and have $60k in a TFSA that they would like to do something with for the next two-three years. Both roughly 65yrs old. They are looking for both a very safe, and also relatively safe recommendation please. Ideally, they are looking for a fairly hands off approach, where the risk of coming out at the end of it with less than they have is low. They are open to equity investing through a low fee brokerage, or looking at a service like one of the roboinvestor platforms, or anything else you'd recommend. Thanks I really appreciate it!
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on January 06, 2021
Q: Can you please recommend a couple of ETFs for an RESP with a six year time frame? Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Susan on December 28, 2020
Q: Hi,
What is your general opinion of investing in segregated funds? I understand that there are some great benefits for estate planning purposes as you get older, i.e. bypassing probate/estate fees, quick transfer of funds to beneficiaries, guaranteed death benefit, etc... but are the high MER fees (>2%) really worth it? I was helping my mom who is retired look into some of her investments in her TFSA and her advisor has her in invested in these two Manulife products, MPS4959 and MPS4980. Thoughts on these two funds? Do these two funds pay dividends or have a distribution yield? Could not find it.
Aside from the benefits I mentioned above where you only get with Seg funds, and looking at just the pure investment return/structure of the funds, could you suggest 4-5 other attractive ETF's that she could invest in that would outperform these over the next 10-20 years? I would like to switch her into some low cost ETF's or an all in one fund that are either comparable(balanced fund) or better than these two expensive products. She is close to 70, won't need to draw any of this money to live on (she has other sources of income) and looking for some steady and stable growth assuming life expectancy for another 15-25 years. Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Keith on December 18, 2020
Q: Hi
A quick question.
I know BMO/ishares have equivalent ETFs to VBAL/VEQT/VGRO.
Are there any equivalents to these all in one ETFs offered US ETF companies?.
Vanguard's US site doesn't show any.
Any one else in the States offering all in one ETFs?
I am hoping if they do offer, their fees will be lower than the Vanguard's here in Canada.
Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Savalai on December 16, 2020
Q: My 89 year old Mother-in-law has a couple hundred K, half in TFSA and half non registered. She is not in need of use of this money for regular everyday expenses. We are looking for recommendations of an investment in stocks or ETF's that would pay better than any financial institution will offer. Understanding low to medium risk.
Greatly appreciated as always.

Regards,
Read Answer Asked by Loretta on December 15, 2020
Q: Having received the above funds shares from a bequest, I am contemplating on selling and replacing the above funds for ETF's which would be complimentary with diversification, possibly reducing fees and improve performance.

Garry
Read Answer Asked by Garry & Marlene on November 25, 2020
Q: If one is only invested in North America, would now be a good time to buy VEE, or if you have a better idea for emerging markets? Also, if one has built a conservative portfolio for elderly parents using only VBAL and VCNS, would adding VEE be a good compliment, or would it add significant risk ?
Read Answer Asked by Charles on November 23, 2020
Q: First I have to say thank you! My RRIF and TFSA are certainly healthier due to info gained from 5i over the past couple of years.
My questions pertain to my Rif where I have recently inherited 2 mutual funds; Dynamic 1560 Strategic Yield Fund and Dynamic 031 Global Dividend Fund (mers 2.15-2.23%). The remainder of the Rif is comprised of Canadian stocks; old TSX 60 stalwarts and/or stocks from your income or balanced portfolios. The Dynamic funds each account for approximately 20% of the total Rif and around 13% of total investments.
Questions
1. Are there better ETFs/Funds you would suggest for exposure to US and global markets?
2. What is a reasonable weight for an individual ETF/fund within a portfolio?
3. What is a reasonable percent of one's portfolio to allocate to US markets? and to global markets?
TIA
(Good to see Peter on BNN yesterday.)

Read Answer Asked by Gail on November 19, 2020
Q: My 40-year-old daughter has $42K in her RRSPs with Scotia Bank. Her advisor put her in two funds. BSN378 and BSN385. One is 45% invested in basically bonds and 40 Canadian stocks. The other is 12.3 % cash and 47 Canadian stocks. The exception is 2% invested in Microsoft. I assume there is a lot of duplication between the two funds investing in the same Canadian Companies. The MER is close to 2%. Apart from this being a travesty - I would like to move her into a self administered RRSP with a mix of a balanced ETF and three other stocks. She is regularly adding more money. She won't be withdrawing money from this account for at least 25 years.

Would you kindly suggest a suitable balanced ETF.

The three stocks I would suggest for a long term hold would be BAM, SHOP and ENB. Could I have your opinion or options please. Deduct as many questions as you see fit.

THANK YOU!
Bryan
Read Answer Asked by Bryan on November 17, 2020
Q: My wife has 75% of her portfolio in laddered GICs and I am looking for a one-stop solution for the remaining 25%. Would XTR be a reasonable substitute for any of the major balanced ETFs such as VBAL, XBAL, ZBAL, or HBAL or would you recommend one of the latter? XTR pays a significantly higher dividend and appears to possess a similar structure, although not quite as globally diversified on the equity side. Your opinion please. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Paul W on November 13, 2020
Q: Please give an updated opinion on these four balanced ETFs for a retired, conservative investor and indicate order of preference for income and safety. Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Paul W on November 13, 2020
Q: I am helping my niece set up with ETF. She is holding the below funds right now. Can you please advise their fees and which ETF would you suggest replacing them with? Is there a site where you can check the mutual fund fees and performance?

PH&N LifeTime 2045 Fund
RBC Canadian Equity Fund
RBC Balanced Fund
BLK Balanced Index
Capital Global Equity
BLK US Equity Index

Thanks for your help
Hector
Read Answer Asked by Hector on November 12, 2020
Q: To whom it may concern ,
I have some GIC’s maturing but interest rates are so low that it is hardly worth rolling them over. I am looking for some alternatives with high security and better Yield. I am thinking perhaps some bank stocks or Vanguard products and would appreciate your opinion or any other advice you may have.
Thank you for your valuable advice..
Ernie Trosch
Read Answer Asked by Ernest on October 21, 2020
Q: Hi,
Thank you for your straight forward answer to Paul's question to-day. (September 01) I presume that even though you mentioned XBAL as your pick, you wouldn't mind including VBAL/ZBAL in that space. Very similar aren't they?
IF one wants to augment this, to get steady stream of dividend income, should one add higher dividend paying ETFs like DGRC or VDY or XDV etc., More to keen to know your thoughts about enhanced indexing. How should one go about it?
Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Savalai on September 02, 2020
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