Investment Q&A

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 ?

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.)

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

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.

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!

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

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

Q: My elderly parents are looking to invest $15,000. If you were to buy Canadian banks which two would you buy? Also can you recommend something else that they can put there money into. Low-medium risk.
Thanks

Q: Is vbal a good option to hold entering retirement

Q: In general, what type of strategy would u guys recommend if a person wanted to stay involved in the Stock Market with a four to five year time horizon, but still wanted to preserve his capital mostly, thanks?

Q: Hi 5i,

For a taxable account, which one would be your choice ? Thanks very much!

Leo

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.

Q: Would like to create a 2 etf portfolio in the 500k range for my elderly parents, considering VBAL for the TFSA account and VCNS for the unregistered account. They will likely never have a need to access these funds but of course are risk adverse at their age. Thoughts on this approach, better options for ETF's ?

Q: Is black rock XEQT all in one, all stock, ETF a good option for an RESP that would start with a $1000,00 and add $100 a month. Or do you have a better suggestion.

Q: Good morning,
I own a small house in Ottawa that is free and clear with a current market value of approximately $350,000.
A recent discussion with my trusted mortgage broker confirmed that a 5 year term (Closed & Fixed) term mortgage can be obtained at a rate of 2.29%. This mortgage is said to be:
a. insured through CMHC,
b. portable, and
c. transferable.
At that rate of 2.29% and given that the interest paid would be tax deductible if I use the funds for investment purposes, I'm seriously considering borrowing around $200,000 and investing this amount for an initial 5 year period with an expected net rate of return on investment of 4.5% .
Q1. With $200,000, what are your thoughts of splitting this amount in 5 different chunks of $40K in the following instruments:
a. Mawer Tax Effective Balanced Fund,
b. Mawer Global Balanced ETF Fund,
c. Vanguard Balanced ETF Portfolio,
d. IShares Core Balanced ETF Portfolio, and
e. BMO Balanced ETF

Q2. As an alternative to the above and given the 5 year time frame, would your preference be to invest the $200,000 in a selection of best in class individual stocks split between different sectors and if so, would you be so kind as to provide me with ya listing of your best ideas at this time.

I thank you and look forward to hearing your thoughts on both of these investment strategies.
Francesco

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: Peter and team
I am looking to re-enter the market in a non registered account with minimal input from myself.
I have considered both VBAL and MAW 105 ( tax effective balance).
Could you please compare these two options.
Thanks
Phil

Q: I sold some VBAL:CA at a loss to realize some tax losses and would like to repurchase this ETF at a lower entry point. Can I purchase a comparable ETF from another company like XBAL prior to 30 days, or would that be considered a superficial loss for tax purposes? Similarly, would purchasing a different asset mix product from the same company e.g. VGRO:CA or VCNS:CA be considered a superficial loss?

Q: Hi guys, thanks for the great commentary. What do you think about Swiss water process at these levels vs just dumping some money into VBAL

Q: Good morning, do you know if there is much overlap regarding the equity portion of these two etf,s, XWD and VBAL, thanks?