Investment Q&A

Q: Hi, just starting to look at the bond market, do not want anything to do with U.S. tax filings. Would like like your three recommendations for Canadian bonds. Do you have a Canadian equivalent for BND? (Low mer and nice yield) also corporate bonds eg.XCB could you touch on risk compared to your three recommendations.
Thanks, happy, healthy New Year

Q: I am all equities in my RSP and RIF portfolio. Although a solid blue chip list of Cdn, US, some international, I would like to mitigate risk by adding one or two bond etf's (cdn dollar). These can be Canadian bonds or a combination NA and global. Please offer one or two...and are we looking at shorter duration or longer in light of current interest rate environment/future outlook. Ideally 4%+ yield

Q: I know you don't like selling winners, but I am concerned about a bust following the AI boom which would devastate technology stocks (and the whole market). Nevertheless, I am thinking of selling some winners in my RRIF, AVGO and QCOM, to invest in BND, which would bring my bond allocation up to 10% weight. I have been retired for 15 years and live on the dividends from my portfolio. The growth in dividends has more than offset inflation and my portfolio income is more than enough for my lifestyle, so I have never seen the need for a higher bond weighting until now. Would this be a good move? Or do you think I being too fearful and should stay the course with my technology investments (currently 27% of my portfolio)?

Q: What are your thoughts on the prospects of this ETF?
Is it worth holding? What other suggestions might you have?

Q: Hello 5i
I am overweight Nvidia and plan to sell some. At my stage it is probably wise to put this in fixed income. I don’t know much about this, however, and have been made a bit gunshy by hearing of people losing money in what one would imagine to be a safe and secure bet. So, iaskif you could give me some possibilities for US dollar fixed income in a non-registered account. Something that could reduce taxes would be helpful, as well
Thanks for your great service

Q: Hi 5i,

Currently have a large portion of my investments in equities and I am looking to invest in Bonds for the sake of diversification.

Could you provide your best ideas for Bond ETFs or any similar investment products that I should consider? This is for non-registered account.

Thank you.

Greg C.

Q: As per Tom Czitron in today's Globe:

An index ETF of long-term bonds should perform well, especially one with U.S. bonds but with the currency hedged back to Canadian dollars.

Please comment Mr. Czitron' point and name your favorite ETFs if there are such any available currently.

Thanks

Yves

Q: Good afternoon - the recent runup in equities has me looking to re-balance and add more bond exposure. I currently have positions in XLB, XBB and HYG. Can you suggest bond positions ( likely ETF's) in Canada and the US, please? Just add to the existing Canadian positions? What about HYG? Time to move?

Many thanks

al

Q: With the lowering of interest rates, what bond funds to invest in? Bond ETF’s?

Q: Hi Peter,

With interest rates projected to go downwards, what are your top three picks in the U.S. and Canada for bond ETFs for the next five years?

Thanks

George

Q: Hi Peter,

Over the next five to ten years, what is your expectation from a risk-return prospective for the following asset classes? Please provide your ranking with a brief explanation for your rationale.

Annualized returns for the past ten years are noted below as per BlackRock:

U.S. equities – 13%
Canadian equities – 8%
Infrastructure – 7.3%
Japan equities – 6.6%
REITs – 6.1%
European equities – 5.3%
China equities – 4.9%
High yield bonds – 3.4%
Emerging Market equities – 3.3%


Thanks George

Q: I have allocated 20%-25% of my portfolio to Fixed Income. Would XBB and CBO be sufficient to cover the fixed income component? (say 50-50).

Thanks again for the great advice as always!

Q: Would this portfolio held in RRIF have withholding tax on dividends. Does this look like a good portfolio?

Q: Hi Team,
Is there a ETF similar to VGRO but sold in $US without converting to Cdn? I have some cash on the US side of my RRSP and like the set up of VGRO but would rather not convert back to Cdn at this point.

Q: Hello 5i,
I bought too much tlt and i am thinking of selling some in this recent rise in price. could you suggest something less volatile in the us fixed income space? I have enough volatility with stocks and am looking for something steadier with my fixed income side
Thanks

Q: Would you please suggest 2 or 3 US balanced funds, available in Cdn$ and hedged. Thanks

Q: Hi there
I am looking to invest 30% of my TFSA portfolio in a bond ETF . The remaining 70% are in dividend stocks (mainly in financial institutions). Would you please suggest what bonds ETF or any other fixed income option should I be considering? The goal is to protect my principal amount.
Thank you

Q: HI Guys:
I bought this fund two years ago as part of fixed income side of our portfolio.The distributions have been reinvested in the fund since I bought, the fund currently trades 1% under book value, the fund is 75% bonds and 25% equities, MER 1.04%. Distributions this year look to be around 1.5% if the recent distribution is consistent for the rest of the year. I'm looking at an investment in QLTA which would give me US diversification and is a pure corporate bond fund with a monthly yield 3.1%. I've never been a bond investor usually equities and cash I'm thinking to sell SIF120 and put the money into QLTA for the distribution and a lower MER 0.15%. I realize this may not be apples to apples and higher risk with currency and corporate bonds, would you have a concern with this approach, or any other bond ETF's that are worth consideration the money is in a RRIF account.

Q: Just sold mutual funds and want to transition to low fees ETF's for the portion of my portfolio outside of Canada. It is for my RRSP, 15 years from retirement. I was thinking SPY / XEF and VEE for the equities side. Do you have something better to propose? I would need help for the fixed income portion, 1 or 2 ETFs please. Thanks.