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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: Good Morning,

Retired income investor with almost 100% of funds in equities. I feel it is time that I added some bond exposure but I am not well informed on this market. Can you please suggest investments that would get me started, cover the basic gamut and provide reasonable returns.

Thanks very much.
Read Answer Asked by Dave on February 26, 2026
Q: I have no Bond investments and would add to my TFSA and RRSP's. Are there any other that I should consider. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by David on February 24, 2026
Q: Hello, can you please confirm these 2 ETF would not be subject to Withholding Tax? Also, can you please recommend 2 diversified stock ETF for exposure outside Canada which would not be subject to Withholding Tax, with decent dividend and buy and forget type of security. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Pierre on February 23, 2026
Q: To balance my portfolio what bond etfs and other fixed income would you recommend currently, give CAD And US options?
I have accumulated quite a lot of USD from good returns and I am seeking to broaden my exposure to non US stocks (e.g. Europe) are you okay with buying the US equivalent ETFs or do you recommend converting back into CAD?
Read Answer Asked by Mark on February 11, 2026
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
Read Answer Asked by Brad on January 05, 2026
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
Read Answer Asked by Harry on October 27, 2025
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)?
Read Answer Asked by David on October 16, 2025
Q: What are your thoughts on the prospects of this ETF?
Is it worth holding? What other suggestions might you have?
Read Answer Asked by Catherine on July 10, 2025
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
Read Answer Asked by joseph on July 04, 2025
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.
Read Answer Asked by GREGORY on January 23, 2025
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
Read Answer Asked by Yves on January 16, 2025
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
Read Answer Asked by alex on November 13, 2024
Q: With the lowering of interest rates, what bond funds to invest in? Bond ETF’s?
Read Answer Asked by Helen on September 05, 2024
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
Read Answer Asked by Fay on December 15, 2023
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

Read Answer Asked by Fay on September 14, 2022
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!
Read Answer Asked by Alka on January 25, 2021
Q: Would this portfolio held in RRIF have withholding tax on dividends. Does this look like a good portfolio?
Read Answer Asked by Burke on January 15, 2021
Q: Hi Team,
Is there a ETF similar to VGRO but sold in $US without converting to Cdn? I have some cash on the US side of my RRSP and like the set up of VGRO but would rather not convert back to Cdn at this point.
Read Answer Asked by Todd on September 08, 2020
Q: Hello 5i,
I bought too much tlt and i am thinking of selling some in this recent rise in price. could you suggest something less volatile in the us fixed income space? I have enough volatility with stocks and am looking for something steadier with my fixed income side
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by joseph on January 27, 2020
Q: Would you please suggest 2 or 3 US balanced funds, available in Cdn$ and hedged. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by gary on October 23, 2019