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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: My ETF portfolio is 30% SPY, 20% VIG, 10 IWO ( 50% USA exposure), 20 VE and 20% VEE. You seem to have switched to recommending VSP and VUN as your USA ETF. What are the advantages of VSP/VUN over SPY. VSP and SPY have similar mers, VUN is a bit higher at 0,16. I assume I started buying SPY on 5i recommendation at some point in the past... Balanced portfolio follower, nearing retirement so shifting more towards income/div aristocrats over pure growth plays.
Read Answer Asked by Tom on October 18, 2019
Q: I am very pleased with the Portfolio Analytics, and have found it to be a quite useful tool. Thank you for building this product.

Broadly, I would like to better understand how you developed your recommended sector/geographic allocations in the Asset Allocator. In particular, I would like to understand:

1) Certain assets (e.g. gold, REITs) are missing or very low percentages. What is the basis for this recommendation in the Portfolio Analytics?

2) Most if not all broadly based core index funds have a greater allocation to financials than the 15% recommended in the Portfolio Analyzer. Why are you recommending a 15% allocation?

3) Are your recommended asset allocation percentages static, or are you planning on adjusting these percentages over time as markets change?

4) Given that markets typically revert to the mean, how do your recommended allocations compare to the mean sector percentages of major indexes, for example EAFE or the S&P500?

Any insights you can offer to help me better understand the basis for how these asset allocations were developed would be most helpful. Thank you for this excellent service!
Read Answer Asked by Dale on October 18, 2019
Q: Peter Shiff was recently on USA Watchdog.com. He basically recommends that investors switch to gold as he feels the US (fiat based) currency will become devalued as bond investors demand higher rates given the huge US deficits.

What is your opinion of gold, and gold stocks, as an investment? Should investors allocate a percentage of their portfolio to gold as protection to a possible collapse in the bond and equity markets?

Thank you again for your insightful advice.
Read Answer Asked by Dale on October 18, 2019
Q: I already own BAM, RY, T, BOYD Income, and ZLU, but I'm looking for another lo -volatility dividend stock with some growth. What do you think of my adding NPI or BEP? Is there another choice you like?
Read Answer Asked by Graeme on October 18, 2019
Q: BIP.UN,BPY.UN,DII.B,EIF,ECA,NRTH,HBC,MUX,MEG ,QST, rather than waiting for the tax-loss season which of these stocks I should keep?
Read Answer Asked by Nizar on October 18, 2019
Q: I have held CP for some time. After a period of strong increases, in the past few weeks it has pulled back by over 15%. CNR (which I do not own) also pulled back but not to the same degree. This surprised me as general economic conditions still seem fairly positive and I would have expected the rails to continue with strength. Do you see these companies returning to their positive path over the next 3-6 months? Thank you.

Read Answer Asked by Leonard on October 18, 2019
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