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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: Is the only difference between VGG (Cdn) and VIG (US) the currency denomination and fees? Is VGH the same as VGG, but VGH is hedged to the Canadian dollar?

VGG has higher fees than VIG, so I would assume that over several years, its returns would be less than VIG. However, I have looked on a number of sites and VGG seems to have higher returns. For example, over the last 5 years, VGG has had an annual return of 13.58% and VIG of 11.63%. What is causing this apparent difference in performance?

VGH has 9.11% 5-year performance. The lower performance I assume is due to it being hedged to the Canadian dollar. Can you please confirm my assumption is correct.

Thank you very much for all of your excellent advice.

Read Answer Asked by Dale on August 09, 2019
Q: Hi Team,
Would you please recommend 3 to 4 C$ denominated etfs that are focused on us equities (I already own XQQ and ZUB).
Cheers,
Read Answer Asked by Harry on August 09, 2019
Q: This is a follow up to my question about EM ETFs.

The way I see it, XEC holds only IEMG, but in Canadian funds. With XEC, there are 2 layers of foreign withholding taxes, one from the EM countries, and one from the US, neither of which are recoverable. This amounts to up to 27.75% (15% + 15% of the remaining 85%) withholding taxes on dividends, none of which are not recoverable.

With IEMG, the US withholding taxes are recoverable, so the total withholding taxes are up to 15%. That is a significant difference.

The same holds for VEE (holds only VWO).

ZEM looks like it holds about 15% US based ETFs, and the rest are direct holdings. That means that the withholding taxes are mostly recoverable (4.16% are non recoverable (from 15% of the holding times 27.75% from the above calculation), but the rest may be, depending on the treaties Canada has with each EM country).

Is this correct reasoning?

If it is correct, are there any other EM ETFs that have mostly direct holdings in addition to ZEM? Also, why would you recommend XEC over IEMG and VEE over VWO, especially considering the lower MER for IEMG and VWO?

If my reasoning is not correct, why, and which ETFs would be best from a taxation perspective?

Thanks, and I hope my question is clear,

Fed
Read Answer Asked by Federico on August 09, 2019
Q: OTEX reported a 0.1% constant currency organic growth rate for F19 implying revenues were basically flat because of a slowdown in Q4 license sales ex-acquisitions. Slowdowns in license sales should impact customer support revenues which is an important recurring source. Is this strictly a grow-by-acquisition game that can produce too many negative surprises and nasty stock corrections to bother with? If so, which TSX tech stocks would be a higher quality choice? Appreciate your service!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on August 09, 2019
Q: How do you select th 70 companied that you cover?
Read Answer Asked by Carl on August 09, 2019
Q: In reference to my last question you made a couple of suggestions. I parted ways with CHR and NFI. You also suggested that I lacked diversification in some areas. I have accumulated cash since my last question to be deployed at an appropriate time. I have listed again the stocks in which I am currently invested in. Percentage allocation in each was listed in my last question. I have wonder if you maintain an investment profile of your clients. Doing so would enable you to provide more appropriate advice and/or suggestions. It would negate the need for clients to keep repeating investment objectives. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Roy on August 09, 2019
Q: I have most sectors covered thanks to your Portfolio Analytics. Thanks so much. However I have a very large and growing allocation in Vanguard Dividend Appreciate (VIG:US). My international investments (non-US) are small and need a boost. What would you suggest I do to diversify internationally using ETFs?
Read Answer Asked by John on August 09, 2019
Q: Hi Peter,
For what its worth Scotiabank has a "Sector Outperform" rating on NFI. The yield sits at 6.2%, the Globe thinks the stock is a poor investment and 5i seems to be ambivalent too with, I suppose, a rating downgrade pending. Insiders seem to have cashed out so management is looking all too human so to speak. We bought the stock in 2014 and were once up 400%, took some capital gains in 2018 (used up some of our accumulated capital losses) and now are up only 100%. I'm a basic buy and hold investor so I'm thinking of hanging in there for another quarter or so. Please let me know if I am insane!
Thanks,
Jim
Read Answer Asked by James on August 09, 2019
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