Investment Q&A

Q: Good morning 5i
I sent in a question but it must have gotten lost over te weekend. A member recently said that if he should become incapacitated he left instructions for his wife to sell all stocks and buy vbal, as she was not interested in stocks and this would be a solution.
There are probably many of us in this situation. But,i wonder if one would not be better to sell gradually while alive and capable. After all, you will bot get the big tax hit. Also, in case of the death of one partner, it maybe better to start selling earl, even though it involves capital gains. Because the tax on the one remaining spouse , without the benefit of income splitting will be very high.

One problem i have with this plan is that i have a lot in US dollars. And i want to keep them. One solution i thought woul be to put much more in berkshire. But I don’t know of any US etf that works like vbal. Would you have suggestions on this?
Thanks

Q: Hello, I wanted to buy XBAL for half of my TFSA, but realized there was 15% in the TSX and I already have plenty of that in my cash account. Instead, I am thinking of having 60% in XAW, 25% in XBB and 15% in VGAB. Does this make sense? Thanks!

Q: Good Afternoon,

When using the 60/40 etfs (VBAL, XBAL, ZBAL) in an RRSP, what would you consider to be the most prudent way of splitting up +$100,000 for a long term hold (30-40 years)?

Ie:
100% in one etf?
50/50 split between two etfs?
3 way split between three etfs?

And in general, at what dollar value in a single 60/40 etf do YOU start to feel uncomfortable?

Thank you!

Q: Hello,

This is one statement from the fund facts(The ETF will employ a currency hedging strategy that seeks to hedge its exposure to U.S. dollars or other foreign currencies within the non-Canadian fixed income asset class.)
I assume that the U.S and foreign Equity holding are unhedged? And is the cost to hedge the US bonds included in the MER?

Also if XBAL is held in a RRSP will I get the withholding taxes back from the US dividends.

Thank you.

Derek

Q: Is there any issue with withholding taxes and holding XBAL in a RRSP?

Thanks,

Joe

Q: I currently hold investments in Fidelity Balanced Income Private Pool and Franklin Quotential Diversified Income. I will be transferring the funds from these mutual funds to ETFs with lower management fees. Please provide a list of 5 suitable ETFs and rank them from 1 to 5. Thank you.

Q: Hello 5i, Could you explain what these 4 companies are about and rank them in order from best first. I just retired and am looking for one or two companies where I can sleep at night and earn some income. Thanks

Q: For a mutual fund, do you think the CIBC balance index fund managed by Jacques Prevost is a good overall fund for a conservative investor? Reported returns of 6.7% for 5 and 10 years. Mer of 1.22%. I noted 25% allocation to financials. It’s in my wife portfolio and she was looking for advice. Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you!

Q: I have these ETF's in a TFSA with a primary goal 8 to 10% annual return. I'd like your opinion if there is overlap in this portfolio and if there would be another ETF to add. This is a smaller portfolio and I don't think it would be efficient to buy the individual stocks in your balanced equity model portfolio.
Thanks!

Q: I am looking to finally replace the following mutual funds held in a self admin RSP account, to equivalent ETFs.
FID269 - Fid Monthly Inc;
FID5973 - Fid Global Innovation;
FID207 - Fid Global Concentrated Equity;
RBC460 - Sel Bal Ptf
TDB2760 - Td Retirement Balance
TDB652 - Td Global Entertainment & communication
TDB976 - Td Health Science
TDB2580 Td Tactical Monthly Inc
My goal is to replace these mutual funds with long term, high yielding where possible, low MER, CDN or US $ equivalent ETFs. Please provide 2 or 3 suggestions for each. Please deduct as many credit s as need.
Thank you for all the invaluable investment help you provide.

Q: Greetings once again and my continued thanks for your steady hand. Can you please suggest an array of balanced fund or high grade dividend fund etfs which can give me exposure to Canada, USA and the rest of the world, in roughly equal portions. KIndest regards, Al

Q: Is there any advantage to using ETFs rather than mutual funds in our fixed income portfolio? Presently, we have 35% in fixed income with DFA231, DFA 603, PM0 205 & LYS801F.

Q: Hi 5i, I can see all these institutions have a all-in-one ETFs, for an RRSP account, is it the way to go for someone who is looking for stability.
Place 45% BAL, 45% GRO, and 10% Stocks (LSPD, SHOP, GOOGL, AMZN, etc).
Thank you!

Q: Do you prefer VBAL or XBAl for an RESP? Looks like XBAL has had better performance and has a slightly higher dividend 1.8 vs 2. However XBAL has 515M assest vs VBAL which has 1.4B assets. Does this make XBAL riskier? Which would you choose?

Q: Hi, I’am retired,(65) looking for a global dividend ETF . I have no U.S. or International exposure no bonds, only Canadian stock, so thinking to spread out a little. Do you have a go to all in one etf that pays 2%+ while you wait ( 6-8) years+.
I was looking at XDG ,good mer, good div. 3.4%, global holdings 56% U.S. etc. But not sure if it’s a good long term hold?
Would like your opinion on an etf that you like
Thanks

Q: Hello,

Can I get a couple of your recommendations for the best balanced growth ETF and/or mutual fund as well as a pure growth recommendation. Sector & Geographic allocation not a huge concern.

Thanks.

Q: What ETF would you suggest for a non-registered account for a higher risk tolerance with emphasis on growth and a 10 year minimum timeline ? VGRO/XGRO sound good but the dividend yields seem low to really take advantage of the dividend tax credit.

Q: Hello,
I have some holdings in the Sun Life Granite Balanced Growth Portfolio class F as a "steady" fund for a blend of growth and safety. Thoughts on this fund please and any funds in your view that could be better in the space.

Thanks.

Q: Can you please recommend a couple of ETFs for an RESP with a six year time frame? Thank you!

Q: Could you please recommend a low cost etf for an resp for 3 or 4 years to introduce someone safely to markets. For example a dividend growth, tsx or your ideas. What are the cost for the etfs? Thank you for your assistance.