Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Peter, thanks to you and your team for your great service. For a young person (or anyone for that matter), what are your thoughts on regular contributions to the S&P vs picking individual stocks ? It seems a simple but winning approach as it buys more of the good compalnies each 1/4 and kicks out the poor performers. It lacks energy etc but is this an issue ? Is there any data on how many mgrs or individuals actually beat the S&P. Are there equivilant and/or complimentary indexes you would pair with the S&P ? Looking to spend less time fussing over individual names. Thank you.

Q: Hi Peter

Could you please share your thoughts on the new Evolve S&P 500 enhanced yield ETF : ESPX ?

It is interesting that IVV is its largest holding at 36%. Will this help to offset the upside limitation of covered call ETFs ?

Q: Given the current market, what are some S&P 500 Index Funds you see looking at long term growth and opportunities for 5-10+ years?

Q: I own an Ishares all in one ETF to round things out. I just found out they hedge the currency on the non Canadian holdings. I tried to find out the cost to hedge but was unsuccessful. After doing more research I found the costs to hedge can be 1-2% a year. When doing a back test between IVV and XSP the hedged EFT lagged by 1-3% a year over 20 years. From 2002-2012 the lag averaged 2.1% a year but in the last 10 years the average lag was 1.1% a year. Do you know any all in one Canadian ETF's that don't hedge the currency?

Thank you.

Q: I have an ETF portfolio and a portfolio of CDN and U.S. stocks.

I am building my ETF portfolio and plan to take my gains from my individual stocks and add to my ETF portfolio during market downturns. I don't plan on making any sales from my ETF portfolio and I expect that portfolio to provide my funds for retirement.

The ETF portfolio is divided globally and I was wondering if which order you would add since I am building my portfolio. The ETFs I have selected on XIC (30%), XEF (15%), XEC (10%), IVV (15%), XJH (5%), XJR (5%), QQQ (5%), XLF (5%) and 10% fixed income. I have already established my 5% positions in XJH, XJR, QQQ and XLF over the summer.

My questions are:

1 - I know weighting is personal, but do you have any glaring concerns with my weightings?

2 - In which order would you add to XIC, XEF, XEC and IVV?

Thanks for your help,
Jason

Q: First a big thank you for the terrific returns we received in 2020 thanks to your stellar guidance (our largest holdings we first discovered through 5i -hello LSPD,XBC and WELL!). We gifted our kids memberships in December and praise your service to everyone. This is truly an invaluable service.
Now to the question, my brother is tired of paying high fees for his CIBC pension holdings. When I looked into this for him last year, some pools had MER in the 2% range! He’s moved the following into cash and is looking for lower fee/higher return alternatives in the following areas of his pension account:
-Imperial Canadian Dividend Income Pool
-Imperial Canadian Equity High Income Pool
-Imperial US Equity Pool
-Imperial International Equity Pool
-Imperial Short Term Bond Pool
-Imperial Long Term Bond Pool
Please charge as many questions as required.

Q: Could you please suggest a replacement for these mutual funds. I have been told these funds have a high MER and I should investigate other options. A switch to ETF's may be an option too.

Q: Thank you for answering my question yesterday. You guys are the best. If you could choose 5 ETF's for a 40,000 RESP for a 8 and 10 year to hold and continual buy for the next number of years - which are they?
I appreciate it,
Brent

Q: To several members, you've suggested an S&P500 etf. Among those are ZSP, XUS, VFV and HXS, all trading on the TSX in Canadian $. They all appear similar, except that HXS pays no dividend (why?). Then there's SPY, trading on the US exchange. It has dropped considerably more than the Canadian versions, and consequently has a higher dividend yield. Can you explain the discrepancy, please? Don't they all hold the same stocks? And there must be other S&P500 ETFs trading on US exchanges, besides SPY - could you please name some? Which version of these ETFs would you choose?

Q: Could I please have 5 recommendations for investment in Canadian stocks and/or Canadian ETF's focused on the US market. I currently have no investments in the US market in my RRIF. Thanks

Q: From a tax perspective, does it make a difference where I hold XUU? I'd like to put it in a non-registered account but I'm wondering whether there is a tax benefit to put it in my RSP.

Thanks,

Q: Dear 5i,
In the parts of my portfolio that outside of the 5i Balanced Equity Portfolio, I want to add some US market exposure. I hold precious metals and some TLT in this area as well and was looking at an S&P500 ETF. IVV seems to have the best combination of dividend yield and low management fee followed by the O'Leary Quality S&P500 ETF which aims to own the highest quality companies (by balance sheet and earnings, I believe) in each sector of S&P500.

Is there one or the other of these that I should pick for holding in a TFSA or should I look to the CAD-hedged XSP or something else?

Q: ZSP is an unhedged Canadian Dollar ETF. It has not done as well as the US Dollar ETF, symbol IVV.

Why would that be so? Shouldn’t their performance be identical?