Investment Q&A

Q: Hi there, often times the 4% rule is used as a foundation for retirement planning. I believe the original study used US equities and US bonds as the funds to develop the 4% withdrawal rule. Obviously no one has a crystal ball, but what would be your opinion on using as international equity ETF with the 4% rule rather than a US fund such as VFV? If you were make an educated guess, do you believe using funds such as XEQT/VEXT and VAB/XBB instead of US funds would yield similar results as the 4% study over the longterm going forward?

Q: Looking of some growth ETF suggestions for my non-registered account, hold for at least 5 years.

Q: Do you you prefer one of these over the others? Would VEQT would be more efficient in an RSSP as it holds individual stocks rather than ETF's?

Q: Following up on Harrison's RESP question from February 10th, I'm seeking advice on ETF recommendations for my grandson's RESP. He turns two in March 2025, giving him approximately 16 years until he'll need the funds.
I appreciate your ETF recommendations, particularly the split between Canadian and US markets (VGG, ZSP, ZCN, XCG, VDY). I'm also considering ZUQ (BMO MSCI USA High Quality Index), but I'm wondering if it's too similar to ZSP? Your thoughts?
I do not like CDZs holdings as much.
You also mentioned two balanced ETFs in your response (XBAL and VBAL). The fixed income allocation is approximately 40% for these balanced ETFs. In contrast, XGRO and VGRO have a fixed income allocation of around 20%, and XEQT or VEQT have no fixed income. What I like about these allocation ETFs is they have some international exposure.
Considering the long-term horizon, I'm leaning towards XEQT/VEQT, which have no fixed income. My main question is whether the 20% fixed income component of XGRO/VGRO or even the XBAL/VBAL (40% fixed income) is necessary for a two-year-old’s RESP? Or are XEQT/VEQT too aggressive, considering the other ETFs mentioned?
Finally, wouldn't it be more appropriate to introduce a 100% fixed income ETF closer to the withdrawal age or perhaps three years before we start accessing the funds?
Deduct as many points as you think necessary.
As always thanks for the great advice.
Élaine

Q: Which one do you prefer and why?

Thanks

Q: From a tax perspective, which of the above ETFs are best suited for:

1. TFSA
2. RRSP

Q: Hi Peter and 5i Team,

How would you rank these ETFs, XEI, XEQT, VFV, QDTE, for a 10 year hold?

Q: Hi- I’m looking for a long term, somewhat diversified CG hold for my TFSA. What do you think of FEQT. Do you have others you prefer?
Thanks,
Guy

Q: The existing investments for my other grandson are shown above. Please rank his investments for long term growth. Best wishes for the Holiday Season.

Q: What is your opinion of this ETF. Would you consider it a buy at its current price. If not do you have any other reconmendations

Q: Can you explain the difference between these two. Curious which is more or less risky or would have potential better returns in long term.

Q: Writing in again because I keep hesitating about how to start a high growth all equity portfolio..

For context, I am 39 years of age, with a comfortable income, and planning on working about 25 years. This would be for retirement money.

You previously answered you would be comfortable with an SP500 index fund as VFV of SPY as opposed to an all in one equity fund such as VEQT or XEQT, from what I understood.

Can you please suggest a porfolio of 5 to 7 all equity ETFs that you believe to be superior to the all in one variety. I don’t necessarily care about the truisms about absolutely needing to be geographically diverse. And I certainly prefer to avoid Canadian home bias.

Thank you.

Q: Apologies if this has been answered previously. This is a follow up to Ross’ question about these one stop shop ETFs. You mention, in this particular answer, that you consider them to be ‘more than acceptable’.

Assuming one doesn’t mind complicating their lives a little, what would be your optimal all-equity ETF portfolio for an aggressive investor ?

Thank you

Q: Hi there - thanks for your reply. Just a follow up for clarification. You mentioned XEQT has exposure to fixed income which you noted as a reason for a better etf for long term hold, but I think both XEQT and XWD are approximately 100% in equities, with a different approach to geographical weighting. Does this change your recommendation of XEQT over XWD long term? Thank you!

Q: Hi there - between these 2 etfs, which would you consider the better buy hold forever etf? Is there a better buy a hold forever etf other than these 2?

Thanks!

Q: Could I please have your opinion on Mawer global .cf. in a tfsa. Thanks

Q: I would appreciate your general comments regarding these two ETFs, in particular with regard to these as a long term hold for my nephew at age 30. That person also intends to have other funds invested in more speculative, higher risk equities (play money!)
1) Are these a safe hold that should increase in value with general market appreciation over the years?
2) Would you believe the current dividend is sustainable?
3) Are there other options in the ETF world that you might recommend for a long term hold?
4) Again for a long term hold would you prefer something along the lines of buying equities directly, with something like holding one of your portfolios, knowing that he will not be paying much attention to these investments.
Thanks! Paul

Q: Further to my prior question, in looking at ETFs, I often thought why not just buy their top holdings, and that is quite often what I do. However, in trying to find out that info for these two I noticed something I thought was unusual.

For example, the XEQT ETF lists holdings as follows ...
iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Market ... 44.8%
iShares Core MSCI EAFE IMI ETF ... 24.96%
iShares Core S&P/TSX Capped Compost ETF ... 24.86%
iShares Core MSCI Emer Mkts IMI ETF ... 4.97%

This seems to be the total of their holdings (99.59%). I assume these also generate management fees, which seems like an approach to increase fees paid by "layering" their offerings!
Would a person not be generally better off just buying the 4 separately in the percentages to match the XEQT ETF?
... or possibly digging deepr in the layer and finding out what equities they really are holding?
Thanks! Paul

Q: Morning
Which etf would you recommend for US exposure and why. Please rate them from 1-4
ZSP
VFV
VGG
XUS
Also thoughts on XEQT for all round exposure
Thank you

Q: Good morning,

In one response to a question on the choice of a International exposure ETF, the 5i preference was VEQT, XEQT and XWD in that order.

Q1. Has you opinion of the order of these Global ETFs changed in any way and given XWD's 5 and 10 year performance?

Q2. Would you kindly explain your rational for ranking XWD ahead of VEQT and XEQT and even HEQT.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing your response.