Q: A couple of questions about HSAV: first, I wish to compare what is available on GICs to HSAV - what is the effective rate of interest being earned on dollars invested in HSAV? Second, it seems the premium paid for the price to invest compared to the NAV has risen in the last month - is there a reason why? And is there any way to predict if the premium will get any smaller in the next few weeks? Last, is there a fairly direct relationship between any reductions from the BoC to what is earned with HSAV, eg if the BoC reduces by 1%, does the effective rate earned with HSAV go down by 1%? Many thanks for your excellent service.
5i Research Answer:
HSAV's returns will vary, as will other high interest ETF products, with short term interest rates. YTD return is 2.82%, which if annualized compares favourable to current GICs, but there is no 'indicated' yield as with other products. The premium may have changed somewhat with the change in capital gains taxes, which makes its no distribution policy more attractive for high tax bracket investors. But there is really no way of predicting the premium--supply and demand can be fickle. On the last question, we would expect there to be a very high correlation between returns and the BoC rate. The fund invests in high interest deposits, and the return on these will adjust with the BoC rate fairly quickly due to their short term nature.