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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: Many comments are made about diversifying outside Canada; Europe is thought to have good potential. I would like to take a look at it and thought to go with an ETF. But I am very uneasy about "Brexit" and every fund I look at has a 20 % or more weighting in Britain. Can you suggest an ETF or other suitable product that has no British exposure? Thanks for your help. BTW, first time question for me...I quite enjoy your work. Leonard
Read Answer Asked by Leonard on May 10, 2017
Q: I think it's time that I put some money back into emerging markets. Currently my only holdings (other than ADR's held on International stocks thru New York) is my investment in ZDI. All in, these current investments represent less than 3.5% of my equity portfolio. So my two part question is as follows: 1) what rough percentage would you recommend for international holdings in total (tough question I know), and 2) please give me your opinion on the relative merits/demerits of VEE vs ZEM (on a line chart they track almost identically in terms of performance, so I'm wondering if there's something "under the hood" in either of them that might be important for my decision)? Many thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on May 08, 2017
Q: My only exposure to equities outside of Canada is through the etf VUN. Would it be appropriate now to invest in emerging markets, Europe or world etf's? Could you please make some suggestions to compliment my Canadian and US holdings.
Thanks for your wonderful service.
Read Answer Asked by Rose on May 02, 2017
Q: Greetings 5i,

Looking to further enhance geographical diversification in my overall portfolio. I have fairly balanced exposure to NA, about 8% Europe, but only 1% Asia so I am looking to bring up my exposure in that region. My question is regarding exposure to India specifically. I wish to dollar cost average into this geographical region therefore I have been looking for a mutual fund rather than an ETF due to cost prohibitive transaction fees of $9.99 with my institution. What are your thoughts on Excel India Series D fund (EXL770)? I have it as No load, Mer 1.75, Min $250 and subsequent $50. Im open to suggestions and or direction keeping in mind the dollar cost averaging is preferred to me over a big initial commitment to a geographical region like this.

Cheers!
Read Answer Asked by Duane on May 01, 2017
Q: Ryan,
Can you please provide a couple choices of best in class ETFs that would give best exposure to Europe?
Thx
Read Answer Asked by Peter on May 01, 2017
Q: $IDV: iShares International Select Dividend ETF. I'm wondering your thoughts on this ETF - would you recommend holding this as a way to diversify dividend income outside of North American equity, as we don't follow much for international equities. Morningstar mentioned that it outpaced the category average by 80 basis points annualized, but with greater volatility, so its risk-adjusted performance was slightly below average. Are there any alternatives you would recommend instead?
Read Answer Asked by Robert on April 25, 2017
Q: Good day...I am lucky enough to have a fairly large portfolio that is 70% in your balanced portfolio and 10% in various growth and income stocks you have in the other two portfolios. I also have 20% of my portfolio in u.s. stocks. My question is whether or not I should have any emerging market exposure or are the companies in your three portfolios have enough already. I look forward to your thoughts on this...
Read Answer Asked by gene on April 18, 2017
Q: Hi, I want to Invest some of my cash outside of Canadian and US markets. I would appreciate if you can suggest a few markets with good valuations and potential. I do not want to pick individual stocks, but instead would buy an ETF.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Harpinder on April 17, 2017
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