Investment Q&A

Q: Over the last couple months I have increased the fixed income portion of my RSP, and would like to finish with a smallish position in a a high-yield bond ETF. Been looking at PDI and ZHY/XHY (they seem about the same). Some questions:

1) is the current PDI premium normal for this fund on a historical basis
2) the PDI dividend seems consistent, but how do they manage to maintain that level
3) PDI is more international than the others - do you see this as a positive or negative for high-yield corporate holdings
4) do you think it is too early to get into high-yield if interest rates keep going up or if we get into a "significant" recession
5) who do you consider to be the best manager of these 3 ETFs, and if you would buy , which is your pick and why
Thank-you Grant

Q: Could you please share some of your favourite corporate class ETFs for a retiree that needs to 'park' some money for say 1-5 years ? This would be in a taxable account.

Q: Hello 5i
I have read recently that several US analysts think that the Canadian market will do better than the US this year. T Rowe Price was the most recent one in the National Post, i think. Wondering what you think of this thesis. And if you believe it, how would you organize to profit from it? I imagine the thesis has a lot to do with resources with the possible re opening of China. Is there, for instance, a good etf? Or, what stocks would you choose to create your own etf substitute?
Thanks as always for your excellent advice

Q: Hi,

Based on the questions pertaining to taxable dividends, and managing an income portfolio for my elderly parents, is there a substantial difference in tax treatment, if the above funds are held in a cash account? I was fortunate enough to get DIR.UN into a TFSA and am slowly moving AW into a TFSA as well. Do I take out the growthier names in the TFSA’s and move in the ETF’s or just let them go in a cash account?

Q: I need income. I'm bullish on oil. I'm trying to decide between encc & nrgi. Nrgi holds mostly US stocks which could be a tax problem. I don't mind giving up some upside for a covered call strategy.

Maybe a combination of both?

Thank you.

Q: You have mentioned both VIU and VXUS for International exposure in a portfolio. Can you please explain the difference between them? Would one be better than the other as the only International exposure in an ETF portfolio?
Thank you!

Q: My company has a one year horizon before we need the money that is currently invested in stocks and for the better part are under water. We are currently sitting on 50% cash and would like to invest the money to try to make some capital gain to offset the losses. I know as we all know that one year is very little but we trust that the market will be higher in April 2024. Do you agree with that thesis and if so where would you invest money in order to keep a safe and optimal return? Please answer by percentage of where through index funds and secondly would you put time horizon to invest in slices or all in now?
Thanks for your precious help.

Yves

Q: what do you think about this Energy Giants Covered Call ETF? I'm bullish Oil, I like the top 10 holdings, and a 9.87% dividend yield does not hurt.

Q: With the assumption being the market will face a downturn later this year.

What are your three best choices to park some cash today for someone using a bank trading platform like itrade.

The goal being to earn the best return but still have easy access to the cash to buy later in the year or into next year.

Q: JEPQ uses ELNs(up to 20%) in order to generate covered calls instead of writing covered calls on its assets that would limit upside potential.This means that JEPQ has a capital appreciation potential,and at the same time offers significant monthly income.I suppose though that QYLD will be less volatile than JEPQ.If I wish to take avantage of a future NASDAQ recovery and also obtain a revenue,JEPQ seems to me more interesting than QYLD .To summarize my question : is my impression OK ,and are there any avantages to hold QYLD instead of JEPQ ,(except of the higher yield ?

Q: Can you please provide your views on hmax?

Q: I need to increase my international exposure by 20% according to your analysis. Because we are retired and depend on our investments to supplement income what companies or ETF would you recommend? Thanks for your input.

Q: Sprott has just launched four 'energy transition' ETFs.

My question is about the Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF (Nasdaq: URNJ).

The Sprott website says the ETF will follow the Nasdaq Sprott Junior Uranium Miners™ Index (NSURNJ™).

For an ETF following an index, I find the .80% management fee a bit rich. Any idea why it is so high?

As an aside, the fact the fund is following the index is the only way I can explain the inclusion of a company like Mega (MGA), whose share price has been mostly moribund over the past decade and even now with the rising interest in uranium still barely shows a pulse.

Would welcome your thoughts, especially given your (Peter) earlier history with Sprott.

Many thanks as always,

Marc.

Q: Could I have your thoughts on the merits and/or drawbacks of single bonds ETFs - UTEN ; UTWO ; TBIL.
Thanks

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. Happy owner of CDZ. I just saw the new asset allocation effective Jan 31/23. I believe they reconstitute the ETF annually. Pretty big change in the finance %. It jumped from 24% to 30%.

Am I correct that this has to do with some of their constituent holdings not meeting the required criteria of increasing their dividend over the past year? I have gone through their website and am trying to figure out what criteria they use to select their individual holdings and how they design their sector allocations. Can you help me understand this a little better?

Thanks for your help...much appreciated...Steve

Q: I am interested in your thoughts on the Canadian bank mean reversion ETF's. Do you prefer them to the regular bank ETF's? Any recommendations for the ones you like best.

Thanks,
Chuck

Q: Hi Peter and Staff

A while back you recommended this as an ETF with a very low mer . I believe the MER was .1 of 1%?. I have two questions

1. Is this an actively managed ETF or just an index replica based on market cap of the stocks owned?
2. For RESP's just starting out, is this a good way to gain the health care allocation as opposed to picking "the winning horse" due to trading fees ?

Thanks for all you do
Dennis

Q: RSP account, new position. 10-yr + hold. Don’t know whether to buy individual stock for nice dividend, or ETF for diversification. Thoughts?

Q: I notice that utility ETF are in the low range of 52 weeks.Considering interest rates and economic context ,is it a good time now to invest in utility ETF (or even in utility covered call ETF in order to limit the present volatility ) ? any ETF suggestion ?

Q: Hello
.Assuming an investor had a equally weighted NA Portfolio (25% each Index from 1993 to present : (TSX DJI Nasdaq S&P) . the annualized return combined and each respective decade was > 10.5% !!

Who needs to be a stock picker !

Would this have been possible back in 1993 ... IE where there Index Funds or ETFs with suitable MERs ? #investingiseasy