Investment Q&A

Q: I have losses in spy and iyc and want to buy voo. Would I be able to claim the loss since the two etfs are in a non registered account? Do you think this is an ok move?
Thanks, Lesley

Q: In the Portfolio Analytics it was pointed out that we are underweight in Industrials.. is there a Canadian etf that you would recommend that covers industrials?

Thanks, Lesley

Q: With a 5yr time horizon would you recommend splitting money over 3 etfs; rep. Utilities, tech, financials. Or, one etf VOO or a cad equivalent with spaced purchases over the course of a year. If suggestion is 3 etfs, could you please suggest some names in each of the three sectors. Thanks a lot.

Q: I noted and likely your strategy to add to XHY for income and possible capital gains. However, when I looked at high yield corp. bond ETFs, ZJK looked better overall. There is also the matter of CAD hedging. I'm looking to park cash for my 2023 RIF withdrawal this December and I've been using the BMO HISA for this. Can I have your opinion on using ZJK or XHY instead for about 2% higher income?

Q: I have a bit of cash on the sidelines that I'd like to deploy in a money market fund/cash proxy etf product to earn a bit of interest on. Do you have any suggested ETFs for this purpose in this market?

Q: Hi,

A great question by Rodney today (Jan 11) on Tech sector "rolling over" and comparing it to the current status in O&G sector. I really appreciated your measured and thoughtful response.

This is a quick follow up question to your answer to Rodney's question:

I "get" the 80$ markin XLE as an indicator to monitor. Makes sense.

But what other sectors would like XLE to be compared to? XMA or XLI or XGD.....not sure if you meant ALL the 11 sectors in S&P or some specific sectors that are comparable to O&G.

Many thanks for the clarification.

Q: Is there some way to score-board enhanced-yield Canadian bank ETFs/funds that assigns more weight to the factors that make more of a difference? Yes, fees add up, but even over the long term it's hard to see how basis-point fee differences could outweigh percentage-point yield differences. And won't either of these factors be outweighed by distribution tax treatment and, especially, by central bank rate-pivoting?

Further, in side-by-side comparisons, 5i often prefers larger ETFs (recently, for example, when comparing CBNK vs BANK.) But given large-cap banks' similar value-propositions and tendency toward mean-reversion, why should higher AUM matter (other than w/rt second-order effects like trading liquidity)? Put another way: what, if anything, could a new entrant to this sector do to make themselves attractive to 5i?

Please add to the supplied symbol list if other names provide more instructive comparisons.

Q: I'm looking at my legacy pile of preferred shares of which I have never been fond and wondering if this isn't a good time to sell and invest in a bond ETF such as XHY. I know you have expressed ambivalence about prefs but have also said in better times the class can do better. However, yields are roughly comparable, I can use the loses and invest the proceeds in XHY or a different bond fund which you might suggest, keeping the investment on the fixed income side of the page, Many thanks. al

Q: Dear 5i team.

I'm considering adding to my IHAK position but wanted to clear up something with you first.
In the archives, you mentioned that a combination of CRWD/NET/PANW would be an alternative to owning the ETFs IHAK or HACK. Are you still of this view? Do you still prefer IHAK to HACK?
Are the valuations of these holdings back to a level that reflects current realities?

Many thanks for your help.

Q: Hi,

I am somewhat surprised by VRIF's poor return. I thought one was "assured" of safety and can withdraw 4% a year.

Should one look at Vanguard's VIC series ETFs? I don't know much about VIC series ETFs at all. Any words of wisdom?

Q: I think it’s clear that within the next six months the US will teeter on the brink of technical insolvency given the more radical element of the GOP. This will likely result in a significant decline in the US dollar, what’s an easy way to invest in this, gold for example?

Q: Hi 5i, can you recommend and EFT that covers the long term care / retirement home industry, for companies like Chartwell, Extendicare, etc? Thank you.

Q: Can you recommend a high interest savings account that trades on the US exchange that is to equivalent PSA-T. I tried using the PSA.U-T in my US account but my trading account wants to convert the US dollars to CDN. Thanks.

Q: Good morning,

Following the sale of XLF in my US$ Non registered account for tax loss reasons, I'm considering the purchase of an Energy ETF.

Q1. Between XEG in Canada and XLE in the US, which do you prefer and which d you think has a better risk reward profile?

Q2. Assuming you prefer the Canadian market for the Energy sector, is there another Energy ETF in Canada that you would prefer to XEG?

Thank you and I'll await your response.

Q: Both of these historically have gone down over their full length of time. Why is that? Do you think these are still good for a long term investment for an income investor and is this a good time to buy them? Thanks.

Q: What is your favourite defence (military) ETF?

Q: What's your opinion on etf's that follow insider buying like the PKW
Invesco BuyBack Achievers ETF. I was trying to look up others like KNOW Direxion All Cap Insider Sentiment Shares and The Guggenheim Insider Sentiment ETF (NFO)which I can't even find the ticker in my td trading accounts for the latter two and finally the INK Canadian Insider (CIN) Index.

If there are trading vehicles/etfs that one can add to their portfolio do you recommend them or stick to using them as tools to find individual stocks such as Oracle ORCL the top holding in PKW Invesco BuyBack Achievers ETF. I'm confused by Oracle because it looks like there's more selling so I don't why it would be a top holding. Anyways just trying to educate myself please help. P.s. is there any stocks in these indexes that attract your attention? Cheers

Q: I’m looking to put a fairly large cash position to work (my portfolio is 30% cash) over the short term and would like to atleast gain some income (while I wait for a short-term recession scenario to play out) but limit large equity exposure. Can you give some short term bond etfs or some liquid traded products that would serve that purpose. I own a large position in zwb already but realize I’ll still get dinged in a pull back (at which point I’d shift that position back into underlying bank equities for a recovery). And also what kind of yields would I be looking at? I also would like to be paid out atleast monthly. Thanks

Q: I need to add income equities to the TFSA as the income target is underwater. With this, I'm pondering adding BMO Covered Call Canadian Banks ETF(ZWB-T) to the TFSA for extra income, rather than say ENB that I would prefer to hold in a trading account and also rather than hold a small capitalization stock like AW.UN. What do you say about this option, ZWB for a mate over the age of 71?
If you are aligned with this approach, are there other Covered Call ETFs that you would suggest from my consideration?
Many thanks for the hints!!!......Tom

Q: HPS and HPF - what are the prospects for these two funds, and I assume the outlook for and relevance of preferred interest rates to investment in one of these funds?

HPS.A - not related to the above - do you expect Hammond to raise capital by way of share issue, or otherwise, for the announced 40m expansion commitment.