skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A

Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Hi Peter

I need to park some cash for a condo purchase in about 6 to 18 months. I'd really appreciate your advice on how to do that with a product that is guaranteed and that I can cash out at any time.

A one year cashable GIC currently pays 2.25%.

What about Money Market Mutual funds? TDB2914 pays 2.73% but is it guaranteed?

In one of your answers, you referenced PSA as basically a high interest savings account. Are there risks with this? According to Yahoo it yields .93% and according to the Purpose Management Fund website it yields 3.3%.

Is your advice on this changing with the recent rapid rise in interest rates?

Thanks so much Peter!

Read Answer Asked by Mary on September 16, 2022
Q: Hi there, I'm building a portfolio based on the 4% withdrawal rule. I read a study where based on country specific stock market data, the 4% withdrawal rule only worked in Canada, US and maybe 3 other countries. Based on this study and using history as a guide - if one were to build a portfolio with 50/50 Canada and US exposure, would it be best to use VCE and VFV or VCE and XSP? Also, if VCE is not the most appropriate Canadian ETF, what would be the most suitable? I've seen XIU, XIC and VCN often mentioned, but it appears like VCE has a slight outperformance?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on September 15, 2022
Q: Let's assume I am ready to bet that the stock market will provide me 7-10% CAGR over the next 20 years. I could buy an index that tracks the market. But is there an ETF that could provide me with 2x or 3x leverage on this bet (with the help of derivatives or any other tool/tactics that I have no chance of understanding), hence providing me with 20%-30% CAGR ?

That would be too easy right ?
Read Answer Asked by laurent on September 15, 2022
Q: Artificial intelligence and cyber security. What are your 2 favourite etfs in each of these areas of investment ?
Thanks ,
Philip
Read Answer Asked by Philip on September 14, 2022
Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. I own LIFE as my proxy for healthcare, with a current 6% weighting of my equities. I have money set aside to top it up a bit, but I wanted to check on two things first.

#1 = regarding where we are at in the overall market cycle is now a reasonable time to add to the health care sector? I have read that HC should be "ok" during a downturn. Would you agree?

#2 = is there any seasonality to healthcare? It doesn't appear to my eyes, but wanted to ask.

Thanks for your help...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on September 14, 2022
Q: Dear 5i,
COWZ is a US listed ETF which attempts to select the highest FCF Yield companies from the Russel 1000 index. The reported ETF Operating Expenses are 0.49% and the latest reported portfolio turnover is over 100%.
It seems that US listed ETF's do not provide TER fees in any of there documentation. I would like to know the impact of excessive trading has on the overall Total Return for an ETF. Am I correct in that US ETF's are not required to disclose TER fees?
Read Answer Asked by Ian on September 14, 2022
Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. Not a market timing question...ok maybe it sort of is.

Looking to potentially add to ZRE and just wondering where we are at in the investment cycle and if now is a reasonable time to be adding to ZRE?


Also, is there a seasonality to REITs? When looking at a 10 year chart, it appears to my amateur eyes that the last portion of the year looks to be trending down most of the time? It looks like the January to early fall period is usually positive?

Thanks for your help....Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on September 13, 2022
Q: I am a retired income investor. All my income except CPP comes from my investments. Right now I am quite well diversified and I did not go to much cash so far nor do not intend to. However, I am now thinking that I should make some changes to be underweight some sectors and overweight others. Right now I am overweight ENB (I consider it a utility), BEP.UN, T, SLF, the Cdn banks and BCE. I also own a lot of the various BMO covered calls ETFs. Two areas I am light is Consumer Staples which the gurus say will hold up well now and I hold no US stocks. One can argue whether we are now in recession or it is coming but I am sure it is or will be real especially since our government says it does not think about economic policy. I am thinking of reducing the covered calls and increasing my exposure to stocks because I believe the stocks will perform better during and as we come out of this. This will further skew my diversity but these are not normal times.
I would like your thoughts on this and a recommendation for "safe" income producing Consumer Staples and a US ETF.
Many thanks
Read Answer Asked by Don on September 12, 2022
Looking for more? Sign up for a FREE 14 day trial! No credit card required

We invite you to sign up for a 14 day free trial of 5i Research!
Experience all the benefits and tools we have to offer; stock research, model portfolios, Q&A with our experts, and so much more. Join a community of like-minded investors today!