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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: Hi 5i, I started my stock market investing in March 2020 in order to get 'skin in the game'. I am a daily learner whose investing personality is that of an 'individualist'. I have determined my investing goal to be for income (mostly through dividends) and growth (for capital appreciation). I have found lately that my risk tolerance feels lower due to increasing volatility, talk of market decline/crash, increasing inflation, shortages, rising rates etc. As a result I would like to cash in the individual stocks I own that have given me good capital appreciation and replace them with ETF's and/or Index Funds. Income and growth plus diversification to my portfolio is my objective here. Since I hold more than enough physical precious metals and an emergency stash in US dollars I feel I have enough insurance/hedge against a worst case scenario happening in the economy. Please comment on these following ETF's. I am also open to other suggestions you might have as well. Please note that my entire TFSA is in my brokerage account so taxes are not an issue for me. Thanks

ZCN BMO S&P/TSX Composite Index
CIC CI First Asset Canadian Bank Income Class
ZWB BMO Covered Call Canadian Banks
RIT CI First Asset Canadian Banks
ZDV BMO Canadian Dividend
CDZ iShares Canadian Aristorcrats
XRE iShares Capped REIT
XEC Emerging Markets ETF

P.S. I assign an equal dollar amount for each investment in my portfolio. The ETF part of my portfolio are for long term holds.
Read Answer Asked by Lucy on November 02, 2021
Q: greetings - as i move into retirement i have been taking a hard look at some of my portfolio. I inherited this stock many years ago and really haven't look at it too hard because of the nice US dividend. I need both us and cdn income in retirement. Given the high dividend how much risk is there. What are the downsides of continuing to own?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by kelly on November 02, 2021
Q: Please name half dozen of your top choices for an income portfolio.
Read Answer Asked by Roy on November 02, 2021
Q: I am looking for monthly income. So far I am considering ZEB, KEY, PPL, and either HHL-B or HHL-T. Your opinion on those, and any suggestions you have, please.
Read Answer Asked by James on October 29, 2021
Q: What are the Can ETFs that cover the main US ETFs, like SPY? And what are their mers?

What are the advantages of using these Canadian versions?

Do you still require W-BEN forms if you buy these?

Thanks for all your help.
Read Answer Asked by Mark on October 28, 2021
Q: Hi. I want to buy an ETF for US or International exposure and therefore need to understand the impact of the withholding tax. In doing so, I need to determine the type of ETF they are such as; Canadian equity, Canadian dividend and income, U.S. Equity, International Equity Fund or Can Bon fund. So, wow do I determine what type of fund XAW or QEF fall under such that I can understand the withholding tax implications. Looking at the website/fact sheets/etc is still difficult to determine the "holdings" which has a direct correlation to the with holding tax.
Read Answer Asked by Ronnie on October 28, 2021
Q: Hello 5i,
Do you think Metaverse is a better investable theme compared to Crypto?
Facebook seems to be allocating capital to Metaverse.
Can you suggest some stocks in US or Canada that give exposure to this theme. Can you suggest any ETFs other than META that invest in this theme? Do you think this is best held in a TFSA or NonReg account?

thanks
Read Answer Asked by Ian on October 28, 2021
Q: I would like to exit my brokerage RRSP to a self directed RRSP and I am looking for 4 to 5 Canadian EFT's to provide balanced diversification across sectors, nations, Portfolio Analytics suggests 70 equities/30 fixed income. Other ideas you have to create a balanced diversified ETF RRSP would be appreciated.
Are there any strategies( eg time of year) to make the switch or just do it.
Thank you for your service.
Read Answer Asked by Mike on October 28, 2021
Q: Dear 5i team.

May I please have your recommendation for exposure to Materials and Industrial ETFs please.

Thank you.

Read Answer Asked by Arthur on October 27, 2021
Q: My question is more about safety and minimizing some risk. Hypothetically, if there was a market correction of say 20%, which of the above would be the safest in terms of net change (dividends and share price) say 6 months and 1 year later? I realize there are many issues with this question (they are all different, the need for crystal ball or time machine, etc) but I really value your thoughts. Thanks again!
Read Answer Asked by Danny-boy on October 26, 2021
Q: I have about $100K to invest in the US stock market to bring my portfolio closer to my intended US weighting, and I am looking for some US stock/ETF ideas.

My portfolio is already 25% Technology, and 16.5% Financials. So I don't need suggestions from those sectors. I was considering more VFV, but that has 25% Technology in it already, so maybe an ETF to complement that.

Can you suggest some US stocks that are not in the Technology or Financial sector that you would consider for a US style model portfolio. And also some ETFs holding US stocks that are light in Technology and Financials.

Thanks,
Paul
Read Answer Asked by Paul on October 26, 2021
Q: Thank you for your answer on my inquiry on these new leveraged ETF's HCAL and HDIV ..... Your answer showed HCAL beat both the covered call bank ETF and the bank ETF { albeit under the short one year time frame of the ETF's existence } ...... A while ago I asked 5I to crunch the numbers on all of the big five banks from the turn of the century to the date of the question and give the annual return { dividend plus capital gain } .... The answer I got was an annual return of 11% on the low end to 14% on the high end ..... Your answer to my question on HCAL included the following quote .... " But we would cautious on seeing them as 'safe'. In a bad market, or course, weaker returns will be worsened with leverage. " ...... It is my understanding that these securities are not structured like the 2X and 3X leveraged ones that rebalance daily to achieve the required return ...... My question is regarding your caution on safety ...... Can I not ignore the down turns in favour of the long term return of the banking sector while collecting a superior return ? Those historical 11% to 14% annual bank returns are averaged including the down turns .... It seems to me looking at the sector's long term history the security would offer the same safety as the banking sector with a superior return ..... Please advise if I am looking at this correctly ? I am considering the security to represent my weighting in the banking sector ...... I am delaying my purchase until I fully understand your remarks on " safety " ....... Thank you for your help .....
Read Answer Asked by Garth on October 25, 2021