Investment Q&A

Q: Hello,
I have sold ZEM in my CDN RRSP account. I am going to transfer these funds to my USD RRSP. Which ETF would be an equal replacement for my USD RRSP keeping in mind tax efficiencies? I would like the US ETF to be as similar as possible to ZEM.

Thanks.

Q: Basil III comes into affect this year. From a piece in Seeking Alpha on Basil III I read:

QUOTE:
To sum up, gold will become a risk-free Tier 1 asset and it will become more expensive to buy and sell unallocated gold. These factors are highly bullish for physical gold. So, investors in this precious metal will be generously rewarded, provided they buy physical gold. But let me explain this in a bit more detail.

Under Basel III, gold would become a Tier 1 asset or a zero-risk asset, for banks. As mentioned in the Basel III framework,

...at national discretion, gold bullion held in own vaults or on an allocated basis to the extent backed by bullion liabilities can be treated as cash and therefore risk-weighted at 0%. In addition, cash items in the process of collection can be risk-weighted at 20%.
END QUOTE

What affect will this have on Sprott's holdings of gold and on my ownership of shares in PHYS? If it is positive I should be buying more. Right?

Thank you...

Q: Hi,

keeping in view the US Withholding tax on canadian investors.

If one has to hold US S&P 500, US mediam &small cap, US IT/technology ETF in canada.

Then which ETF would be be the best for a TFSA and cash account. ( I believe in a RRSP it does not matter ).

I currently hold SPY,VFV, IWO, VGT and QQQ in my TFSA and cash account. Do you think they are OK, or will you recommend some equivalent more efficient ETF's for exposure these sectors.

Keeping in view the difference between a TFSA and cash account, please suggest suitable ETF's for each, which would mirror SPY, VFV, VGT, IWO and QQQ.

Thanks
Harry

Q: Good morning,

Could I please get your thoughts and evaluation of EDGE.TO.
Would you see this as doable for a longterm RESP hold?
Any other related ideas you could recommend?

Thank you very much.

Q: Hello Folks:
You suggested I may consider REMX (rare earth ETF) as a suitable option for my interest in the EV battery mineral component sector.
Do you have any thoughts on BATT (Amplify Lithium Battery Technology ETF) and
LIT (Global x Lithium & Battery Tech. ETF).
I am out of my depth here, however feel this an interesting sector, which may well result in higher demand for scarce metals required.
Thanks again for your great service!
brian

Q: How are the current valuations for pure (or close) lithium plays? if not overbought, which etfs, cos. do you prefer?
Thanks

Q: I need to add fixed income to my portfolio. I do not believe the inflation we are heading for will be transitory. Given that assumption, are there ETF's you can suggest that will react best to inflation? And how would they do with the inevitable higher interest rates? Thank you.

Q: Good morning,

Thank you as always. Looking forward to the upcoming updates.
As a follow up would you please rank in terms of where you'd allocate capital. For the next 2-5 year hold. Assuming balanced portfolio etc. Most conviction sector or fund.

QQQJ
VTWO
IWO
SMH
MTUM
CIBR
BOTZ
ARKK

Thank you very much!

Q: About 25% of my portfolio is in cash, enough for 5 years of cash needs. The problem is that it earns only 0.2%. Now I am thinking of putting this cash in 5 or more high quality Bond ETFs. Is this a right move? If so, could you give few names? Thanks.

Q: In my last question you suggested VXUS for international diversification. Unable to buy in either TFSA or non registered accounts. I transferred all my U$ to C$ before the increase
In exchange rate, there is no reason for me to own U$ . At my age my expenditures are in C$.
Justlokking for an alternative to cash. I’m like the 80 year old in a question in g&m a couple of days ago, why invest when you’ve got enough.
I’ve accumulated a lot of cash in TFSA by selling outback in May at good profit after a health
scare.
Still investing in a portfolio that will leave my wife well situated.
Just in case you don’t know the stocks in registered and unregistered. Here they are: aqn,bam,bns,byd,cae,car.un,ecn,eif,enb, mg,pbh,slf,t,TFII,vdy,VFV,vgg,vvl,wasp.
I consider most of them sold except for smaller investment in byd and eif, but I don’t think they are going broke anytime soon.
Thank you for your excellent advise in the past and hope to be around to take advantage of your advise a little longer. Even though I’m an experienced investor it’s great to have an unbiased opinion such as years Peter. I was sort of hoping that would get to Toronto again and get a chance to talk to you .
All the best.

Q: Dear 5i,
Can you please suggest some Global Small Cap Value ETF's or Funds which are available in either US or CDN exchanges that are worth doing more reading on.
The ETF's can be passive or active.

thanks

Q: What are you thoughts on using broad based ETFs as "cash" in a portfolio? It seems like that's how the ARKK funds operate, except they are using stocks (I think GOOG and AMZN). To give you some context, my portfolio is mainly VGRO/VEQT, with some 5i stock suggestions for growth mixed in. I dollar cost average into the ETFs every two weeks but I'm wondering how I should approach adding to some of my stock positions and/or start a new position. Thanks as always.
Marc

Q: can you recommend a Canadian and Us biotech etf and stock?
thanks

Q: I currently have all 4 of these etf's in my tfsa. Would you think that some of these etf's are holding the same companies, if so which one would you suggest i keep and which ones would you say i sell. And if there any other ones would you suggest i replace them with. THANKS GUYS

Q: I’m 71 years old. As I get older I’ve tried to simplify my portfolio, going from about 50 stocks years ago, to my current portfolio of about 16 stocks, 3 ETFs and 15% cash.
I am a subscriber to your Portfolio Tracking and Analysis service and I’m told I need to make changes to reach a suggested asset allocation and portfolio diversification. Right now I’m tech, utilities and financial services heavy.

Here’s what I’d like to do:
The following set up gives me an allocation of 70% equities, 20 % bonds and 7% cash. I’m comfortable with this and have gone through many 20 and 30% corrections in the past 30 years without too much despair.

In my Canadian cash account I’d have CDZ, FTS, AQN.
Locked in RSP (LIRA) I would have AAPL, ZSP, ZEM.
Unlocked RIF I ‘d have CLF, ZAG.
TFSA would have QQQ, ZEM, ZDI, CSU, TOI, SIS.
I’d like cash around 8% of portfolio.

I’m wondering if I have my portfolio diversification covered and if the right stocks or ETFs are in the appropriate accounts for best tax efficiencies?
Your input would really be helpful.
Thanks
Frank

Q: hello 5i:
PFIA has a listed yield of 6.328% (TNX Money). The last distribution was .015. Using this figure, and an ETF price of 10.64, I come to a 1.69% yield. Can you advise where I'm erring?
thanks
Paul L

Q: This sounds like a great idea, over the years other fund companies have had income for life ideas, Some with guarantees, one off market corrections can cause havoc. The Dynamic one went into protection mode then you were only guaranteed to get your own money back.
This one the fund company does not take on any risk, the investor does. there is more then one risk to look at.
Here is a link to a good article.
https://www.moneysense.ca/save/investing/is-the-longevity-pension-fund-a-cure-for-retirement-income-worries

Q: What do you make of this New Som Sef/Purpose Fund guaranteeing a 6.15% Yield for life?
Thanks!

Q: Your response regarding the Van Eck Vectors MOAT ETF caught my attention. I went to the Van Eck website and found it to be sparse, I could not any further information on their ETFs. Can you provide insight into the company and their various ETFs?
Thank you.

Q: What are your thoughts about XSMC as an alternative to XSU in a non-registered account?