Investment Q&A

Q: I am a retired income investor who derives all his income from investments. For obvious reasons I am a fan of covered calls and own the various ZWs and HDIV. I also own the canadian banks and ENB. Most of these have held up fairly well in the turmoil. My question is do the covered call ETF administrators try to keep the return % approx level as the ETF value changes. I note that the RBC quoted return for HDIV is noeth of 10% but ZWC is approx 7% which is not much change from where it was in April. Other ZWs are similar. It would seem that BMO manage the return whereas Harvest do not.

Q: Do you have a preference between these 3 ETFs, or is it pretty much a draw?

Thanks.

Q: I hope all is well at 5i and you are enjoying the sunny summer. I wish we had more rain here in Niagara.

Garth asked an interesting question last week which you answered on Friday. He was asking about all-in-one ETFs and specifically such as VGRO, XGRO, ZGRO or HGRO. 5i recommended VGRO over ZGRO with no mention of HGRO.

I did my usual half-baked research (engineer not a financial guy) and found some interesting things using the G&M watchlist plot routines. I just plotted a comparison of ETFs using 1, 2 and 3 year intervals relative to last Friday (July 15th). First, I compared VCNS, VBAL, and VGRO. To my surprise, the worst performer for each relative time interval (1,2 and 3 years) was VCNS and the best by far was VGRO. For 1,2 and 3 years VCNS was -13.4, -7.5 and -3.7% while VGO was -12.7, 2.9 and 5.7% from July 15th). Seems Garth was on to something by asking about GRO ETFs.

Then I compared the 4 GRO ETFs that Garth was asking about. The one year returns relative to July 15th were all essentially the same at about -13%. However, HGRO was hands down the winner for the 2 and 3 year relative time periods from July 15th i.e., 10.6 and 20.5% for HGRO versus 2.9 and 5.7% for VGRO. I realize VGRO has a 2.2% dividend (according to G&M) but not that doesn’t make up the difference. I also realize HGRO is just shy of 3 years history but close enough for me.

Is HGRO doing something with significant increased risk or is something wrong with my research oven?

Maybe an article in your ETF & Mutual Fund Update report would be helpful.

Thanks, as usual.

Q: Good afternoon 5i,

TD has the dividend payments of VIU and VEE respectively at $0.80 and $0.86. Is there a withholding on these amounts since they're foreign or is that automatically built in to the price for share. I'm simply trying to estimate my dividend payment from both.

Why do their payments vary quarter to quarter when other ETF's (e.g. ZSP) keep the same payment rate per quarter?

Thanks in advance. - Jeff

Q: The Globe just had an interesting piece by a RY high yield bond fund manager and I'm curious about your thoughts on the gain potential which assumes inflation is defeated in a year or two. I am reluctant to pay fund fees again so if there is an ETF you can suggest which deals with corporate bonds it would be appreciated. thanks Al

Q: Could you kindly give me your view on the above two funds with respect to their yields and capital preservation going forward 1-2 years.
Thank you

Q: In order to protect my portfolio from further damage I am thinking about adding ETF which short indexes. How would you consider the above three as short play to recover loss and make some gains. Would you consider any other ETFs?

Q: Would you recommend a metals etf? If so which ones?
Roy

Q: I'm looking to invest the majority of my money into an all-in-one 80/20 asset allocation ETF, such as VGRO, XGRO, ZGRO or HGRO. Aim is to set-it-and-forget-it.

What does 5iR recommend?

Q: For a resident Canadian retiree, can you list a few instruments to earn interest on USD funds ? Thanks

Q: Is it too early to move some cash to a bond etf.
Which would you suggest in Canada and US.

Q: Hey Peter and Team,

I have a new investor in the family. He's 24 years old. He is looking at starting to invest and has a long term horizion. In todays volatile market do you have a suggestion for where he could put $2,000.

Thanks for all you do

gm

Q: Hello,
I am trying to understand how Horizons S&P 500 Index ETF tracks the index. At the moment I'm typing this message, the S&P 500 sits at 0% daily change, SPY at -0.03% while HXS is at -1.09% and HXS-U is at -1.08%. Why do we see such significant deviation from the index in $3.5B ETF with very high trading volume and close spread between bid and ask? Thanks.

Q: I have a question regarding the distributions for XIU, XIC and XAW. According to Morningstar these ETFs are close to 100% equities, yet it looks like interest income can make up a sizable component of the yearly distribution. I would have thought most of the distributions would be from dividends. Any information regarding this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

Q: If you had to pick 4 ETF's as a core of a portfolio. What would they be? US listed ETF's are ok.

1- Can Equity
2 - US Equity
3 - International Equity
4 - Bond

Q: I currently own XHC and would like to add another healthcare ETF that is in Canadian $, which one would you suggest or best to buy a US ETF?

Thanks

Q: Dear 5i,

What percentage of the SP500 index represents non USA exposure?
I read that approx. 30% revenue may come from foreign companies.
thanks for your advice.

Q: Always looking for return, it seems with the euro almost or at parity it might be an opportunity to put a modest amount of cash into the euro at this time. Do you consider this a good idea or is there a stock or ETF that would do the benefit the same from a future growth point of view?

Peter

Q: Can you recommend one or more etf's that would provide exposure to the health industry including medical devices, genomics, biotech, big pharma etc. Covered call etf's in these sectors would also be of interest. Thanks

Q: I am wondering about the Hamilton ETF offerings and if they may offer a benefit when markets ever "turn the corner". I know it is impossible to time the markets. Could you comment on these few points:
- Will these slightly leveraged products provide extra torque over the base holdings, dollar for dollar, when markets are rising?
- Is slow buying a reasonable option or with leveraged products do we need to look for a clear bottom and changing market sentiment so the leverage doesn't also leverage any ongoing declines?
- Do covered call products provide any downside protection when markets are well off of a growth phase and could slide further?

Thank you!