Investment Q&A

Q: 5 i's recommended vehicle for those interested in the bit coin investment opportunity appears to be BTCC.
GLXY , that appears to have been on the same scene since Oct 2018 has seen little price movement until recently but has now broken out to the upside.
How are these two investments different?
How do they compare as far as risk?
Is it too late to add to a position in GLXY or best to just allow BTTC the same opportunity to develop?
Your wise counsel has paid off handsomely in the past and is much appreciated!!!

Q: I am a very disgruntled customer after seeing my seeing my rrsp account (ETF STOCK NAME REMOVED) go from a gain to a loss due a notional payment/distribution (AKA phantom payment) causing my adjusted cost base to increase by $1.24. If my account wouldn't have shown a loss I wouldn't have picked up on this. After talking to your help line I am even more dissatisfied.
What is a notional payment?
It is a distribution declared by a fund or trust where no cash is paid to unit holders, but is considered taxable at the time it is declared. Notional payments are declared to avoid paying taxes on income earned within a fund or trust, but where the fund manager does not wish to deplete the resources of the fund or trust by paying distributions in cash. Notional distributions, sometimes called “phantom distributions” are taxable in the year declared, and will increase the adjusted cost base (ACB) of the security. You can usually identify a notional payment by looking for a TXPDDV payment, followed by a DRIP debit, for 0 shares.
If I understood what (ETF COMPANY NAME REMOVED) is doing with these so called distributions I would have never bought the etf as it makes such a small interest rate and then my adjusted cost base goes up by $1.24 by this phantom distribution causing a loss in(ETF STOCK NAME REMOVED). I am better off keeping cash in my account than holding (ETF STOCK NAME REMOVED).
This practice of passing on phantom distributions and causing losses to customers seems like a sneaky under handed way to pass on costs to keep your MER lower. I have lost trust in (COMPANY NAME REMOVED) ETF's.

Q: Hello. Looking at buying US cannabis ETF. But, I see this under MSOS Holdings:

BlackRock Liquidity Funds Treasury Trust Institutional TTTXX 43.13%

Seems like a large percentage is invested in US treasuries that would not be growing very fast (dead money?); what are your thoughts on this and the MSOS ETF in general.

Holdings of similar MJ ETF are names I more readily recognize (TLRY, CRON, WEED, APHA,...), so maybe that's the way to go?

Thank you.

Q: Hello 5i,

We purchased QBTC when it was available, then purchased BTCC.B when it was recommended by 5i, and it looks like BTCC is now recommended. Can you clarify which Bitcoin stock is preferred - BTCC or BTCC.B or another Bitcoin stock?

Would it make any sense to own 1/2 of the ETF stocks in BTCC and 1/2 in BTCC.B if you have a 4% position?

Thank you for your fantastic service.

Cheers,

Debbie and Jerry

Q: Hi , Starting my 5 month old grand daughter's RESP. After reading all your other suggestions to other members, I am thinking of VEQT for the diversification of world markets and VUG for that extra torque and US dollar exposure. Would you add anything else here or suggest otherwise? I thank-you in advance. Sam

Q: Could provide an opinion on these ETF - ZDY/ZGI - read a Morningstar report on each and their opinion is they are underperforming peers.
Can you provide examples of better performing ETFs to replace them.
Thanks

Q: Hi,

In my RESP's fixed income/cash allocation, I hold CMR, CBO and HFR.

With a rising rate environment I'm thinking of switching the CBO share into HFR (although the laddered aspect of CBO mitigates problems a bit). And with CMR stopping their distributions, I thought of switching out of that too. Does this logic make sense or would you prefer having both CBO and HFR for diversification purposes? Thanks!

Q: Can you recommend your top one or two ETFs for S&P500 exposure. Do you recommend CAD-hedged or unhedged?

Q: Would you have an opinion on the Global X FTSE Southeast Asia ETF? I already have VWO and would like to add more Emerging Markets, less some China - which seems to dominate VWO. I also do own ZID which gives me exposure to India.

Q: Is there any advantage to using ETFs rather than mutual funds in our fixed income portfolio? Presently, we have 35% in fixed income with DFA231, DFA 603, PM0 205 & LYS801F.

Q: I am interested in adding more international exposure. Over time, in a haphazard fashion I developed portfolio weights of 4% in ZEM, 2.5% in MAW150; and 1.5% in DXG. To my untrained eye they offer diversity, for growth & stability, to different markets, etc What is your view of these 3 holdings? Would you add to each? Delete any? Due to political risks from trade tensions etc, I am inclined to avoid too much of an exposure to China. Thank you for your excellent service.

Q: What % or range would you recommend for theses Horizon products in a portfolio?
Thanks for your service

Q: I have been looking at these two ETFs. The top 10 holdings in VDY look like buy and hold companies. It seems a bit heavy on banks so really wondering about your short-term outlook on CDN banks for the rest of the year?

HGRO has had a good run in 2020 and certainly not expecting as spectacular in 2021, but do you think it will continue to do reasonably well (your thoughts would be greatly appreciated please? I realize you do not have a crystal ball).

Do you think the combo of these two would be a good idea say 50:50? The idea would be for growth as remainder of portfolio is with you balanced ETF model portfolio.

Thanks so much.

Q: Hi guys - you've mentioned a few times that the market has shifted from growth to value recently. Assuming we can't time the market with any consistency over the long term, how could someone who is dollar cost averaging take advantage of theses rotations in the future from an ETF perspective? Would it make sense to buy VUG (growth) and VTV (value) and actively purchase more when one fund is considered "down"? Is there a strategic way to determine which fund you would allocate more dollars to with each monthly purchase? Thanks for the guidance.

Q: Hi group how would you play the green energy space -ICLM or? also what is your top pick in the EV space and why - appreciate your views

Q: Looking for small cap healthcare ETF with holdings like Well and Skylight.. etc in order to spread risk
Your suggestions very much appreciated as usual,
Sherrill

Q: First a comment, I went through the paper on fantom distributions, have invested for 25 years and never heard of it before? If you do your own taxes like me, I would just say the CRA is getting double tax on my etf’s.
On that note could you advise on a couple of global etf with small or no exposure to Canada, as I would like to diversify to USA and other countries. Dividends would be nice but not necessary. Would be for 7+ years and may add to yearly as funds are available.
Thanks

Q: I'm interested in investing in renewable energy companies by way of ETFs. Would you consider now to be a good time to start positions in ETFs based on your short and long term views for the sector. Secondly, what would be you favourite choice for an ETF that represents the Canadian renewable sector and one for global exposure to the renewable sector.

Q: The Brazilian Real currency took a big hit since COVID started and with the countries' recent events, the pain likely is not over quite yet. I wanted to know if there were an ETF that would give me access to a potential recovery of the country's economy as well as their currency's recovery (as it is now 4.54$ real for 1$ Canadian or 5.71$ for 1$ USD ). I currently do not own any emerging market ETF for my locked in RSP. I have seen EWZ recommended a few times on here and wanted to know if it was a good option for this goal or if 5i had better recommendations as of today. And would a 5% allocation be too much? Thank you!

Q: How do you think the European markets will do vs the US markets going forward 5+ years? Do you think the US market will outperform Europe or would you be in both markets? If so, what would the % split be?
Thanks for your service?