Investment Q&A

Q: I would like to have your view on renewables mainly BEPC, BLX .
Do they perform better in a low or high interest rate environment?

Also , your outlook on ETF TAN

Thank you

Q: I was wondering if this ETF would be a good way to play the renewable energy space? Good dividend, international and spreads out the risk of just owning individual renewable stocks.

This is the best site and thanks for your continued guidance.

Dave.

Q: Given all the hype around Bitcoin and projected value reaching $100K US by Year-End, is it worth the risk of Buying this ETF now?

Many Thanks!

Q: The yield on CDZ is 3.0%, if I buy equal amounts of the top ten stocks, the average yield is 5.48%. What accounts for the 1.48% difference in yield and is the risk proportionally higher buying the individual stocks than buying the EFT

Q: Hi 5i,
Is there any significant overlap with these 3 ETF's.
Thanks and have a great day. Ivan

Q: I have the time and interest to invest in individual stocks and have benefited greatly from your advice, My 28 year old son is looking to me for investment advice and I was hoping that you could help me. He is young with a long investment horizon so he is not interested in any bond or fixed income components and is comfortable with a portfolio holding a diversified mix of 100% stocks in various geographies. He wants to control his own portfolio but does not have the time to research and stay on top of individual stocks and is leaning towards an ETF portfolio. I am not well versed in this area and was hoping you could provide some guidance.

He is looking at XEQT and VEQT as possible one stop solutions. There are some minor differences between the two, but overall they appear very similar. XEQT has a MER of 0.2% and VEQT has a MER of 0.25%, VEQT holds more stocks than XEQT and XEQT is weighted a bit more towards US stocks and a bit less towards CAD stocks compared to VEQT. Would you recommend one over the other, or hold both?

Instead of buying one of these he is also considering holding a two (or more) ETF portfolio using VCN and XAW ETFs. VCN tracks the Canadian market, XAW tracks the global market excluding Canada. A portfolio of 25% VCN and 75% XAW would replicate XEQT/VEQT very closely, but would have a weighted average MER of about .18%. The trade off is that this one would need to be rebalanced, whereas with XEQT/VEQT all rebalancing is done automatically. Would a 25%VCN/75% XAW be preferable to XEQT/VEQT?

If it was you at 28, would you do either of the above or would you prefer a portfolio of other ETFs and if so, what would those be?

Many thanks

Scott

Q: My grandson has been financially responsible and soon to be mortgage free. He has made some investments with with a financial advisor who has him in high MER mutual funds. He doesn't feel competent to have a self-directed stock account but he would like to invest using ETFs. Can you recommend where I might start in searching for an advisor who would be willing to invest in ETFs for a relatively small ($40,000) account to start. My grandson lives in Greater Vancouver.
With appreciation,
Ed

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

The most recent question about XMD was on Feb. 23.

For a combined portfolio that is skewed somewhat more heavily to larger-cap stocks, could XMD make a good addition? From the iShares website: "Targeted exposure to mid-cap and small-cap Canadian equities". (I can trade this ETF commission-free.) XMD holds 175 stocks, many of which are favoured by 5i, but of course it also holds some that have fallen out of favour. Please suggest alternative Canadian and US ETFs that you may consider "better" but have the same overall goals of XMD.

As always, your advice is important.

Q: Wondering how to lessen tax on dividend income in a cash account. I gather using a DRIP doesn't do anything in that regard?? If not then is there any holding, individual equity or ETF, that provides a utility, telecom or reit type of relative safety with dividend that somehow lessens the tax one would normally pay on dividend income. Thank you for your help. Ken

Q: RDVY etf doesn't get brought up as much when compared with S&P500 (i.e. VOO). This ETF also has outperformed S&P500 over last 5 years. Would RDVY do better in an inflationary environment? What are you general thoughts?

Q: If you held ipay, would you switch it for arkf, if taxes on gain were payable?

Q: Can you recommend a sort of Rip van Winkle portfolio for an 84 year old lady who just sold her house? We're talking in the neighbourhood of $400,000. She has little need for the money right now and is not worried much about volatility. She has an pension which helps too cover the need for bonds.

Q: Hello, for tax purposes is the income of CVD treated as interest or dividend? If you had to choose just one with the goal of income and "safety", which one would you pick? Thank you

Q: I am looking to finally replace the following mutual funds held in a self admin RSP account, to equivalent ETFs.
FID269 - Fid Monthly Inc;
FID5973 - Fid Global Innovation;
FID207 - Fid Global Concentrated Equity;
RBC460 - Sel Bal Ptf
TDB2760 - Td Retirement Balance
TDB652 - Td Global Entertainment & communication
TDB976 - Td Health Science
TDB2580 Td Tactical Monthly Inc
My goal is to replace these mutual funds with long term, high yielding where possible, low MER, CDN or US $ equivalent ETFs. Please provide 2 or 3 suggestions for each. Please deduct as many credit s as need.
Thank you for all the invaluable investment help you provide.

Q: Hi 5i,

For a new position and a 5+ year hold do you currently prefer IWM over IWO? Or could you recommend another ETF that would be good small cap exposure. Would IWO be a bit more challenged in a higher inflation environment?

Q: Hi, how can Purpose can fund a 0.6% distribution with a 0.15% management fee given how low bank deposit rates are? Thanks.

The fund documentation states ‘Deposits securely invested in cash accounts with Schedule 1 Canadian banks’.

Q: Could you recommend 1 Biotech and 1 Fintech ETF? Can be either Canadian or US.

Thanks for your help

Q: I'm interested in these ETF themes, how would you rank them long term? Do you see any overlap between ICLN and LIT? And if I wanted to go the individual stock route instead of the ETF, what would be your top two individual stock picks within each ETF (either cad or us listed). Thank you!

Q: Sorry VDY is wrong index. FTSE dividend was the index I was asking about.

Q: This ETF interests me but I really have very little understanding of convertible bonds. Can this fund be considered a pure fixed income option? Having been burned twice on preferred shares I’m a bit leery on two fronts, investing in things that are neither equity nor fixed income, and investing in things I don’t understand. CVD has held up over the past 5 years while delivering a pretty good yield. What are the risks going forward and would you have any concerns about capital preservation?