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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: I just recently retired and within my portfolio have approx 60% in Bonds (As per above) - while these have been a great hedge against the equity holdings, I am considering either selling some of the bonds listed above - approx 10% and moving these monies into either high yield bonds - ie CHB or ZHY or if not into high yield bonds possibly a high yield dividend fund like XEI or ZWC or ?
While I would like to increase the income on these monies - do you think this is a good time to make this move?
Read Answer Asked by Greg on September 25, 2020
Q: Hi Folks
I read in Bloomberg "investors are pricing in expectations of higher volatility around the elections ... In the stock market, investors have been purchasing volatility protection extending beyond November."
Can you please guide me what that volatility protection purchasing would actually be ? Is volatility protection only for investors who don't want to stomach the turbulence, or is there a broader interest in it? Many thanks for sharing your market wisdom.
Read Answer Asked by TOM on September 24, 2020
Q: Hi,

I use these two broad ETF's to get exposure outside N.A. I'm in my late 30's and a growth investor. I know you can't give personalized advice, but what would be your suggested allocation towards these four buckets, VEE, XEF, Cdn, and US stocks? I have a spreadsheet to keep track of my holdings and allocate my holdings based on where they trade, although many companies may generate revenue in other countries. Is this too simplistic? I'm just trying to keep it easy to manage.

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Keith on September 23, 2020
Q: For taxable accounts, a US-listed international ETF (or Cdn-listed ETF, with an underlying US listed ETF) is tax inefficient because the international withholding tax is not recoverable. Purchasing a similar Cdn-listed ETF which holds the international stocks directly (i.e. not a US-listed ETF) is more tax efficient as the international withholding tax is recoverable.

However, there are often advantages to buying the US-listed ETFs as they typically have much larger AUMs, and much lower MERs than their Canadian listed counterparts (which have underlying international-listed stocks). For example, the MER for VEA (US listed) is 0.05% and for VDU (Canadian listed) is 0.22%. The MER "spread" varies considerably between ETFs, and can sometimes be quite significant.

Are you aware of any formula to help an investor determine when it is best to buy the lower-MER US ETF (and pay the higher tax) and when it is best to buy the higher-MER, lower tax, Canadian ETF? Is there any rule of thumb for an investor to use, to decide that once the MER-spread exceeds a certain amount, then an investor should buy the US ETF (as the additional MER costs in buying the Canadian ETF exceed the tax advantages)?

I realize that the result can vary depending on the percentage of non-recoverable international withholding tax, the investors' tax rate, etc. However, any guidance you can provide would be most appreciated. If you are aware of a "formula" to make this assessment, that would be ideal.

If there is no formula, please assume the investor is in a 50% tax bracket, is a long-term investor, the account is taxable, and there are no currency (hedging or exchange fee) concerns.

Thank you again for this excellent service.
Read Answer Asked by Dale on September 23, 2020
Q: Hi Folks,
Everyone is looking for returns, and income investors are searching for interest and yield. Forgive me if I missed a previous question asked and answered, but would it be possible to give a quick list of the type of fixed income products in the low risk category. For a very conservative portion of a portfolio, with a five year hold, which product(s) do you suggest offer the best risk/return trade off given the current rate situation in the market today? How far on the risk spectrum does an investor need to go to achieve a reliable 2-3% return?
Thank you, Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on September 23, 2020
Q: I'm hoping you can help me understand something.

On yahoo finance if I pull up a 6 month chat of HXS.TO and compare it to the S&P 500 index, HXS is underperforming by a significant amount (up 28% vs. 38%).  However if I add HXS.U.TO (the US dollar version of HXS) it tracks the index much closer.  Do you know why these two etfs track the index so differently?

In my RSP I buy HXS.TO weekly and journal the shares over to the US side a couple times throughout the year to buy US listed ETFs.  When I journal the HXS shares over do my gains magically increase?

Thanks for your help!
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on September 22, 2020
Q: I just retired with no pension and living off my portfolio. I’m sitting on a lot of cash right now with very little US investments. I would like to start buying slowly. What would you suggest. Preferably ETF’s listed on the TSX with the odd US stock. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by HEATH on September 21, 2020
Q: Hi

I am retiring in the near future and am looking at increasing my income based positions. I am looking for a REIT or ETF. Can you suggest any? Currently I am not holding any.
Read Answer Asked by Stuart on September 21, 2020
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