Investment Q&A

Q: could your recommend a low volatility ETF for the Canadian, US and International market? would you prefer a Canadian or International ETF over the US given that the US has had such a large run?
thanks

Q: Would you still recommend CDZ as the best Canadian Dividend ETF for retirees? Is it a good basic Canadian equity fund?

Q: Hello 5i team!

Your thought on adding ARKF (Ark ETF Fintech) versus buying Zillow or Open Door. With ARKF, I will add some bitcoins & fintech to my portfolio that I didn't own as well real estate selling/buying online. Zillow is down significantly after retreating from buying real estate, is it time to step in at today pricing. Thank you!

Q: I was listening to BNN market call and a guest explained that it is best to buy a stock or ETF when its price is under its NAV and to sell it when it is above its NAV. Can you explain a bit about the NAV and tell me where I find this info?
thanks

Q: Hi 5i;
Just a follow up to my question and your answer about IDR this morning, so that I can better analyze ETF's which I have to say I find to be a perplexing exercise.
You wrote that IDR has "fees" of 1.28%, but both CIBC and BMO indicate that its MER is .98% - approximately a 30% difference, so quite significant. Is there more to the cost of ownership than just MER which I should consider when reviewing ETFs that would account for the difference? If so, where do I look to find this information?
You also indicated that IDR 's "small size" is $61M while CIBC seems to peg it's value at $107.4M and BMO at $109.8M - again quite significantly different. Am I missing something in my understanding of the value as stated by the likes of CIBC/BMO that I should be aware of when looking at ETFs, going forward?
Thanks - I appreciate your advice.
Peter

Q: Which of the above clean energy etf would you prefer if exposure to this sector is desired?

Q: Looking to overweight tech a bit in my portfolio using QQQ. Should I put it in my TFSA or RSP?

Q: Hi! I have a question about my ETF portfolio. I currently own XIC, XEF and XEC and I'd like exposure to the U.S. market (S&P) and NASDAQ. Should I do this in my Canadian account through a Canadian ETF that tracks the U.S. indices or in U.S. dollars in a U.S. account like the IVV. I'd prefer to do it in CDN dollars. Are there major advantages or disadvantages to either option?

Thanks,
Jason

Q: Hi 5i,
I gather from your answers to the few questions that have been asked about it that you are not great fans of IDR for real estate exposure, and my initial question is basically why and what should I be concerned about?
If I'm reading the information correctly, IDR's 10 year growth rate (2011 - 2021) is 167%, with YTD sitting at 29%. It's annual yield meanwhile is 5.60% (or more) and it is diversified through holding residential, industrial and retail REITs in Canada (67%), USA (24%) and the UK (2%).
Could one potentially do better and risk less through holding individual REITs instead of the basket afforded by IDR and, if so, which ones would you recommend for the real estate portion of a portfolio in the current economic climate?
Thanks!
Peter

Q: Dear 5i Team,

Thank you for your customary clear cut answers to my earlier questions on Energy sector. Your cautious approach has tempered my enthusiastic embrace of energy stocks and overweighting them in my portfolio.

Which in turn leads me to ask this question:

Which sector at this time you see having positive momentum? How to play that sector via an ETF? I am looking at 1 to 2 years. Should I just buy an ETF like VMO or its equivalent and forget about fine tuning? If possible please suggest alternatives to VMO. (See below!)

Also along the same lines, do you see a sector rotation, from momentum to value? (VVL) I see the 1 yr return on VVL 49% is better than VMO's (32.5% )! Am I missing something here? I thought the last year was a banner year for the momentum stocks.

Thanks in advance.

Mano

Q: Do Canadian ETFs that track US tech firms underperform? I was looking at these and a few others on the G&W and the Canadian ETFs with the exception of HTA and HTA.B (up 35%ytd) seem to have significantly lower returns. And I think HTA uses covered calls.

XLK is up 32% ytd, IYW 35%, IGN 31%. The most popular Canadian ETFS seem to be ZQQ(ZQN) 26%, XQQ and HQQ 26% and TEC 25%. Some of this is due to currency moves, but the hedging costs of the hedged ETFs surely aren't that large. Is it better to just buy XLK or are HTA/HTA.B a better alternative?

Q: When purchasing International ETS's within in an RRSP is there any withholding tax advantages to holding US traded ETF's?

Q: I'm replacing ZWU and ZWC since I would prefer to hold stocks at this point. What 5+ stocks would you recommend to replace ZWU and ZWC each. Thank you.

Q: Hi 5i Research Team -
I've done very well on SHOP & TSLA. Mr. Buffett said buy low and sell high. Would you recommend that as well and transfer those savings to ETF's to protect investments against a possible melt down? If so could you please recommend some ETF's or other transfers.
Thankyou!!! Frank

Q: Is it better to invest in equal weighted index ETF rather then index ETF?

My concern is that high concentration of handful highly successful companies in regular index based ETF that defeats the safety of diversification offered by ETF.

What is your opinion?

Q: Thanks for all you do. Can you comment on the green metals outlook for investing? And then, more specifically GMET

Q: Hello 5i team:

At this particular time, which ETF do you think worth buying? US based XLE or Canadian based XEG? Is there a ETF based on Europe or the rest of the world?

Will you underweight or overweight energy in one's portfolio? I know in the US energy doesn't play a big role. But in Canadian index, they do.

Thanks in advance.

Q: Could I have your thoughts on hex , thanks

Q: Recommendations from portfolio analytics indicated i should increase my holdings in healthcare and industrials. Please provide your comments on XHC, XGI and WSP. Are there other options that i should consider?
I am considering investing in sector specific ETFs. What are comments on SOXQ and IWO.US? Are there specific sectors that are expected to show high growth in the next few years?

Q: I have been looking at HCAL, for the dividends. I not sure I understand the Non-Cash distribution. They are showing a non-cash distribution in the amount of $2.324 payable in December. They state the distribution will not be paid in cash but will automatically reinvested in additional units of the ETF and immediately consolidated so the number of units held by the unitholder and the net asset value of the ETF, will not change. So, what does change, with the non cash distribution?