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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: Greetings Team 5i,

I was thinking of buying for RRSP but concerned about losing out to withholding tax.
XDG is a Canadian wrapper with around 53% of USA holdings plus rest of the world.

Would you have an idea of the withholding tax status? Held in an RRSP, would the USA holding's dividends NOT incur withholding but the remainder would?

In this case, I am giving the issue of withholding tax too much thought and should just buy it for its merits?

Thank you in advance!
Read Answer Asked by Arzoo on March 31, 2020
Q: Good morning,
Given that CEW includes Banks and Lifecos' and assuming that low interest rates will be with us for some time, I would appreciate your thoughts about selling CEW for tax loss harvesting purposes and purchasing either an exclusively bank ETF such as ZEB or purchasing two banks with the proceeds of the CEW sale. Also, could you also recommend two banks that you would recommend purchasing at some point with the proceeds of the CEW sale. Thank you.
Francesco
Read Answer Asked by Francesco on March 31, 2020
Q: Just wondering your general opinion on these 4 stocks that were rated 5 stars by Morningstar. Do you think any of them are interesting and how would you rate them. Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Meghan on March 31, 2020
Q: We have an unregistered account with 74% cash and want to buy some index funds (my wife read Millionaire Teacher and is convinced index funds eliminate some human error with stock selection). We are considering XIU, ZSP and perhaps ZDB; we do have a significant bond holding with Phillips, Hager & North and not sure if bonds should be part of this unregister account? Long term investments 7+ years. Thanks you very much for your comments on index funds.
Read Answer Asked by Grant on March 31, 2020
Q: Most of my son's assets (all tfsa) are in the etfs zwb, vgg and vee. Would you suggest substituting any other etfs at this point with an eye to catching the rebound? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by William on March 31, 2020
Q: Hope everyone at 5i is doing well in these times!

I have been sitting on mostly cash in my RRSP/LIRA and would like your recommendations on the best ETFs to consider for my full US and International exposure. All of these would need to be listed on the TSX as I am purchasing in CAD $. While I know you prefer non-hedged, I’d greatly appreciate if you could explain benefits/workings of hedged vs. non-hedged considering the current environment. And provide ETF recommendations for each.

I am looking to achieve a balance of diversification, reasonable MER, minimizing any withholding tax while optimizing the potential in market recovery. For US, I would like to have a technology ETF, health care ETF and a broader spectrum ETF – but also open to ideas. Also, looking for recommendations on International – one broad ETF or perhaps that and a mix of ETFs. I recognize there can be overlap (e.g. between a tech and broad sector fund), so if you can give me a sense of the degree of duplication that may be present in your recommendations. Perhaps going heavier on tech right now could be a good thing.

While I started off thinking ETF selections would be relatively simple, in reading various Q&A there seem to be many important considerations - your assistance is appreciated. Again, all of these are being purchased in RRSP/LIRA accounts with the goal of optimizing my returns over a 10 year window.
Read Answer Asked by Loretta on March 30, 2020
Q: Hello,
I presently have a LIF and a RRIF majority is invested in zwc and zwu along with some other less then ideal stocks [interpipe,fru,hot,bpy] , have gone from 550k to 350 k in a month, expensive lesson on proper portfolio construction I guess. Would you suggest selling the covered call etfs and buy non covered call versions at this point in time ? Am I correct in thinking If the tsx returns to 17,900 again zwc and zwu will not return to previous nav due to covered call loss ? Thanks very much for Your help, great website.
Read Answer Asked by Kelly on March 30, 2020
Q: Hello
Can you suggest an American ETF like VCSH but with a shorter duration for corporate bonds which is also less volatile?
As well, do you know of any American ETFs like SHY but with shorter duration for US Treasuries? SHY includes Treasuries of up to 3 years.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Terry on March 30, 2020
Q: Last year I took a sizeable position in VEE as one of the main parts of my foreign diversification. It has, like so much else, dropped a lot. I am wondering if the prospects for recovery in the emerging markets are not as favourable as the potential in the US or Canada, where economic resources (or the ability to backstop printed money) are stronger. As such, I am inclined to sell this position (and as you point out, harvest a tax loss) and migrate to some North America holding(s). Your comments, pls. Thanks for your excellent service.
Read Answer Asked by Leonard on March 27, 2020
Q: Luckily, I went to cash on most of my US holdings in Feb, but kept some VIG, thinking it would survive better than others. That has not really been true and I notice that it does not bounce as much on an up day as one like VIS, which also pays a higher yield. As I start picking away at re-building my US portfolio, what 3 ETF's would you recommend?
Read Answer Asked by Maria on March 26, 2020
Q: Hello 5IResearch
Are there any canadian ETF that tracks the travel industries such as the air lines and or the cruise lines that you can recommend ? If not what would you recommend to participate in the travel industries recover .Thanks for all the recommendation that are posted each day.

Read Answer Asked by claudio on March 26, 2020
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