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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: Just read your March 17 Stock Market Update article regarding "Where is the bottom???" and the bear Market histories. Very enlightening.

I have been almost entirely in cash for over a month now and noted your portfolio changes. You mentioned Adding a new 4% position of BMO Equal Weight REITs ETF (ZRE) in the Income Portfolio. ZRE has been very steady since inception in 2010 gaining almost 40% over that time period until the recent unprecedented and understandable 37% drop since Jan 31.

My question is where should we park our cash while we wait out this terrible situation? Should we just leave it as cash? Is the BMO ETF a suggestion for a short term hold? I did read your Trade Rationale and was a little confused by your comment "remove some of the 'tail risks' that might be seen if there are issues at any individual company." Am I right in thinking this is in reference to ZRE being an ETF? Apologies for my ignorance.

Thanks for all you do

gm
Read Answer Asked by Gord on March 23, 2020
Q: With a highly leveraged ETF like JNUG getting wiped out 90+%, what is the risk/reward of having a small position at current levels? If the sector sees a recovery and the fund returns to even close to where it had been there's potential for a small investment to be worth something if you took profits and sold the position. On the other hand, if there is an extended downturn, what is the risk of just holding the position aside from opportunity cost? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Dustin on March 23, 2020
Q: I have held the above stock, (TD) for several years and recently sold,, as it has easily been the most volatile stock in my portfolio. I am thinking of spreading the risk by investing in a good bank etf or reinvesting in one bank when the situation calms down. What are your thoughts, and if the etf route is best, which one or ones would you recommend.

Thanks, David
Read Answer Asked by david on March 23, 2020
Q: Hi,

Could I get your opinion on 2 investment paths contemplating at moment for equity portion of portfolio?

At moment my equity exposure is passively invested in IWO, VGG, VIU, VEE. I am trying to decide if I should sell off this passive postion, in part or entirety, and invest in individual beaten up securities, for example a number from your recent reports for North American exposure.

The objective would be to have a higher return 2-3 years out from this market. Not really concerned with volatility.

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by John on March 23, 2020
Q: Good Morning,
There has been a lot of talk about the value of owning gold in a portfolio recently. I was wondering if you could let me know how I can go about owning gold inside my TFSA? In addition, would now be a good time to buy gold, or would it be better to wait until markets rebound. In other words, is gold a better buy when markets are doing well.

Regards,

Ryan
Read Answer Asked by Ryan on March 21, 2020
Q: Greetings 5i: I have some XLB which I thought would do well when/if interest rates fell. When interest rates plummeted the unit value dropped almost $7. Now I could be wrong (again) but I don't think interest rates are moving up or down any time soon. It's my expectation that when rates do eventually start to go up that XLB may not be something I want to own. I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thanks. Rick.
Read Answer Asked by Roderick on March 20, 2020
Q: When things seem like theyve settled down some, I plan to average down on some of my higher quality (less speculative) stocks. Im also planning to do this around dividend dates since this seems like a good time to compound DRIPS and collect extra shares.

Now, the core of my portfolio is still in a few broad market etfs. Do you think in the recovery that a certain market (S&P500, Nasdaq, DOW etc. - Im assuming not the TSX since Canada is fighting an economic war on multiple fronts) will happen faster than in others? Would you think in the recovery that buying hedged would be better since the US Dollar has been climbing recently? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by david on March 20, 2020
Q: I am wondering about Bond ETFs and why they are dropping when interest rates are at historic lows. Does this have to do with liquidity issues of the etf's, with people trying to sell them so fast that the managers of the ETF cannot sell the underlying assets quick enough? Does that mean that the underlying assets of the ETF are actually much higher than the price to buy the ETFs themselves? As an example I am considering the 9% drop of ZAG that occurred today.
Read Answer Asked by Federico on March 20, 2020
Q: I Have held these bond etfs for a long time and they are down considerably. (-16 & -30% -9.00 % -5.16%)and still counting

My question is :
Do I have any reasonable reasonable expectation of ever recovering the capital if I hold them ?
Or I am reasonably safe in selling them and putting what is left in a better place ?


Read Answer Asked by Leonard on March 20, 2020
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