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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: Good morning 5i.
I read an article in the Globe and Mail (National Bank Financial report) recently about Three shrewd investing trends hidden in all the hype about surging ETF sales.: (1) Bond ETF for fixed income exposure, (2) Low-cost index tracking ETFs and (3) Asset-allocations aka balanced ETFs.

Am interested in the your comments on the above and please provide an example of each type of the above ETF: three trading in US currencies and three in Canadian currencies. Please also provide the total net assets, the liquidity, fees, yield etc. Thank you in advance. Please deduct the appropriate credits for your answer. Rossana.
Read Answer Asked by Rossana on January 16, 2020
Q: Hi gang, can you please give me 4-5 large ETF high volume and market cap in Canada.? Thanks.
Alnoor
Read Answer Asked by Alnoor on January 16, 2020
Q: I am trying to determine how material the withholding tax difference is if I hold vgg in my rrsp vs vig.

At first glance, the yield on vgg is 1.229% and on vig is 1.764%, according to the 5i website. However, according to the Vanguard website the vgg "MER" is 0.30% and the vig "Expense Ratio" is 0.06% (quite a difference in fees if indeed this is an apple to apples comparison). So if I compare before expense yields I get that the cdn vgg yields 0.295% less (1.764 + .06 - 1.229 - .30) or , as a proportion the cdn before expense yield is 84% of the us before expense yield (1.529/1.824). So the w/h tax costs me 16% of the yield -- does this analysis seem correct? Thanks. Also, why would there be such a large difference in fees between vgg and vig?
Read Answer Asked by William on January 15, 2020
Q: Is it possible to use etf's other then DLR and DLR.U to perform Norbert's Gambit? I want to buy with weekly contributions and avoid having money out of the market but also avoid withholding tax on US dividends in my RRSP.

For example purchase share in HSX with weekly contributions until I accumulate enough shares that it's worth journaling them over to HSX.U - sell the shares and buy SPY.

If so is there an all country world index ETF that one could do this with?

Thanks







Read Answer Asked by Dennis on January 15, 2020
Q: I am helping my son pick mutual funds for his work RRSP as he now has more funds that he can choose from. My question is that he can select a pure US mutual fund
( better return than the one he currently owned) and a Pure international fund but the international fund has a lower return over 1,3, 5, 10 years than the one he currently invested in over the same time period which is a combination of US and International holdings. If he invest in the pure US fund his US Allocation will go up and international will go down. He has many years before retiring so would it be best to invest in the pure US and pure International to keep weight more balanced? He has also some in the Canadian mutual fund. All funds are managed by Blackrock.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked on January 15, 2020
Q: I currently own ZDI. I would appreciate your views on this ETF as a long-term hold. I am considering replacing ZDI because it has a higher MER, and it is overweight both financials and energy.

What ETFs do you recommend which hold international equities and focus on a dividend growth strategy? Preference is for Canadian currency ETFs, but would appreciate recommendations on US currency ETFs if you feel there is sufficient additional value-added to warrant the currency conversion fee.

Thanks again for this excellent service.
Read Answer Asked by Dale on January 15, 2020
Q: hi there,

I have used FLOT to park US cash historically but i have been looking at SLQD in the US as it looks like it has outperformed FLOT and has a higher yield. Can you comment on the differences. Is there any reason i would not switch to SLQD (BTW this ticker does not come up in your drop down)
Read Answer Asked by kelly on January 15, 2020
Q: Building up my ETF portfolio and have some cash to deploy. Of XEF VE and SPY which is the best one to add right now. Crystal ball yes...balanced follower, 5 year time horizon. I am currently over allocated to Canada and on target for emerging markets a little light USA and international. Likely to buy a bit of each if not strong case for one in particular.
Read Answer Asked by Tom on January 15, 2020
Q: Happy New year Peter & Ryan!

Very happy with the Growth portfolio performance last year. Quick question on the US ETF exposure. What is the argument for taking the growth 'style' IWO over IWM or the value based IWN?

I know the performance has been better for Growth in the last 10 years, but most of the perhaps 'dated' literature I've read suggests value biased ETF's tend to do better over the long haul and would be curious to get your opinion.
eg) https://tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2469/faj.v55.n5.2300)

Thanks!

Read Answer Asked by Elliott on January 15, 2020
Q: What investment would you recommend for a 20 year old with their first $6,000 to invest in their TFSA? Someone who is using their TFSA for long term savings. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Robert on January 15, 2020
Q: I HAVE VERY LITTLE EXPOSER TO TECH AND I WOULD LIKE YOUR OPINION AS TO WHICH IS A BETTER BUY AND WHY. THANKS, JAMES
Read Answer Asked by JAMES on January 14, 2020
Q: I have, for me, significant positions in the US technology sector with decent positions in Apple, Microsoft and XQQ, and a smaller position in Cisco. As the new year begins, I am evaluating my holdings and I notice that, even though I like many of the Canadian technology companies, the only position I have in Canadian technology is a small position in Shopify through a Fidelity mutual fund. Given that I like many of the Canadian companies (Enghouse, Kinaxis, CGI, Constellation, Descartes, and Open Text) what is my best strategy to enter this space? As I am not sure it is prudent to create enough space in my portfolios to buy all of these at one time, is there a Canadian technology ETF that holds a number of these companies?
Thank you for your advice.
Don
Read Answer Asked by Donald on January 14, 2020
Q: You have often talked about several criteria’s when selecting buying or selling a stock.
I do not recall ever reading your take on ETF’ selection. Also I don’t remember you ever saying to not buy a particular ETF. Their are hundreds of ETF’s to choose from. This is what I look at, please tell me what’s missing. MER, dividend yield and frequency, market cap i look for more than 300M, income or growth, geography, % of sectors invested, performance history,covered call or not. What’s missing in my analysis ? If all of the above criteria is acceptable for one’s decision, which other factor or factors would influence me in not buying a particular ETF.
Thank you for educating the membership.
Read Answer Asked by Luc on January 14, 2020
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