skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A
You can view 3 more answers this month. Sign up for a free trial for unlimited access.

Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: In trying to decide which ETF’s to buy, I am concerned with the credit duration of some.
Ex: XTR 3.78 yrs. ZMI 3.77 yrs. VCNS 7.82 yrs
What is the significance of these in view of the current business cycle mainly interest rates.
Also, at this time would you favour an ETF more or less exposed to bonds currently. Is a fund manager able to quickly sell his bond holdings quickly when interest rates rise, what is their strategy ?
Thank you so much.
Read Answer Asked by Luc on January 08, 2020
Q: My adult son (Canadian citizen/resident) is in his early 30's, has maxed out his RSP and TFSA (he holds high-quality individual securities within these accounts, which have done well over the years), and he is lucky to have a high-paying job in which he has surplus funds (Canadian dollars) that he can invest, within a non-registered account, approx. $20k to $25k per month. The goal is long-term growth, aggressive (80% equities), with the possibility that he may need some of the funds within the next 3-5 years, to join a group practice (capital contribution toward partnership). My advice to him is that he purchase each month among the five following ETFs (% as indicated below), rebalancing as he makes new monthly contributions:
20% VAB = Vanguard Canadian Aggregate Bond Index ETF;
20% ZCN = BMO S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF;
25% VFV = Vanguard S&P 500;
25% TPE = TD International Equity Index ETF;
10% ZEM = BMO MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF.
What do you think of these 5 particular funds and the overall allocation? For his situation, are there different ETFs you might suggest we look at that would be better-suited for his situation? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Ted on January 07, 2020
Q: For eft’s. v f v and v g g , what are the advantages/disadvantages of holding in a
r r s p , t f s a , or a non registered account?

Thank you for your help,
Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on January 07, 2020
Q: XIT: We have a very large portfolio made up in RRSP, TFSA, & Non -Registered Accounts (biggest holdings). My investment style over many , many years has been to buy large cap "dividend growing" stocks which have served us incredibly well. Because technology stocks usually trade a high P.E. multiples, most are not dividend growers; but, most of all, the arena can change on a dime - just look at all the tech stocks that have gone bust over the last 20 years or so. In any case, I was thinking of buying XIT to add to our "dividend growers". I already own a small holding in my USD account of IGM.
Read Answer Asked by James on January 07, 2020
Q: Greetings 5i - I am helping my 29-year old daughter with her TFSA. She has $9,500 to invest and we're thinking about putting it into VFV:CA so she has some US exposure. She currently holds BNS, FTS, PPL and PBH. Alternatively, we were thinking of dividing it between AQN and ATD.B or BAM. Would appreciate your thoughts on what's best for a long term hold. Happy New Year to you all.
Read Answer Asked by Martha on January 06, 2020
Q: Good morning,

I have become aware of RA and INF through your Q/A section. I currently own VZ and XUS in my US dollar accounts for income. I am considering replacing them with INF due to the higher return. However, I note that INF which is stock based, will be merging with RA which is fixed income based. I also note that RA is four times bigger than INF so the merged funds will become a largely fixed income portfolio. Furthemore, only 20% of RA investments are rated BBB or higher. I wonder if RA is able to pay such a high dividend because it bought these perhaps sub-par investments well below par. My question is whether the extra dividend provided by INF/RA outweighs its risk relative to XUS and VZ.
Read Answer Asked by Ken on January 06, 2020
Q: If you were to choose between the 3 above. How would you rank them in terms of security (first and foremost) and total performance for a 3-5 year hold?

Thanks to all for your fantastic service and a very successful year in all your endeavour.
Y
Read Answer Asked by Yves on January 06, 2020
Q: I was reading about some companies that are writing code for fashion designers so people can print their own custom clothes at home but the companies are still too small and private, not public. I wasn’t sure how many were public yet. The 3D printing will democratize the fashion industry among other things.
Clayton
Read Answer Asked by Clayton on January 06, 2020
Q: I noticed in the latest BlackRock circular that IWY (iShares Russell Top 200 Growth) has significantly outperformed IWO (iShares Russell 2000 Growth) based on the latest 1 year, 5 year, and 10 year published returns. I assume you like IWO since it is in your growth portfolio. Can you elaborate a little on if/why you might prefer IWO to IWY and would you endorse a switch to IWY at this time for someone already holding IWO?
Read Answer Asked by Steven on January 06, 2020
Q: I have noted that XSH and ZCS have outperformed VSB every year since their respective inception years. Do you expect this outperformance to continue? In what scenario would VSB outperform XSH or ZCS? Even during recent market downturns (2015, 2018), VSB has underperformed. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Walter on January 03, 2020
Looking for more? Sign up for a FREE 14 day trial! No credit card required

We invite you to sign up for a 14 day free trial of 5i Research!
Experience all the benefits and tools we have to offer; stock research, model portfolios, Q&A with our experts, and so much more. Join a community of like-minded investors today!