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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,

I just sold some mutual funds(finally) in my wife's RRSP account. We are fairly diversified at individual level, majority of our holdings are from your Balanced and some from growth and income portfolios. All our funds are in Canadian and would like to diversify.

Please advise, if this is right time to diversify in to US/World markets. if it is a right time, can you suggest few EFT's for 5+ year hold.
Read Answer Asked by Atchuta on February 06, 2020
Q: Please provide your suggestions for non US investments of above 3.5% yield and some growth and somewhat protected from volatility in Canada and internationally. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on February 04, 2020
Q: Stocks will sometimes issue more shares to raise capital. Does this ever happen with ETF’s ?
When an ETF is born I presume the promoter will take a percentage and institutional investors the rest , is this so ?
I ask because I notice some ETF’s are very small, does this mean they will remain illiquid ?
Read Answer Asked by Luc on February 04, 2020
Q: You previously suggested that IWO-- which is an ETF that holds small-cap U.S. securities with a "growth" tilt-- would be suitable to hold within an RSP. What about a portfolio that also holds VSS, which is the Vanguard FTSE All World Ex-US Small-Cap ETF-- would this also be suitable to hold within an RSP? or is there a similar type of ETF (ex-US small-cap) that is more suitable to hold within an RSP? (The goal here is to hold two complementary small-cap ETFs that trade in U.S. dollars within an RSP, one that focuses on U.S. stocks, the other on non-U.S. international small-cap companies.)

Ted
Read Answer Asked by Ted on February 03, 2020
Q: Have owned these for a very long time.Haven't done too bad just looking to maybe change things up.What's your opinion on these ones?Also can you offer a couple of ideas to replace these two.
Read Answer Asked by adam on February 03, 2020
Q: Hello,
I recently asked a question regarding a substitution for vea. You mentionned that a high dividend might be a good approach currently, and you suggested vidy.ca. I was wnting to do this in US dollars, however, and i cannot seem to find the US vanguard equivalent of this etf? Is there one?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by joseph on February 03, 2020
Q: Good morning 5i
In a recent question asking what regions you might underweight you mentionned that you were agnostic on Europe. I have been concerned about Europe myself. But, i need to increase the foreign content in my portfolio and this is where it is lacking. How would you approach this under current conditions. Thanks fort he great service, as always
Read Answer Asked by joseph on January 31, 2020
Q: Here is a multi-part question regarding gold ETFs, please deduct as many credits as necessary:
1) If one were to choose one of the following gold ETFs to hedge their portfolio, which one would 5i recommend (or would you recommend another), and why? CGL.C, IGT, HUG, HGY. What is your opinion on the covered call strategy employed in HGY?
2) What is the difference between GLD and GLDM? What are the pros/cons of owning one versus the other?
3) How are gold ETFs taxed in Canada? Is there any taxable component that is payable even if the ETF is simply held and not sold?

Thank you very much!

Walter
Read Answer Asked by Walter on January 30, 2020
Q: I would appreciate your opinion of the two ETF's above. They seem to be doing very well, but not a large Market Cap for an ETF, and very small average volume. I am looking for an Emerging Markets ETF with monthly income, and good returns. FDE fits the bill, but I am not sure about the volume and Market Cap. I would appreciate your insight. Thanks for your help.
Read Answer Asked by Donna on January 29, 2020
Q: My wife has this mutual fund with a 2% MER, very little growth and a small dividend. Would you kindly suggest a couple of replacements (ETF or Index fund or Mutual fund) with a similar risk level and sector coverage but without the high MER.
Many thanks
Read Answer Asked by TOM on January 29, 2020
Q: what are your favoured Precious metals ETFs and you favoured CDN Dividend ETFs?
Read Answer Asked by john on January 29, 2020
Q: In finance or investing media there is often reference to portfolio insurance. I did not know such a thing even existed. The discussion often makes a passing reference to “... buy the VIX.... “ If this is correct, how would one do that? If insurance--- I assume that means mitigating risk--- is unrelated to VIX , is portfolio insurance even buy-able (OTHER than by use of options)? If options are the only way to mitigate risk, do you know some reliable sources one can go to? If I am going to pull my hair out worrying about “toppy markets” (a favorite phrase of some market commentators) I would like to be able honestly to claim I did make best efforts before the said hair-pulling.
Read Answer Asked by Adam on January 29, 2020
Q: I am concerned about the concentration of FAANG stocks in the S&P 500 index. My understanding is that the concentration of the top 10 holdings in the S&P is near historic highs.

Do you feel this is a real risk? Would you recommend switching from a market capitalization ETF (e.g. VFV) to an equal weight ETF (e.g. EQL)?

Your advice is most appreciated. Thank-you

Read Answer Asked by Dale on January 28, 2020
Q: I have positions in each of these ETF's inside my RRSP. Am I paying witholding taxes on any of them? If so - What is the tax treatment if I held them in my TFSA? Also what would the tax treatment be for each if held in my non-registered account?
Read Answer Asked by Reg on January 28, 2020
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