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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: I have significant USD in my RRSP in cash. Do you have any recommendation for a balanced USD ETF even if it’s trading in the USA that is “low” risk conservative and might expect 4 to 5% annual gains? Thanks. Peter
Read Answer Asked by Peter on April 18, 2019
Q: HI Guys:
I bought this fund two years ago as part of fixed income side of our portfolio.The distributions have been reinvested in the fund since I bought, the fund currently trades 1% under book value, the fund is 75% bonds and 25% equities, MER 1.04%. Distributions this year look to be around 1.5% if the recent distribution is consistent for the rest of the year. I'm looking at an investment in QLTA which would give me US diversification and is a pure corporate bond fund with a monthly yield 3.1%. I've never been a bond investor usually equities and cash I'm thinking to sell SIF120 and put the money into QLTA for the distribution and a lower MER 0.15%. I realize this may not be apples to apples and higher risk with currency and corporate bonds, would you have a concern with this approach, or any other bond ETF's that are worth consideration the money is in a RRIF account.
Read Answer Asked by Thomas on April 17, 2019
Q: Hi Peter and Ryan,
We currently have a 3% position in ZWE as our only European exposure. Currently we are down 6.6% on the ETF but only 3.8% when taking dividends into account (nice dividend). What is your opinion of investing in Europe? Do we retain the ZWE ETF, switch to a different ETF, or exit Europe due to financial and economic headwinds? We will cash in 3% yearly from our RRSP portfolio in 5 years.
Cheers
Jerry and Debbie
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on April 17, 2019
Q: Hi, thank you for the article on international stocks and the portfolio analytics.
I am now trying to decrease my Canadian home bias (40% to 25%) by increasing my international exposure (20% to 35%) and maintaining my US at 40%. My wife and I own XWD, VE and XEF in our TFSAs. I was thinking of selling XWD and adding VEE or VWO (RRSP) and/or VDU or VEA (RRSP). The switch to RRSP additions is to benefit from US withholding tax exemption.

Could I have your thoughts on the above changes. Is there too much overlap in owning all four ETFs? Could I simplify to one, two or three?

Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Dave on April 17, 2019
Q: Can you give a quick comparison of these 3 ETF’s ? For dividend income and security, long term hold, should I own all 3 , if not explain why and in which order would you buy ?
Please advise anything else relevant.
Many thanks,
Read Answer Asked by Luc on April 17, 2019
Q: Hello i5 crew...I am repositioning my cash account for retirement dividends to supplement my RIF account withdrawals. I like the tax favoured Canadian dividends and have blended ZLB, ZWC and ZDV for that purpose. There is a lot out there and would like your suggestions for long term long term dividend generation. Thank you in advance...
Read Answer Asked by Gary on April 17, 2019
Q: Hi Peter and Ryan,
We received the last portion of our funds in cash from Sun Life today. We are a little hesitant to open new equity positions or foray into bonds. The stock analysis highlights that we need to add REITS but that sector seems to be under pressure this week. The risk and payback seems unbalanced everywhere we look today.
As we are into our early 60's we have given thought to placing 40% of our portfolio that arrived as cash into a temporary safe place. If you were to choose today which ETF's are recommended out of CMR, XFR, HFR to place funds for deployment at a later date.
Cheers
Jerry and Debbie
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on April 17, 2019
Q: Total portfolio $632000: 2 RRIF’s, 2 TFSA’s , 1 non registered C$ account and 1 non registered U$ account.
In registered accounts 4.3% of total portfolio In VGG.
In non registered U$ account WMT with BV of
U$ 9294.55.
If sold at today’s MV would return 10.3% in a little less than 6 months.
What is your opinion on selling WMT and using funds plus additional cash of 6000U$ to buy
VIG.
This would make approx 7% in US.
I also own , what I consider quasi US, AQN in TFSA and ENB in several of the accounts.
Appreciate your input.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Roy on April 16, 2019
Q: I have a non-registered a/c, a RRIF and a TFSA and would like to add fixed income investments to each using ETFs. I am looking at the above mentioned ETFs. Is there a general rule of thumb as to which type of income should go in to various accounts and would XHY and XPF be subject to withholding tax?
Read Answer Asked by Lloyd on April 16, 2019
Q: XTR iShares Diversified Monthly Income ETF top 10 holdings are iShares Canadian HYBrid Corporate Bd ETF XHB25.78% iShares Floating Rate ETF XFR19.75% iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol USA ETF XMU18.43% iShares S&P/TSX Composite High Div ETF XEI10.65% iShares US Dividend Grwrs ETF CADH Comm CUD8.78% iShares Canadian Select Dividend ETF XDV8.23% iShares US High Yield Bond ETF CADH XHY4.24% iShares S&P/TSX Cdn Prefr Shr ETF Comm CPD4.07%

XTR charges a MER of .62%. Is this in addition to the MER’s charged by each ETF holding?
Thanks
John
Read Answer Asked by John on April 16, 2019
Q: My brother has recently moved his retirement portfolio to CIBC. He’s unhappy with the 1-2.5% fees he’s paying in the CIBC only funds he’s been placed into. Thanks to continuing conversations I’ve had with him about the great advice I receive from 5i he’s interested in your suggestions for a retirement portfolio for a 58 year old who has no company pension. Capital preservation and appropriate diversification would be key (and lower fees, of course!) Given the limited info could you suggest funds that would be a solid basis for this situation. I’ll compare it to the portfolio analytics info, which I found to be absolutely invaluable for my own situation.
Read Answer Asked by Warren on April 16, 2019
Q: Hi Peter & 5i staff,
I think my last question got lost in the shuffle, so here goes. My Son has a couple of accounts, an RRSP and a LIRA, each with $135 Thousand. Very little time to manage these accounts so I am doing it for him. Is it advisable to go with all in one ETF's like VGRO, XGRO or ZGRO as the funds are not required for at least 15 years. Any suggestions and advice would be much appreciated. Thanks as always. Ivan
Read Answer Asked by Ivan on April 16, 2019
Q: With the recent announcement from Horizons on the release of an ETF that will be built based on exposure to the US marijuana/hemp industries (HMUS on the NEO exchange - trading to begin April 18th, 2019), which ETF would you prefer?

Would you consider the valuations of the Canadian MMJ companies to be more overvalued than the US co's, and if not, what would you believe to be an appropriate ratio if you recommend both ETFs to be held?
Read Answer Asked by Tom on April 16, 2019
Q: Are dividends from USA ETF's held in a RRSP exempt from withholding tax just like USA stocks are? Thanks. Peter
Read Answer Asked by Peter on April 16, 2019
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