Investment Q&A

Q: I have read the following from Morgan Stanley's CIO:
- S&P 500's forward price-to-earnings ratio is over 20.4, the equivalent for the MSCI ACWI ex U.S. is around 13.5.
- That discount of nearly 35%, a 20-year low, is a two-standard-deviation event.
- Dividend yields for non-US equities are running above 3% - more than double that of the U.S. benchmark.

Do you think there is an out-sized opportunity to invest outside the US, beyond one's normal global diversification strategy? If so, what sectors, stock and/or ETF's do you recommend? Thanks.

Q: India is now or about to be the most populous country in the world and its economy appears strong. This should point towards solid growth going forward. What are your thoughts on this? If one wanted to invest in this scenario, how would they do it? Can you suggest ETFs that would mimic their future?

Q: Dear 5i
I`m sure i`ve asked this question before but i cannot find your answer to this question .
Do you have to include ETF's that are Canadian listed that hold US stocks such as HXS and ZSP as part of my foreign reporting re foreign assets on my taxes ?
Also i have 3 ETF's that apparently have Trust or Partnership income (ZLB,CDZ,ZSP ). I have not received this notification before from my brokerage firm so i'm assuming this is a relatively new structuring of these particular ETF's . That said , is trust and partnership income taxed more or less than other forms of income ? Are you taxed on this income derived from capital gains , dividend or interest income ?
Thanks
Bill C

Q: I have a very small amount invested in ETHX.B and my 22 year-old son is convinced I should have more invested in ethereum. I am a value investor in my 60s and just don't get cryptocurrency. Your comments appreciated regarding the future of ethereum.
Thanks!

Q: What is the best etf or mutual fund to invest in India? As well do you think it is a good area to invest in right now?

Q: Its my understanding that Coinbase is serving as the custodian for a number of Bitcoin ETFs including iShares Bitcoin ETF IBIT. Does the Canadian ETF BTCC hold its own coins?

Q: Hamilton has the tax breakdown of their ETF's for 2023 posted on their website. I see both HMAX and UMAX distributions are 84% Return of Capital. This seems high. Do you think this is an aberration or potentially the norm? If an aberration, could you please quesstimate a percent range that you'd expect Return of Capital to usually be.

Q: Hi Peter & Team,

If I understand bonds correctly, we are in a period right now where we could see them do quite well over the next number of years. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

If you said agree.... Some of the best performing in the past have been Municipal bonds. Could you please share your thoughts on Municipal bonds specifically regarding risk? If you think they would be a good to hold in a long term portfolio? And do you have any Municipal bonds you could recommend that might do well by us?

If you said we disagree with my statement in paragraph one... could you please explain why?

Thanks for all you do

gm

Q: According to the T3 published on the CDS listing for 2023, the Return of Capital for 2023 for HBND was 70.7% and for HPYT it was 48%. I'm holding them in non taxable accounts so the source of the dividends doesn't matter, but isn't that level of ROC completely unsustainable and will just mean an erosion in the NAV?
thanks

Q: Which do you prefer and why?

Q: My wife and I would like to convert our diversified portfolio of 20 active companies to a portfolio of ETFs. We are in our 70s and would like to simplify our portfolio.

We picture 5 to 10 ETFs.
One or two ETFs for all Canadian stocks, same for the USA and one or two for indexes outside North America.
As I say, we’re currently pretty well diversified and earning dividend income of around 5% and would like to continue around that level of yield and diversification.

What ETFs would you include? Is this a dream or can it really be done?
Many thanks for your research and opinion.
Frank

Q: Could you please recommend two 100% safe and liquid holdings, one Canadian and the other American. Could you advise the current interest rate they each pay?

Q: I understand that TGED and TUED ETF's use both Call and Put option strategies to produce income. One is a global ETF and the other is a US stock ETF both available on the CDN exchange. Can you help suggest some ETF's available on the US exchange that use both Call and Put option strategies targeting the World and US stock markets. thanks

Q: Good morning, Looking at the chart of GDX the last 5 yrs the ETF reached yrly highs on Aug 6,2020, May 18,2021, April 18,2022. Those dates matched the highs in gold price and the gold stocks. So the price of gold , the miners stock price, and the GDX moved together until 2022. Since then the GDX is moving in opposite direction to the other two and reached a new low last week when gold is at an all time high for the last 3 months. Can you explain ? It appears that the GDX is sold short daily and keeping the gold miners stock prices down artificially .??
Thanks, George

Q: I want to spread some cash out, and away from a Canadian focus. Which of these two ETF's would you consider a better purchase for long term growth?

Q: Thanks to Peter, Ryan and the 5i Team, my portfolio has recovered from the Tech Wreck of 2022. Much of this is due to my holdings in Nvidia and SMCI. I have been trimming some along the way up, but Nvidia is now over 12% and SMCI is over 6% of my portfolio. This time around, I'd like to hold on to my gains (unlike in 2022).

My questions are: What "sleep at night" ETF or stock might you suggest to put some of my profits into (sector doesn't matter)? Also, what percentage of your holdings would you be comfortable with SMCI going to?

My pension covers my living expenses, so I am able to take a little more risk.

Thanks,

Brad

Q: 3 short questions:
(1)XSU:CA is the TSX listed hedged version of IWM:US. Is there an unhedged version of IWM:US on the TSX?
(2) Is there a listing on the TSX for IWN:US; either hedged or unhedged?
(3) XSMC:CA (100% IJR:US) has net assets of only $35M compared to net assets of $544M for XSU:CA (100% IWM). Can I conclude from this that IWM is the more popular US small cap ETF in Canada? 5i research has suggest the IJR holds larger, possibly more stable US small caps compared to IWM.
Thanks!

Q: ZWB or ZEB Which would be the preferred etf to hold in a TFSA account?

Q: Just finished reading the Money Saver's email warning " Avoiding The Yield Trap " on covered call ETF's . Where it mentions ETF's yielding in excess of 10% yet uses a BMO banking covered call as an example . I believe all the Hamilton ETF covered call products yield in that 10% or better area and in the case of the banking ETF ZWB used as an example, HMAX yields 15% which beats ZEB's 10 year return by over 5% . And that doesn't take into account the 50% of the HMAX portfolio that contains the underlying stock which should return 50% of the return on ZEB .....If ZEB over 10 years returns 9.6% then HMAX should return the annual yield of 15% plus 4.8% reflecting the 50% of the portfolio containing the underlying stock .... There will also be a small capital gain/loss reflecting the covered call side of their holdings which I have no idea how to calculate so have ignored .... Please explain how I would be missing out growth in the banking sector using the example the Money Saver used were I to purchase HMAX instead of ZWB ? 15% + 4.8% = 19.8% which doubles ZEB's return ...... Please explain the flaws in my logic. { I suspect they are there I just don't know what they are }

Also could 5i give me a list of all the Hamilton ETF products that operate like HMAX { 50% of the portfolio with the underlying securities } with an explanation of what sector they represent, their current yield in percent , and annual dividend amount { I'd like this number so I can calculate the yield on any given day while I follow them and make my decisions on whether and when to purchase }

Thanks for your great service in helping us DIY investors ......

Q: This stock has lost almost half the value I paid for and shows no sign of stopping to go down.

Do you see any positive future for it ?

What would you do if you were in my shoes ? If selling what would you replace it to recoup my losses ? Willing to take risks.

Gratefully,

Jacques IDS