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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: What are your favorite europe ETF , would probably split 5% of the portfolio (150 000$ total portfolio in RRSP) between 2-3 to get better exposure (euro zone vs euro+uk)(large vs total market)
No hedge etf. 7-10 year horizon

Also, with 30% us , 5% china, 3 % india, 5 europe, 3% XAW, 40% canada, where would you suggest to invest the remaining 14%?

I was thinking 5% japan etf, 3 % frontier etf, 6% basket of EM (to cover taiwan, south korea with minimal china, russia, turkey and brazil allocation)

I have plenty time to manage, so not an issue, but would probably only rebalance occasionally (if worth the fees)
Read Answer Asked by Olivier on October 18, 2018
Q: Are these etf's better to be held in registered accounts for tax purposes. Since there will be ROC when sold, how difficult is it to calculate or are tax forms supplied with that info upon sale. I'd like yo add it to my non registered account to collect the nice dividends but worried about how to handle after a sale. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Luca on October 17, 2018
Q: Good Morning
Technicals on XBM would indicate that we are entering a growth period for base metals, however, "Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) on Monday said concerns over Donald Trump's trade war with China is likely to dominate the outlook for commodities in the fourth quarter, predicting the issue could be a drag on markets until the 2020 U.S. election. The bank said that while a new North American trade agreement may decrease uncertainty, the U.S. trade war with China is likely to cut commodity prices for most metals."
What is your stance on base metals for the upcoming period?

Carl
Read Answer Asked by Carl on October 17, 2018
Q: I wanted to chime in on Johns question about bond etf’s. I completely agree with Johns concerns and feel that generally speaking the possibility of capital losses on a bond etf is under appreciated, under reported and glossed over by too many people. I have held VSB and VSC for well over 3 years and my yield to date isn’t even remotely close to covering the capital losses. I see absolutely no reversal in site. That they are more liquid and diversified to me is pointless. I would have been significantly better off in cash, GICs or an individual ST bond that matured and gave me my capital back.
Read Answer Asked by Morgan on October 17, 2018
Q: Please comment on my perspective below. Am I wrong?

A bond matures and you get a known amount of principal back (on top of the distributions paid out along the way). As such it provides a safety component in your portfolio. The safety comes from NOT being at the mercy of the market (all you have to do is wait till it matures).

A bond ETF does not do this. The principal you put into it is eternally at the mercy of the current market price of that ETF. Even when any bond matures, the ETF just goes out and buys more bonds at current market prices. Therefore it does not return a known amount of principal as a bond would. The whole concept of "maturity" or "yield to maturity" disappears. So these ETFs are a lot more like equities than bonds. If people are following advice about the percentage to allocate between bonds and equities, in my opinion it is a mistake to treat the bond ETFs as in the bond category.

(The exception to the above being "target date bond etfs which do mature and return your principal").
Read Answer Asked by John on October 16, 2018
Q: Hi All at 5i! I am working at establishing a more stable portion to my portfolio in the form of bond and preferred ETFs. I require four that pay me a dividend and have so far chosen CPD, XHY and CBO and would welcome a fourth ( or more) suggestion. Could you please help me with this. Cheers, Tamara
Read Answer Asked by Tamara on October 15, 2018
Q: I am considering holding VFV and XQQ in my personal unregistered accounts because they produce dividends. I could borrow money to invest in them and write off the interest. On the other hand, would it make sense to put HXS and HXQ in my passive corporation (no active income) as these two produce only capital gains and no distributions? Is there a big difference in dividends earned in a passive corp vs
personally? Also all of these will not count towards the T1135 limit. Any thoughts?
Read Answer Asked by Terry on October 15, 2018
Q: I am considering adding these two to my non-registered account. This would be in CDN $ and no tax T1135 forms. My question is what year end tax paperwork do these products have? such as ROC, T3, T5. I'm guessing they have T5's which is fine, but I sold my REITS in my non-registered accounts due to the late paperwork. I do not want to repeat this mess.
Read Answer Asked by Terry on October 15, 2018
Q: I'm retired and have no fixed income in my portfolio.
I would like to switch about 15% of my investments into fixed income. I have read all the questions regarding MFT but am looking for a few more ideas with as much return as is prudently possible.
I spend time in the U.S., so an idea or two there would be a great help, as well.
Thank you, in advance.
Read Answer Asked by Kyle on October 15, 2018
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