Investment Q&A

Q: Thanks very much for your really insightful answers.
Which ETFs capture the blockchain technology space? Any ranked recommendations?

Q: Hi there, I'm looking to add a small position to get Etherium exposure. What is your recommended way to get exposure on the TSX, if one doesn't want to hold the currency directly? Thank you!

Q: Hello Peter & Team,

You often Mention ZRE as a good option for exposure in the RE Sector and I have held it for some time. The dividend is ok but, I am under water a little over 8% since taking on the position in 2023, and I'm getting a little weary of waiting... If you suggest to continue staying the course (always long term holds in my portfolio) because you expect I will climb out of this hole, then that is what I will do. But if you think I might be happier moving on to an alternative that you could recommend which might generate some gains while providing solid income along the way, it would be a recommendation I wouldn't say no to.

Thanks for all you do

gm

Q: I am building a small non-registered portfolio to provide income with modest capital appreciation. Your thought on these 4 ETFs or other suggestion.

Q: If you were setting up a diversified unregistered account for yourself from scratch using US ETFs today, for a long-term hold:

How would you approach this?
What would ETFs would you pick?
What percentage would you put in each?

Please charge multiple questions as needed. Thanks very much.

Q: Good morning,

May I have your favourite ETFs (Canadian or American) for:

- Iron ore
- Aluminum
- Platinum
- Palladium
- Rare earth

Thank you very much.

Q: Dear 5i team.
The following was your response to a bond question I asked in '24.

"Nothing is guaranteed, but bonds' leverage is highly correlated to their maturity. CLF has a relatively low duration of 2.8 years, whereas XLB is 15 years. As a general rule, for every 1% increase or decrease in interest rates, a bond's price will change approximately 1% in the opposite direction for every year of duration. With a bond ETF in theory the move should be similar, and thus XLB in theory should see a much larger move than CLF when rates move (either way). In reality it is not so concrete, and depends on variables in the yield curve and other factors (supply/demand). But we would be very confident in saying that if rates move lower XLB's bond portfolio should do significantly better than CLF. Owning XLB is essentially a 'bet' that rates will drop. As such, we would be fine owning both XBB and XLB for a bit more diversification of bonds. XBB's duration is 7.5 years so a good middle ground between CLF and XLB."

Been watching XLB/XBB for some time now, and both appear to be in downward trends in terms of share price, and close on yields. Rates have been steady, or in decline, so I'm completely confused.
Please take a look and try to make sense of this for me?

Many thanks for your help.

Q: Health care as a sector has me puzzled. I was adding to my positions in XLV and IHI during 2023-2024. I was prompted to keep investing thinking demographics would favor growth; that elective medical procedures postponed would come roaring back in the years following Covid. Mostly good companies were held in the above ETFs, and I was comfortable investing also because of familiarity with products and services. Markets have proven me wrong. My cost base is markedly higher than valuations today. XLV is down ~5.25% over the past 12 months (year-to-date return is flat —down -0.05%).IHI, although slightly up ~4.28% YTD, has still not recovered from a 20% drop in 2022. (Losses I show are much greater and are not useable for tax).
Current officials in the US admin have no clue on how to go about drug price reforms. Worse: they don’t know that they have no clue. Reforms are necessary; and PBMs are rightly under scrutiny for opaque pricing practices. I say this notwithstanding that UNH has produced the largest dollar loss I have had in several years.
The science and med professionals who DO know how to implement sensible and substantial changes are fired and replaced by sycophantic, subservient ignorant types. Is it therefore prudent now to sell one or both of XLV and IHI and redeploy cash in other areas? OR, would one be giving up at possibly the exact wrong time? Is now finally the time that patience with XLV and IHI has a greater chance of paying off?

Q: Good afternoon 5i;

I have been a holder of the TLT ETF for some time; only a very short period was it in the green. While the yield has been decent, I am now down 14% as the Jerome Powell cage gets rattled.

My question is simply, are the Trumpian risks becoming too much to hold this ETF? I believe he is radical enough to remove Powell, but likely won't and will just continue to make noise. Even the noise is having impact.

If yes, do you have a Canadian Bond Fund you might recommend of similar characteristics?

Q: Are there any mutual funds or ETFs which invest in Private equity? Or simply buy the companies (Blackrock, Fairfax, KK etc) to get that exposure. I would like to add that for diversification but need direction.

Q: hi folks:

i try my best to avoid any counter party risk in my portfolio (because i am a luddite and think the derivative markets are in search of a pin)

2 questions:

are there any crypto etfs/funds that you are aware of that actually hold the underlying crypto asset?

seondly (with the same proviso) are you aware of a'one stop' crypto etf that would have say 50% BTC and the balance allocated amongst the 'others'

overall, looking for a one ticket solution with actual ownership

thank you

ps. as i understand it,. assets like IBIT, ETC ......do not meet the 'ownership criteria' noted; whereas FBTC (fidelity) and BTCC (purpose) do

Q: In a head to head, for a core portfolio holding, would you pick IQLT or your favourite comparable broad market index ETF covering the same general geographies?
Why?
And what is the alternative ETF?
Thanks!

Q: I have a portfolio of 25 individual stocks (diversified among most sectors) with no ETFs. Within this portfolio I own companies that trade in CAD and the US but have operations and/or varying degrees of revenue in other countries such as CLBT, AXON, TOI, VHI, UBER, BKNG, WSP, TRI, BN and some of the MAG 7 with their worldwide reach such as GOOG. I often wonder if this is adequate international exposure for a healthy portfolio or should I have a specific international ETF?
I have not been a fan of ETFs due to the often wide exposure that can include "the best along with less than the best" (and they are boring, :), haha). But for long term growth and healthy diversification I often consider opening a position in an international ETF such as VIU.
But then I face my conundrum. In the past 5 years the return on VIU has been 41.4% (Yahoo Finance). Perhaps my expectations are out of line, but I would not be happy (and I would be bored, :), ) with the same return from VIU in the next 5 years. Even a conservative Canadian bank with some international operations such as RY has done 90% in the past 5 years (Yahoo Finance). It seems to me that I must give up too much possible growth in order to achieve a healthy level of international diversification through the instrument of an international ETF.
Perhaps this is a conundrum that need not be solved, but do you have any thoughts that may lead to a wiser investment perspective or a needed tempering of my expectations?
As always, thank you for your excellent service.
Cal

Q: Hi, ‘Physical Uranium’ , not something you buy on the street….Where does Sprott get and hold its uranium ?

Q: Hi Team:
I have some cash sitting in RIF acct. Presently in RBF2010 paying 2.3% interest, with unlimited charge for buy or sells..
Would I be better to spent the $9.95 and buy into something like CASH or PSA? Then I would also have to pay $9.95 to get out.
As a follow-up to that question how about if this was in an 'open account' , Where the interest is taxed at 100% income whereas CASH or PSA would act like a dividend income and therefore taxed at roughly 66% income.
OR do you have a better suggestion for larger amounts of $$
Thank you. :-)

Q: What do you believe as the best buying opportunity in the market these days?
1 small cap stock
1 mid cap stock
1 large cap stock
1 ETF

Thank you

Q: Given what seems to be a market bent on devouring risk assets what are your thought on XRP? I keep a small portion of our portfolio for moon shots and just place a small limit order.

Q: would this be a royalty for silver worth buying. would 5i prefer a ETF in this catedory. Price moved quite a bit with insider buying.

Q: I am trying to understand what I actually own with an ETF. My understanding is that I do not own the actual assets that it tracks but that there is a "fund" created to track the underlying assets that the fund provider does own separately in a much smaller quantity. So it seems that the "fund" may be infinitely expandable since it is not actually comprised of stocks. I am uneasy about things that resemble derivatives so wondered if you could explain more about how this works with index tracking etf's. Mainly, how is my investment secure if I don't actually own anything tangible? Thanks

Q: For a conservative investor, given the volatility expectations for the next few years, would you replace JEPI in the RRSP account with FT Vest Laddered Buffer ETF (BUFR)? As this is RRSP, only the total return (as opposed to income) matters. It appears that BUFR has outperformed JEPI in both bull and bear markets, and JEPI only outperforms when we have non-trending markets with low volatility. Your thoughts?