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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: 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
Q: Hi there, I'm new here and joined after hearing great interviews on Build Wealth Canada. I have a question and am really hoping you can help. I have decided to invest in Asset Allocation ETFs. 60% equities, 40% bond. For both the equity and bond portion I would like equal split of Canadian, US and international (no emerging markets, developed markets only). I need one asset allocation ETF with dividends or interest to buy with my TFSA & RRSP accounts. I need another with no dividend/interest to buy in my non registered account. I am new to this and overwhelmed with how to pick the 2 asset allocation ETFs for me. Can you please recommend 2 that meet my needs? Thank you so much!! Deborah
Read Answer Asked by Deborah on January 28, 2020
Q: I currently have about 20% of my portfolio in ETFs which track the MSCI EAFE index (XEF & XFH - about 10% , ZDM - about 10%) . I noticed that Vanguard's international developed fund (VI) tracks the FTSE developed all cap index.

I am wondering whether it would be beneficial, for diversification purposes, to sell ZDM and replace with VI, so that I have a better balance for my international core funds. These two funds seem to have similar compositions, so I am wondering whether this would really make a difference.

What is your view?

Thank-you for your excellent advice
Read Answer Asked by Dale on January 28, 2020
Q: Hello. If I were someone who:

1. Wanted to take my time researching and selecting stocks to purchase (perhaps weeks or months between each purchase), and
2. Doesn't yet know how much I'll be investing in Canadian stocks and how much I'll be investing US stocks, and
3. Will be exclusively investing in registered accounts (TFSA and RRSP).

Is it a sound strategy to simply buy one or two dual-listed, broad-market ETFs (like HXS and HXQ) in order to just be in the market while I take my time selecting stocks? This gives me the flexibility of selling the shares in either currency when it comes time to make another purchase, avoiding hefty currency exchange fees.

Or should the increased expense ratio of these dual-listed ETFs versus the cheaper alternatives like IVV and QQQ be a concern? Are there any other flaws with this strategy and/or is there a better strategy suited to this scenario?

Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Laxmyharan on January 28, 2020
Q: Hi
I want to reduce tech in my RRSP.
Did very good with XQQ thinking of changing to EQL
Why:
EQL only 13% tech Vs. XQQ 57%
EQL 11 sectors Vs XQQ 8 sectors
EQL higher dividend

Does this make sense?

If any other suggestions please feel free.

Thank You

Mike

Read Answer Asked by Mike on January 27, 2020
Q: Just watched BNN-Daniel Straus and one of his past picks was DQD-T. I couldn't find it on your site. Can you please add it...if possible...thanks.

In the meantime, any thoughts on this product? US dividend fund with a "variable $ hedging", based on quantitative factors. The variable hedging sounds interesting...might take a lot of the guess work out of it.

Thanks for your help...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on January 27, 2020
Q: These 2 I believe hold the same holdings. ZWH.U trades in USD. I have been tracking those for about 2 months and notice ZWH is up 4.01% and ZWH.U is up 1.60%.
If they are equal should the percentage be the same once the currency exchange is applied. It is not the case and I’m wondering why ?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Luc on January 27, 2020
Q: Good morning,
I currently hold BABA.US in my RRSP and was considering a switch to AMZN.US. In an effort to further reduce risk while maintaining a tech component in my overall diversified portfolio, I'm now looking at selling my current BABA.US holdings and buying either QQQ.US or XLK.US which both hold some AMZN.US.
What are your thoughts on this potential move and of the two ETFs mentioned, which would you recommend and why?
I thank you and look forward to your response.
Francesco
Read Answer Asked by Francesco on January 27, 2020
Q: Hello 5i,
I bought too much tlt and i am thinking of selling some in this recent rise in price. could you suggest something less volatile in the us fixed income space? I have enough volatility with stocks and am looking for something steadier with my fixed income side
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by joseph on January 27, 2020
Q: Hello. What ETFs focus 100% on China stocks. Which would you recommend? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by ANDY on January 27, 2020
Q: Hi 5i,
Can I get your thoughts about any of these 3 ETF's from BMO for a buy and hold investor? Should one be concerned with the relatively low trading volumes? The general performance of all three ETFs look better than their underlying indexes.
The ETF's appear to rebalance/reconstitute semi-annually so my thinking is these might be good as core holdings for a long term investor since they are always suppose to hold the best quality stocks.

Here is the BMO summary of the product;
1. selects high ROE stocks
2. selects stocks with stable year over year earnings growth
3. selects stocks with low financial leverage
4. caps max. stock weighting at 5%

MER Holdings AUM AvgVol Description
ZUQ 0.34 126 330M 7,200 US High Quality
ZEQ 0.45 126 260M 6,400 Europe High Quality CAD Hedged
ZGQ 0.50 330 80M 2,500 All Country High Quality
Read Answer Asked by Ian on January 27, 2020
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