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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 currently a small amount of GDX and GLD. I would like to increase my gold holdings a bit. Is there a stock you recommend? I am wondering about ABX or GOLD, if you like those, and is GOLD better than the CAD ABX? Or do you prefer another gold stock?
Also, is this a good time to buy silver? If so, would you recommend a stock or an ETF, CAD or US? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Elizabeth on January 20, 2020
Q: I am looking to add an ETF that tracks the s and p 500 that has to go in my Tfsa. Can you give me some etf recommendations and your rationale? Thank you.


Read Answer Asked by Steve on January 17, 2020
Q: Hi 5i,
Portfolio analytics shows I should increase my international holdings. I have $24,000 in my US$ TFSA account and I am considering VIGI for a long term hold. (Already have VEE and have been very pleased with VIG). Would appreciate your thoughts on including this in a TFSA as I believe there would be withholding tax? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Martha on January 17, 2020
Q: Does the annualized return on these funds include the dividend?
Also, if they are purchased and held for say 5 years in a non registered account,is there any tax paid other than tax on the dividend?
Finally, if one chooses to go with the DRIP, does dividend tax still need to be paid annually?
As always,thanks for the great service.
Phil
Read Answer Asked by Phil on January 17, 2020
Q: What is your favourite Canadian listed etf for exposure to US technology?
Read Answer Asked by Marie on January 16, 2020
Q: Good morning 5i.
I read an article in the Globe and Mail (National Bank Financial report) recently about Three shrewd investing trends hidden in all the hype about surging ETF sales.: (1) Bond ETF for fixed income exposure, (2) Low-cost index tracking ETFs and (3) Asset-allocations aka balanced ETFs.

Am interested in the your comments on the above and please provide an example of each type of the above ETF: three trading in US currencies and three in Canadian currencies. Please also provide the total net assets, the liquidity, fees, yield etc. Thank you in advance. Please deduct the appropriate credits for your answer. Rossana.
Read Answer Asked by Rossana on January 16, 2020
Q: Hi gang, can you please give me 4-5 large ETF high volume and market cap in Canada.? Thanks.
Alnoor
Read Answer Asked by Alnoor on January 16, 2020
Q: I am trying to determine how material the withholding tax difference is if I hold vgg in my rrsp vs vig.

At first glance, the yield on vgg is 1.229% and on vig is 1.764%, according to the 5i website. However, according to the Vanguard website the vgg "MER" is 0.30% and the vig "Expense Ratio" is 0.06% (quite a difference in fees if indeed this is an apple to apples comparison). So if I compare before expense yields I get that the cdn vgg yields 0.295% less (1.764 + .06 - 1.229 - .30) or , as a proportion the cdn before expense yield is 84% of the us before expense yield (1.529/1.824). So the w/h tax costs me 16% of the yield -- does this analysis seem correct? Thanks. Also, why would there be such a large difference in fees between vgg and vig?
Read Answer Asked by William on January 15, 2020
Q: Is it possible to use etf's other then DLR and DLR.U to perform Norbert's Gambit? I want to buy with weekly contributions and avoid having money out of the market but also avoid withholding tax on US dividends in my RRSP.

For example purchase share in HSX with weekly contributions until I accumulate enough shares that it's worth journaling them over to HSX.U - sell the shares and buy SPY.

If so is there an all country world index ETF that one could do this with?

Thanks







Read Answer Asked by Dennis on January 15, 2020
Q: I am helping my son pick mutual funds for his work RRSP as he now has more funds that he can choose from. My question is that he can select a pure US mutual fund
( better return than the one he currently owned) and a Pure international fund but the international fund has a lower return over 1,3, 5, 10 years than the one he currently invested in over the same time period which is a combination of US and International holdings. If he invest in the pure US fund his US Allocation will go up and international will go down. He has many years before retiring so would it be best to invest in the pure US and pure International to keep weight more balanced? He has also some in the Canadian mutual fund. All funds are managed by Blackrock.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked on January 15, 2020
Q: I currently own ZDI. I would appreciate your views on this ETF as a long-term hold. I am considering replacing ZDI because it has a higher MER, and it is overweight both financials and energy.

What ETFs do you recommend which hold international equities and focus on a dividend growth strategy? Preference is for Canadian currency ETFs, but would appreciate recommendations on US currency ETFs if you feel there is sufficient additional value-added to warrant the currency conversion fee.

Thanks again for this excellent service.
Read Answer Asked by Dale on January 15, 2020
Q: hi there,

I have used FLOT to park US cash historically but i have been looking at SLQD in the US as it looks like it has outperformed FLOT and has a higher yield. Can you comment on the differences. Is there any reason i would not switch to SLQD (BTW this ticker does not come up in your drop down)
Read Answer Asked by kelly on January 15, 2020
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