Investment Q&A

Q: Hi,
This is a follow up to your answer regarding my original question on Feb 14th regarding ETFs in the US Aerospace and Defense sector. Your answer focused my attention on the expense ratio as the main factor in choosing among ETFs with a similar theme, and you offered that 5 year average returns should also be considered. However, I am wondering if the dividends paid should also be a part of the decision? If yes, then as a general rule, ETF dividends would be considered only if all else is equal? Between the three ETFs, PPA pays .2504, XAR pays .0938 and ITA pays .3205. All are listed as quarterly payments. Thanks for helping out with my learning curve!
Dawn

Q: Is this a good Div ETF US oil/gas energy distribution to remain in? I am down a bit on currency slide in MAV so wish to remain hoping for a lower CAD or simply to remain bec of 8.19% Div, would appreciate your comment

Q: Good morning.... we are 15 years away before we may need to access our RRSP..
We sold all enegy (although would be okay with one "best of class" or ETF)..
I have a solid mix of similar weightings (BCE,BEP.UN,BNS,PBH,ATD.B,FSZ,SJ,GUD SIS). I would like fixed income/US/International exposure...I will be adding XHY..
I am looking for suggestions for either a few ETF you recommend for US/International exposure...keeping in mind we would not need to withdraw for at least 15 years..and if you think should have a minimum of 5% in energy or alternate AI ETF...

Thanks
Matt

Q: Hi guys, I just opened an RESP for my 4 month old and have $5k to invest for his future education. Obviously I have a long term outlook. I'm contemplating buying a single ETF, for example VXC, or a solid dividend paying company, like BNS or ENB. The latter is pretty beaten up so there could be some growth there as well. I hold all 3 mentioned funds/stocks in my RRSP/TFSA mix. Which way would you lean and/or is there a better place to invest right now?
thanks for the great resource guys!
cheers,
Mark

Q: Please give me your opinion of the Manulife Mutifactor ETFs, sub-advised by Dimensional Fund Advisors. Which would you recommend among the Manulife Mutlifactor Int'l Equity ETF (MINT), HXDM, HADM or other International Equity ETF in a taxable account?
Thanks,
Gerry

Q: Hi,
I am thinking that the recent drop may present an opportunity to enter into the US Aerospace & Defense sector at a bit of a discount. Is it better to use ETFs, or choose one or two top rated stocks? I don't know how you compare the costs of ETFs and could use a primer on what to look for / what to avoid when considering them, as I mostly use stocks or debentures.
As always, we appreciate you're thoughts and insight.
Dawn

Q: Do you like this etfs can you please explain the difference between iwo and iwd. Thanks. Alnoor

Q: Hello 5i,
Is there a better alternative to XTR in terms of size, liquidity, MER - or any other measure I am missing?
Thanks!!
Cheers,
Mike

Q: The Medical Marijauna space is still in it's infancy....what are you looking at to give it an investment profile to follow in 2018? thank you Van Campbell

Q: Hi Peter et al:
I am looking to invest some money in India. The two etf's that I was able to find are xid and zid. I am looking for mid to large cap value,however BMO states that zid is growth oriented and high risk. I am a subscriber to your etf branch but I couldn't find what I needed there. Also what would you recommend for etf exposure to Europe and the Euro, which I believe will appreciate relative to the cad.
Thanks,
BEN.

Q: 5i:if you look at previous question I really only wanted your opinion on zlfbmo long federal bond etf as a good fit or what other options do you feel more suitable.as part of a fixed income allocation. ?

Q: I am looking to add to HPR because its holdings are predominantly in floating rate or fixed-to-floating rate preferred but am having trouble understanding how sensitive the overall holdings are to rising interest rates. HPR has reacted positively to rising rates over the past six months but negatively over the past few weeks so its hard to judge how it will react to further interest rate increases. Part of the problem is that most of the holdings are fixed-to-floating rate and the period of time before those holdings convert to floating rate. Do you have any thoughts or further information on this?

Q: OK so... no question this Bitcoin rage has a similar look to the dot com bubble based purely on the hype, volatility and the number of cryptocurrency players now involved. Heck, cryptocurrency isn't even a word recognized by spell checker yet. BUT... as we sit back and scoff at it, it appears more and more businesses are starting to offer Bitcoin as a payment option. And now I am reading there are many new innovations coming for 2018 with some prognosticators iterating we could see Bitcoin reaching the $50,000 value. This is a risky and very volatile investment no question, so to bet the farm on it would be ludicrous. And if you do own a hyper wallet, best to make sure you have an excellent firewall. Having said all that, why am I finding this such a tempting investment? And what can you tell me that would dissuade me from starting a 2 or 3% portfolio position in this technology, because I don't think it's going away.

Thanks for all you do

gm

Q: Hi, further to my previous question, would there be any U.S. tax reporting on this ETF if I held it in either a TFSA, RRSP or a Margin account? Thanks.

Q: is there an equal weight tsx 60 index etf?

Q: Hi, I am becoming aware of the investment potential in ETFs and that BMO has a number of highly rated ones. When I go onto their site, there is a bewildering array of ETFs and I would just like to ask if there is some sort of preference that you have identified for income generation. Secondly, in respect to the BMO ETFs that are in $US, do they all generate withholding tax? None of them? Some of them and one has to investigate each one to determine if they do or not? Thank you for any suggestions you can make that would point me in a direction for further research.

Q: Can you help me clarify my thinking about CDZ? I own it as part of a global portfolio of four ETFs in a growth-oriented long-term horizon RRSP. It's the Canadian piece. But looking back at the 5 and 10 year total returns is a bit depressing given that we are/were in a bull run.

Would you recommend a switch to something else to serve this purpose? Whether or not you recommend a switch, could you provide your next best suggestion for a growth-focused long-term RRSP. I have heard that there is some evidence that companies that raise dividends have tended to outperform, but I'm nonetheless suspicious. Perhaps this ETF's strategy is not effectively set up to capture those gains.

Thanks as always.

Q: Dear 5i,
During the past week I had been deploying extra cash to rebalance my lower weighted holdings. I hold most of your BE Porfolio, some growth and a handful of US stocks. I have limited dry powder left to deploy and have significant losses in RRX and AEM (only energy / gold holdings except for ENB). I know you don't recommend buying the tsx index b/c it is weighted in resources and financials. I also have a little USD $ left. I am thinking of selling the loosers above for the capital loss and just buy the TSX index and the S&P 500 index with my remaining USD$. What do you think of this plan? Which index funds do you recommend?
Thanks,
Kerri

Q: I am rebalancing 5% of USD portfolio with objective of reducing overall Beta to face an increasing volatility patch.
My Question is on IGHG, that has performed well in the current environment. In a well balanced growth tilted portfolio , would you see any objection in increasing this position from 5% to 10%? I realize that trading volumes are sub-optimal. But I like the protection given to rate increase with zero duration in an otherwise benign credit risk environment, especially with ongoing strong growth in US and no sign of yield curve inversion on horizon. It also seem to give me an even safer hedging strategy to rising rates than with TBF, for which your comments were really appreciated.

Q: What is going on with Gold stocks? The Gold price is closer to its 52 week high while the XGD is trading at a 52 week low. One of them has got to give?