skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A
You can view 3 more answers this month. Sign up for a free trial for unlimited access.

Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: 5-I,
I am looking at a managed portfolio of a friend who deals at Wood Gundy. They are comparing the performance of the portfolio to the "Value Balanced Index". It says it is a blended benchmark comprised of 40% DEX Universe, 20% S&P/TSX composite and 40% MSCI World. What would be the closest ETF to this index that I could follow on an exchange ?

Thanks

Paul
Read Answer Asked by paul on April 23, 2018
Q: I have reviewed prior question responses on PMIF and PMO005. I understand that both should behave similarly (PMIF should have higher return longterm due to lower MER). My question is on the distribution. The distribution yield on PMO005 is about 3-3.5% it appears; the distribution yield on PMIF appears to be smaller and with variations in the distribution from month to month. Do you think this is temporary, as PMIF is relatively new? Do you think overtime, the distributions of PMIF will stabilize and approximate those of PMO005 with a similar yield? If not, why not, if the portfolio composition is the same in each case?

My feeling is that PMIF is 'safer' than high yield bonds such as XHY and preferred shares such as CPD/ZPR, do you agree? I hope to pair this with some VSB as my fixed income allocation. Do you think PMIF is worth the MER of 0.87%? This is for longterm, all-weather hold (irrespective of where interest rates go in the near-term/longterm) for consistent income.

Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Walter on April 20, 2018
Q: Hello, thinking of adding ZUB, or ZBK, as just made decent windfall short term gains on energy stocks in days , for the trade. Redeploy cash , Against social media’s commentary worked out many times perfectly so far. Before last Friday banks earnings, the media were full of ” earnings will be huge” then the very next day we’re like “reversals because fully priced in “...” growth concerns “ . . “ yield curve.....” and so on...
so what’s your take? Is it noise or seasonality trading or real concerns , so called smart money moves?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by LEI on April 20, 2018
Q: I currently have a weighting of 8 % Canadian tech companies. For diversification I hold CSU, OTEX, SYZ, ENGH and KXS. My largest holdings are in the larger companies, specifically CSU at 5% and OTEX at 3%. I would like to diversify my portfolio into international stocks. To this end, in the high tech sphere I have started to buy XQQ. Since XQQ is an ETF, and so is diversified, I plan to bring XQQ up to 10%. Note that I currently have 20% in VFV. So my US exposure would be 20% VFV and 10% XQQ. Do you see any downside to this plan? Note that XQQ is hedged, are you aware of a US tech ETF that is not hedged?
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on April 19, 2018
Q: Could you please clarify how this ETF pricing mechanism works? My Qtrade website shows the current bid at $30.88 and ask at $30.91 (at approximately noon PT on Wed, April 18), yet the Day High shows $30.49. Is this indicating that there has not been any trading since the $30.49 price? I see a similar discrepancy with HXQ, but not with HXT where the bid price is exactly at the day high price. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by David on April 18, 2018
Q: Good Evening Folks,

I'm looking for a good US/International mutual fund to balance out a portfolio of mine. I'm looking at Edgepoint Global and PH&N Global. what are your thoughts on these funds? Could you suggest any others that I should consider? Are there any ETF's that are comparable?

And one more question. I've held two Canadian mutual funds with blue chip holdings for years - Mawer Canadian Equity and TD Dividend Growth. Performance has been OK but not great. Can you suggest better replacement funds or ETF's?

As always, thanks for your advice.

Dennis
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on April 18, 2018
Q: ZMT is a 3 bagger from January 2016 to February 2018, but has fallen slightly since. Is this a good time in the economic cycle to purchase this etf or has the easy money been made ie do you think there is still good growth potential? What would you consider a maximum weighting? I would like to add some giddyup to my TFSA with a well timed position in commodities if in fact the timing is right. Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Richard on April 16, 2018
Q: Good day,

I currently have in my TFSA portfolio the following stocks which you had recommended
(KXS, PHO, SIS, TOY, PBH, SHOP and DOL). I have 10K which would like to add to my TFSA. What stocks would you consider purchasing to compliment what I already own?
Read Answer Asked by Enzo on April 16, 2018
Q: I am looking for a good intermediate-duration corporate bond ETF, and was favouring ZCM, until I learned that BMO has come out with ZCB. The duration for ZCB is slightly shorter and the fees are lower. Which do you think would be the better choice for a long-term hold for consistent income, or is there a different intermediate-duration corporate bond ETF that you would prefer to these two? Do you think with the introduction of this ETF, that similar funds from iShares and Vanguard will see their MERs drop accordingly to match the low MER of ZCB? I also hold VSB as part of my fixed income allocation. Thank you very much.
Read Answer Asked by Walter on April 16, 2018