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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: As a retired person I am always looking for high yield investments.
So I look at something like HHL from Harvest. It holds 20 equal weighted mainly US healthcare stocks. A solid sector with good long term demographics. I see their current yield on what they are paying out is 8.67% - all capital gains - great! But I see the average dividend yield on the stocks held is only 1.96%. How can that be? Seems it’s done using covered calls Not sure how that works but sounds like it creates added risk. What if the covered call $ generated isn’t enough to meet their intended distribution? Where does the extra $ go if covered call exceeds the distribution.

So I investigate the industry a little more and I see words like- total return swap based, inverse, currency hedged, low/ high volatility, fund of funds, proprietary methodology, 2x returns etc., and I start to wonder what’s going on?

Then I remember the term “ flow through shares” of some time ago and say to myself “ it’s déjà vu all over again.

Derek
Read Answer Asked by Derek on November 20, 2018
Q: Dear 5i
I'm trying to understand how companies actually get paid when we own for example an ETF that has a MER of for an example .5%. If the anticipated yield is say 3% you had stated in an earlier question of mine that the 3% is inclusive of fees . So all yields posted are generally always inclusive of fees right ? This means then that the actual yield is 3.5% minus the MER of .5%. So its a matter of the company in question holding their fee back from the yield rather than a case of the said company getting paid the fee which comes out of my brokerage company account directly .Sorry if this sounds confusing . I'm just trying to understand the process and be sure about what yield I'm actually getting and what fees I'm actually paying .
Thanks
Bill
Read Answer Asked by Bill on November 20, 2018
Q: Greetings 5i,

Recent article I found had me thinking about iShares Global Gold Miners ETF (RING) as a decent large cap gold miner ETF. It's in USD unfortunately.

Could you lend your opinion on this ETF and is there a CDN denominated version or alternative? What weight in a diversified portfolio? Is there a small cap gold etf you like as well?

https://www.theinvestorspodcast.com/blog/gold-50-off-get-yours-before-the-sale-ends/

Cheers!
Read Answer Asked by Duane on November 19, 2018
Q: HPR has dropped from the 9.60-9.70 range to below 9.00 in the last while, including yet another big drop today. I always thought a managed Pref ETF would not drop as much as the overall market during a correction and that it would be a defensive holding. Apparently not a correct assumption. So, what is happening with this ETF - should I sell and buy something more secure like a Utility, buy more of this ETF or what? My goal with this part of my portfolio is lower risk.
Read Answer Asked by David on November 19, 2018
Q: Dear 5i;
With regards to the latest conservative ETF portfolio ;
With the average yield of all the ETF`s being 3.23%, is this before MER`s are taken into account or after ?
Also what's your rational for using HYGH vs XHY ?
Also tax loss selling generally only applies to non-registered accounts correct ?Please deduct several points .
Thanks
Bill C.
Read Answer Asked by Bill on November 19, 2018
Q: I’d like to invest in companies with excellent balance sheets, a clear catalyst for growth, and which are trading at a discount to their historic valuation. I’m hoping you can provide a list of stocks, both domestic & foreign, that meet these criteria. Are there any sectors or countries with an abundance of such companies right now? If so, please suggest some appropriate ETFs. Thanks very much.
Read Answer Asked by Brian on November 16, 2018
Q: Is there a way to trade Samsung on the New York stock exchange or an etf with a heavy Samsung weighing.

The new Samsung S9 is superior in every way over the iPhone and has the potential to disrupt apples dominance of the smart phone market.
Read Answer Asked by Thomas on November 16, 2018
Q: A large part of my US holdings is SPY which I like for its broad market exposure and liquidity. While SPY is in my non-registered account, in my registered account I hold HDV for the higher dividend and to shield the dividend from withholding taxes. Does this strategy make sense? I ask because I am trying to reduce my total number of holdings and would like to consolidate wherever there is any overlap. Right now my annual tax rate is close to $0 and I won’t really be needing to draw any dividend income for at least another 5-10 years. Does consolidating these two into one make sense and if so which would you prefer?
Read Answer Asked by Steven on November 15, 2018
Q: Hi 5i,
I'm sorry but maybe I wasn't clear in the previous question. What weighting would you give the recommended ETFs QQQ, HXS or VOO, IPAY and IWO? I'm looking long term (10+ years), growth and medium to high risk. This will be my only holdings in the US.

Thanks as always.
Read Answer Asked by K on November 14, 2018