Investment Q&A

Q: My brother has recently moved his retirement portfolio to CIBC. He’s unhappy with the 1-2.5% fees he’s paying in the CIBC only funds he’s been placed into. Thanks to continuing conversations I’ve had with him about the great advice I receive from 5i he’s interested in your suggestions for a retirement portfolio for a 58 year old who has no company pension. Capital preservation and appropriate diversification would be key (and lower fees, of course!) Given the limited info could you suggest funds that would be a solid basis for this situation. I’ll compare it to the portfolio analytics info, which I found to be absolutely invaluable for my own situation.

Q: Hello,
I need to increase my health care exposure and also diversify into the US .
What is your opinion on these two Etf’s, or would you recommend individual stocks and if so which ones.
Thank you

Q: Hi Peter & 5i staff,
I think my last question got lost in the shuffle, so here goes. My Son has a couple of accounts, an RRSP and a LIRA, each with $135 Thousand. Very little time to manage these accounts so I am doing it for him. Is it advisable to go with all in one ETF's like VGRO, XGRO or ZGRO as the funds are not required for at least 15 years. Any suggestions and advice would be much appreciated. Thanks as always. Ivan

Q: What is your opinion of this ETF

Q: With the recent announcement from Horizons on the release of an ETF that will be built based on exposure to the US marijuana/hemp industries (HMUS on the NEO exchange - trading to begin April 18th, 2019), which ETF would you prefer?

Would you consider the valuations of the Canadian MMJ companies to be more overvalued than the US co's, and if not, what would you believe to be an appropriate ratio if you recommend both ETFs to be held?

Q: Are dividends from USA ETF's held in a RRSP exempt from withholding tax just like USA stocks are? Thanks. Peter

Q: looking ahead the next 6 to 12 months and with safety of principal in mind, how would you rank these fixed income etf's? thanks.

Q: I have 30% of my money in diversified CDN equities and don't need the money for 20 years.
I am not interested in bonds or REITs. I was considering putting the other 70% in the following ETF's.
45% VFV
18% VUN
18% XQQ
11% XEF
8% VEE
This would put around 57% of the total money in the USA. I am fine with that.
The MER would be around 0.18% based on the blend. I know this breaks your rule of keeping less than 25% in one fund. It also places a lot of money in Vanguard - which has been around since 1975, but nothing is for sure. Wondering what you think of this set up and also maybe I could sub out VUN for XUU. This would make 53% Vanguard and 47% iShares. Trading VUN for XUU would lower the MER a little as VUN is 0.16% and XUU is 0.07%

Q: If I were converting into ETFs what sectors should I begin with as it may take some time? Thanks

Q: Hi. I can see that Dave has just asked my question about selling GUD given its current turmoil... so I won't ask that; however, even with keeping GUD I have too little exposure in the health care sector bc I sold JJ in January. Can you provide the names of any Canadian Health Care companies I could check out. Thanks,

Sue

Q: Hello,
Can you please recommend a Canadian dollar equivalent to the following ETF's: VOX, XLV, and RYT. Thank you.

Q: Hi there. In August I became nervous about managing the amount of money I had been and got an investment advisor from the Royal Bank. I then invested half of my savings into their mutual funds. A large chunk of it is in the RBC Select Balanced Portfolio. As this is a mutual fund there is a mer of 1.94%. So question # 1 is: is this a reasonable mer?
I have noticed now that this mutual fund invests in 10 other (mostly RBC) mutual funds. So my second question is: how does this work for the other mers? Who is paying these mers? Am I paying 1.94% plus other hidden fees for the mutual funds within the first mutual fund?

Thanks,
Sue

Q: Hi Guys:
Whether it is trucks, cars or trains it would seem that technology and demand would going in this direction. Is VGT an example of an ETF that would be in this type of investment & do you have any other example's that would be worth looking into, I'm asking for ETF's to diversify and spread the risk.
Best Regards,
Tom

Q: What is your favorite USA mid cap growth ETFs for a long term hold. Looking for something with little overlap between IWO and QQQ but same growth features. Thanks as always

Q: Are all the ETFs in the ETF model portfolios available on the TSX?

Q: Hello,
I've been trying to find a catastrophe bond etf available to Canadian investors but without success. Is there such a thing?

Thanks

Q: I own the ETF CGL.C and AEM and just wondering if I really need to own CGL.C.?Looking at the history of this ETF it has not done too much in return and wonder if it would be better to just sell CGL.C and put the proceed into AEM as my weight is not very high in AEM. Both are in a non -registered account. Your thoughts?
Thanks

Q: I have the Vanguard Balance ETF (VBAL) and I find that it is well balance and is performing well. Do you know if the same type of ETF exist for U.S. Balance ETF?
Thanks

Q: Good morning people. Can you tell me if this is a decent investment. Looking at in an unregistered account for a long term hold 5 plus years. Does it contain Square, PayPal, Shop, Visa. Or should I bypass same and start nibbling at the actual stocks?

Q: Hello
What do you think about PIMCO's BOND ETF? With the bond King no longer at the helm, has this damaged the support for fund. BOND

I have some USD cash and would like to buy something a bit safer than equities.
Thank you.
Stephane
Stephane