Investment Q&A

Q: I noticed you recommended VT instead of EDG100. On morningstar I see VT has a 10 year annualized return of 11.93% and EDG100 has a 10 year annualized return of 15.09% net of fees. I understand VT has lower fees, but why make this substitution when EDG100 is outperforming so dramatically net net of fees? Am I missing something? Also, it seems like EDG100 does much better on the downside.

Q: Hi,

Can I get your opinion on SBIO? It's been treating me pretty well.

Thanks

Q: I hold aa good amount of your income portfolio and about 50% of the balanced portfolio. But my u.s. exposure is only 12%. Would it be a good idea to use xei for Canadian dividend exposure as I require about 4.5% to live on in my outside accounts and sell down some of the balanced fund and invest in vun to bring my exposure higher. Also, what percentage of my total portfolio would you suggest in u.s.exposure...Thanks for the great service...Gene

Q: I’m wondering if you have an alternative etf to this one since you suggest that covered calls can limit upside in the materials sector? Thanks, Don

Q: I was comparing performance of these 2 ETFs and I was expecting correlated graphs.
After all, they track the same index. On 10 years the difference is huge.
All I could find is HXT prospectus talks about Total Return, while XIU doesn't use this phrase.

Q: For international exposure, would you endorse holding a combination of VXUS and VEE? If so, in what proportion should each be held?

Q: Quick question
For US. ETF exposure.....
would you chose ishares XUS or
DGRO
Thank you for all your help
Michael

Q: Would you know if MDIV (a US etf) qualifies as a holding in a Canadian RRIF?

Q: ASEAN etf

Hi !
Can you identify an interesting ETF capitalizing on the growth of the countries forming part of this Association ?
Grateful for your help.
Jacques

Q: Portfolio Analytics:
1) The suggested portfolio recommends 3 US ETF's, can you recommend alternates that are traded on the TSX. They are RYT, VOX and XLY.
2) Will the system at some point suggest individual stocks instead of ETF's
Great service so far.

Q: Further to your reply to Andrew, it would seem that the continued distribution is reliant on the volatility of its marijuana stock holdings, and particularly the market’s opinion of the overvaluation of the holdings.

I would assume that the unit value is similarly based on that assumption. That is to say that this fund’s purpose and value is as a shorter.

Is this a reasonable analysis? Why would I want to invest here and pay the 0.75% fee, as opposed to shorting the holdings directly?

Q: Do you think CDZ and XTR etf's would compliment each other, or is there too much overlap, thanks?

Q: Thank you for your answer regarding the Can $ interest payment of ZAG. I would appreciate it if you could also please respond to the last part of my question, re XBB or ZAG purchase decision. (which I am copying below). The amount of purchase being suggested by the Portfolio Analytics is a significant (to me) value of $240,000, so I would like to get it right.
"Are there other pros/cons I should be considering ? Also, any thoughts on purchase timing of these bond etfs - or would you recommend a gradual entry over the next 6 months or so?

Q: Please comment on the above ETFs for gaining exposure to Africa, and more generally, whether you believe an investment in Africa is a good idea at this time.

Q: Consider the following ETF portfolio and associated weightings:
ZSP 20%, ZWH 5%, ZDV, 5%, SDIV 5%, BOTZ 5%, XT 5%, DGRC 20%, ZRE 5%, ZDH 5%, VEE 5%, VAB 10%, XSB 10%, TCSB 5%

The question has to do with SDIV. Given poor performance of SDIV, I am contemplating switching SDIV to PSI (Invesco Dynamic Semiconductors ETF); would 5i support this move? Or would you rather I add to one of my existing ETF positions, or can you recommend another ETF altogether?

Thank you.

Q: Your Portfolio Analytics recommendations was a good reminder that I really should increase the Fixed Income component in our RIFS by a fair amount. There were 3 categories each with two suggestions: 1) "Regular" Fixed Income 2) Fixed Income Defensive Diversifier 3) Fixed Income Aggressive Diversifier. In the 1st category - what I call "Regular fixed income, Two suggestions were given : ZAG and XBB. I was going to select ZAG as it has a better yield (3.86 vs 2.83 %) and a lower MER (.10 vs .19), however, I also notice that the distribution for ZAG is paid in US $. We do not have a significant need for US $ and do not have an active US account . Will the cost of conversion from US to Canadian $'s offset the better yield offered by ZAG ? Are there other pros/cons I should be considering ? Also, any thoughts on purchase timing of these bond etfs - or would you recommend a gradual entry over the next 6 months or so?
Many thanks as always.

Q: Can you tell me what am I missing what is the point in investing in Preferred’s his has lost 40% of its value since 2007 the chart looks horrible If you could time the market you could do better. You could be better off with just blue stocks and bonds.

Q: When looking at an ETF, sometimes I see, in addition to Management Fee and Management Expense Ratio (MER), Trading Expense Ratio (TER). I believe the TER reflects costs of maintaining the current holdings of the ETF in-line with what the ETF is trying to accomplish, and can be quite high when there is significant portfolio turnover. Is the TER included in the MER, or should one add the MER and TER together to arrive at the true cost of holding the ETF? I had always thought that the MER was the 'all-inclusive' cost, but I hear/read very little about an ETF's TER (and often, this is hard to find). Thanks.

Q: Hello
I just sold my mutual fund edgepoint and I want to replace it with a another global fund or ETF or closed fund like cymbria. I find the management fees to high for an investor in td webbroker. They dont have a serie D. Can you suggest me a similar investment better return or similar with lower risk or similar but with lower management fees. Its could be in US dollar or canadian $
Thank you

Q: Hi there, I like the risk profile of the names that you tend to select in the Balanced Equity Portfolio, however I am looking to build a growthier version that is concentrated in fewer names. Which 7 names would you remove to produce a portfolio with more torque?

Also, I am looking to layer on some US exposure at about a 25% weighting of my portfolio. I was thinking either going all HXQ, 50/50 HXQ/CYBR or 50/50 HXQ/VFV. Which do you think would be the best mix?

Thanks!