Investment Q&A

Q: I've recently sold partial positions of NA companies and am interested in shifting some funds to the EU, specifically the industrial/defense sector. Would you please comment on the above symbols and any other suggestions. And please...everyone...buy Canadian.

Q: Peter; Yesterday you mentioned a European ETF( VE) . Can you tell me how much of it is invested in Germany -and is there a German ETF that covers their main big cap companies?
Thanks,
Rod

Q: Hi, I enquired earlier about the double whammy of withholding taxes on some Chinese etf like FXI. Are there any CHINA broad etfs that don't have to pay this double tax?

If not, are there any other options? Are there CDN etfs that dont pay the double tax?

Q: A follow up to my recent question on buffer ETFs. You referred me to the CIBC website on CDRs. I am sure this was not your intended answer. Thank you

Q: I am holding some cash on the sides. I was wondering if there was a way to put some of it into an ETF, perhaps a money market fund that holds foreign (non US) currency. Either a basket of stable currencies or something like the Euro or Swiss Franc. The idea is risk avoidance against a sudden sharp drop in the CDN dollar (and perhaps US$ too) given the current situation. I already hold several ETFs that hold Euro stocks but would like lower risk.

Q: Could you please tell me your top suggestions for low cost diversified index funds in non US markets?

Q: I just became aware of buffer etfs that absorb losses up to a stipulated % by capping the future gains. Would you please expand upon my opening comment and suggest some CAD etfs to pursue this strategy. Could you also compare the buffer etf to a low volatility etf. Thank you

Q: I sold some equity positions to the tune of 100K and would like to put that into fixed income.The cash accounts don't pay enough interest and some of the high ones may not be safe. Could you recommend some relatively safe higher income funds either cad or usd. Thanks.

Q: Would you recommend this ETF for a balanced portfolio given the volatile market? It hasn’t been around for very long.

Q: With Central Banks buying a lot of gold I am surprised a company like this has declined so much over the past. Is it because of its abandoning of a growth model? Will it take an increased interest in buying / storing by individual investors to elevate the stock price? I am assuming most of their profits are from recurring fees (?)

Finally, in the past I was a customer of GoldMoney Inc. With "mounting concerns" coming from south of the border, I am considering reopening an account with a much larger gold purchase and storage outside our country than before. What is your trust level in this company, and do you have any concerns about doing this with a large planned bullion position?

Q: I am looking to add some income etfs that are looking attractive in this downturn to my RRSP. I'm looking for combined growth of 8-10% year over year for 10 years for this segment of my portfolio. Do you see either of the above as attractive in this way, or can you suggest something else? I could go to Cdn, but have most of my cash in USD right now.

Q: Will you please suggest cdn$ and us$ ETFs (with good trading volume) for physical silver? Thank you

Q: Would you recommend VE as a way to diversify a mostly Canadian portfolio into Europe? Are there significant differences among Europe large cap ETFs and, if so, what would you recommend as an alternative or complement? Is now a good time to make this move?

Thanks in advance.

Q: Hi Peter,
In the covered call ETFs universe, there are ETFs that write options out of the money, and ETFs that write options at the money. Please explain what these two strategies mean. Is one strategy more risky than the other? For example, comparing ZWU with UMAX, yield of UMAX (at the money) is twice as much as ZWU (out of the money). What’s the catch here? With the current volatile market, would you favour one option strategy over the other? Thanks.

Q: I,m 81 so far i managed. pretty well thanks to your Income portfolio, I'm not a fat cat and rely on the income provided.The market tells me to be cautious the stocks I mention constitute 9% of my accounts,I'm willing to increase this percentage as protection to my income I don't expect obvious capital gain,How do you judge the approach,any suggested addition?

Thanks to the Team

Dan

Q: Hello ,
I was thinking of buying TD technology leaders etf (TEC) instead of XQQ , the nasdaq 100 etf as it has performed the nasdaq and seems to be more diversified. Any comments please?

Also, I looked at the details of VUN and XUU etfs, They both seem to have similar holdings and over 5 year period both have similar performance. However , going over more than 5 years, why has VUN out performed XUU. I am not clear on this..

Regardless of the tariffs situation, the US market seems to do well over time, and hence i thought instead of total Europe exposure, go with VEQT etf. Any comments please..

Also, do you prefer unhedged products like VUN as opposed to VUS? Lastly, i use yahoo to to compare charts. Do you know a better site please? Thanks very much

Q: With all of the chaos going on in the US, what are your thoughts on iShares EWZ going forward? If this is a possible position, what percentage of a portfolio would you be okay with?
Thanks, Lesley

Q: Hi,

I’m following up on recent questions about taxation of the ETF VEQT (and similar) in an RRSP.

I am a bit confused about what withholding taxes might apply to VEQT. I have three questions please.

1) Would you be so kind at to explain what withholding taxes apply to VEQT in an RRSP?

2) If there are non-recoverable withholding taxes on VEQT in an RRSP, can they be quantified?

3) Finally, if there are withholding taxes applicable to VEQT in an RRSP, is there an ETF setup with the same diversification objective as VEQT that is more tax efficient in an RRSP?

(I tried following this information but I’m still unclear: https://www.vanguard.ca/content/dam/intl/americas/canada/en/documents/WithholdingTax_Guide-final.pdf).

Thank you very much.

Michael

Q: Can you discuss the differences between dlr.i.ca, dlr.ca, hbil.ca , pas.ca , csav.ca in regards to safety of capital to park cash. There is a significant difference in return 4%-10%. Some are high interest savings accounts and others US dollar accounts. Are the US dollar accounts too risky?
Thanks.

Q: Is XIT worth holding? Or would one be better off just buying the top 3 holdings in equal weightings. For CDN tech, what would be the best buys today for the long term?