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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: 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
Q: Hi there, I am looking to own a broad market index canadian ETF and I am wondering what the best one to hold is between the companies I listen above (or if there is one that you would recommend that are different than these companies). I am holding this ETF inside a TFSA and I was hoping you could firstly, suggest a good index ETF to hold and for what reasons is is a good one. Thanks in Advanced! XIU,XIC,VCN ZCN
Read Answer Asked by Jadon on April 12, 2018
Q: I am looking at VGG as a way to use Canadian dollars to acquire a reasonable number (around 70 I believe) of dividend growing US large caps. Do you think this ETF makes sense for US exposure to dividend growers or would you prefer to invest using US dollars and select 5 or 6 dividend growers (any suggestions in that case). Lastly do you consider this a sensible investment strategy for part of a balanced portfolio at this time for a 3 year hold. I appreciate your input as always - Ken
Read Answer Asked by Ken on April 11, 2018
Q: Hello 5i team,
I was wondering if there is an ETF in canada that contains provincial bonds. I am guessing VAB may contain these as well as Canadian bonds.

Also what is the best website that would have breakdowns of what is in canadian ETFs?

Thank You,
Andrew
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on April 11, 2018
Q: Recently the Globe & Mail has an article discussing the merits of using a one-Balanced ETF strategy and recommended the following three ETFs: VBAL, CBD and HRA. What would you consider to be the best one? Also, when I reviewed the information on their respective websites, I can only find Management Fee info as opposed to MER info. Is it because they are all ETFs that are composed of various ETFs. So the ultimate MER of these balanced ETFs would be the sum of the quotes Management Fee plus the MER of the underlying ETFs?
Please deduct as many credits as you see fit.
Read Answer Asked by M on April 11, 2018
Q: To follow-up on Claire's comment, is there an reasoned/optimal % allocation to each FI ETF (i.e. evenly split)? I have: CBO 20%, CPD 12%, HFR 26%, XBB 17%, XHY 12%, LQD 13%. I consider HFR as low-risk cash-like holding.

Thank you again.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on April 11, 2018
Q: Dear sirs,

Looking for your opinion on the Manulife Strategic Income fund, and if you feel its a good complement to PIMCO Monthly Income?
Thank you,
Brad
Read Answer Asked by Brad on April 11, 2018
Q: I can emphasize with Paul in his question on fixed income guaranteed to fall. But,I was not too clear on your answer. You note that we should seek diversification and look over the long and not the short term, saying that the return for products such as xbb will show better if we look five years back. But, doesn't that just beg the question? We are looking five years out and we are thinking that things are not going to be like they were in the past. So, does this new reality not call for another strategy? I am aware that there aren't many alternative stratagies, other than holding more stocks. But, I don;t think looking to the past history helps us here.
thanks
Read Answer Asked by joseph on April 10, 2018
Q: Hi 5i. FI = Fixed Income

My (6) FI holdings with rough total returns (including MER & dividends) for period held (average ~ 1.5 years): CBO -1.3%, CPD +15.0%, HFR +1.7%, XBB -2.2%, XHY+5.5%, LQD -0.6%.

NOTE: LQD not selectable, so picked HYG for question above.

Question: I understand the reasoning behind having the above FI holdings in my portfolio, but holding CBO & XBB seems like a sure way to lose money. So why not move CBO & XBB holdings to HFR (and possibly also XHY) which at least returns me ~ +1.7% pretty reliably? Your opinion on my FI mix would also be appreciated.

Thank you for continued solid wise advice.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on April 10, 2018
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