Investment Q&A

Q: Hallo I5, is there a tax advantage between dfn, df and zwu, would you please rate or rank them from safety point of view. Perhaps suggesting a couple better ones. I do not have any India holding. Would you consider either of the above safe with reasonable MER, perhaps a suggesting a couple better ones. Many thanks, J.A.P. Burlington

Q: I would like to move to a portfolio with at least 30% exposure to the US. I already own VFV and VUN which comprise 10% of my portfolio. Rather than attempt to buy individual US stocks, it makes sense to me to continue to buy these very low cost ETFs, both of which provide significant diversification into the US. With VFV there is the added diversification bonus that almost 50% of the companies listed have business outside the US. I would appreciate your opinion of this strategy.

Q: If I wanted to hedge my U.S. currency going forward, would buying DLR.TO be a good way to do it?

Q: Hi 5i,

I'm looking for some help picking my next 2 or 3 stocks or ETF to add to the income portfolio listed above.I started building this portfolio 5 month ago hoping not to buy at the top. I'm trying to buy 1 or 2 positions every month to average in to the market.
Planned retirement date December 2018.

Thanks in advance.

Q: I plan on contributing $2500 a year for my daughters RESP. Since these are smaller amounts should I just be adding some ETF's? I currently have some TD and ENB as I feel these are good long term investments, but I don't know how much diversification the RESP should have. Would IWO,be a good add, or should I just add a new position every year, of a high quality dividend payer?

Thanks as always.

Q: Curious why you picked a medium term (5-10 year) US bond etf to recomend to me in the last question i asked. do you think this is preferable to short or long?

you also recommended GOVT. Were you thinking I should put half in each?

Q: In Jan 26 response you mentioned cash like ETFs with a similar yield to High Interest Savings Account for short term savings of cash. Could you name a few?

Q: My only exposure to equities outside of Canada is through the etf VUN. Would it be appropriate now to invest in emerging markets, Europe or world etf's? Could you please make some suggestions to compliment my Canadian and US holdings.
Thanks for your wonderful service.

Q: Hello 5i, I'm thinking of purchasing this for my RRSP account. Please can you inform me if there are any withholding taxes of any dividends paid.
Thank you.

Q: could you please suggest a ETf similar to ZWE FOR :

1. EMERGING markets
2. asia
3. india
thanks
yossi

Q: I am looking for a health care ETF. Right now I am looking at ZHU and XHC. One is global and one is US focused.
ZUH has a MER of 0.39 and a yield of 0.42.
While XHC has a MER of 0.65 but a yield of 1.49.Which I think cancels out the higher MER.

I am not sure which one is right for me or how to choose. Could I use growth potential? Does one have more growth potential than the other? Or what other factors could I use to help me decide?

Q: Greetings 5i,

Looking to further enhance geographical diversification in my overall portfolio. I have fairly balanced exposure to NA, about 8% Europe, but only 1% Asia so I am looking to bring up my exposure in that region. My question is regarding exposure to India specifically. I wish to dollar cost average into this geographical region therefore I have been looking for a mutual fund rather than an ETF due to cost prohibitive transaction fees of $9.99 with my institution. What are your thoughts on Excel India Series D fund (EXL770)? I have it as No load, Mer 1.75, Min $250 and subsequent $50. Im open to suggestions and or direction keeping in mind the dollar cost averaging is preferred to me over a big initial commitment to a geographical region like this.

Cheers!

Q: Peter; Is there a ETF or other option to buy the CAD ? Thanks. Rod

Q: Hello 5i
I hold the above 4 companies in a taxable account that are down approx. 25%. I would like to sell to take a tax loss against future capital gains, and repurchase after 30 days. What might you suggest deploying the funds into in the mean time to still keep the sector allocation?
Thank you
Les

Q: Ryan,
Can you please provide a couple choices of best in class ETFs that would give best exposure to Europe?
Thx

Q: Does it make sense to hold a dividend ETF when you do not require the income?
I will likely not require these funds for 10 years or more without the requirement for income. Does it make sense to focus on growth instead?
I am specifically looking at this ETF as its concentrated to holding only 40 companies.

Q: Which Emerging Markets ETF with growth and some dividend for a long term hold in TFSA and/or RESP account would you recommend? THX

Q: I am holding XEG in my RRSP, it's down 28% for me since I bought it. Paying just over 0.6% mer for a losing position. It is currently 4% of my holdings. Wanted to know if I should sell and buy 2-3 positions that pays a dividend and has some growth potential. I also hold ZDV(20% holding) and VIG(3.5% holding) so not sure if I should sell and add to ZDV, VIG, or add individual names. My only other energy name is HWO (small position 1.5%). I'm also open to USA securities and ETF's, your thoughts and recommendations will be appreciated.

Q: What would your suggestion(s) be if one wanted to have the safest portfolio possible which generated a 4%-5% return? Would the 5i income portfolio be considered the lowest risk, lowest volatility option to get the desired return?

Q: My average annual return based on 5i guidance is 13.3% over 8 years. Can't argue with that. Thank you.

Question: XWD, for example, is a global ETF which invests in 5000 companies around the planet, which has returned a very steady (almost a straight line) 13.09% since inception.

So why not sell my 40 stocks and simply buy a combination of:
- XWD (growth)
- CBO (fixed income + security)
- XGD (security)
and call it a day? This would have returned say 11% - 12%.
Pretty close...

Maybe this should be addressed on your ETF site, but I thought it was worth asking here.

As usual, thank you for your sound advice.