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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: Hi,

I am holding RBC Life Science and Tech mutual fund (RBF1030)which is a nice mix of U.S. technology and health care stocks.
What would be a good ETF to replace it or, alternatively, which stocks combination would replace it advantageously ?

Thanks again for your exceptional service,

Jacques
Read Answer Asked by Jacques on November 23, 2016
Q: Hi Peter and Team,

I'm in the process of doing a sector analysis in all our family accounts to determine overweight and underweight sectors. I see that we are very underweight in US stocks and healthcare. In my wife's RRSP, she owns ZLB which I'm planning to sell, as its return has seemed to stall lately when compared to other Canadian ETFs such as CDZ and VDY, realizing that they're all different 'animals'. A more appropriate sector balance would occur with CLU.C or CLU, with the added caveat that these two ETFs are available commission-free from iTrade. Should I choose CLU.C or CLU to round out our US exposure, and what ETF product do you recommend for healthcare? As always, thanks in advance for your timely advice.
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on November 23, 2016
Q: Hello Peter, I am looking for income, safety and some growth, I will appreciate your suggestion, ranking, perhaps a better choice of yours. Many thanks, J. A. P. Burlington
Read Answer Asked by Joseph on November 23, 2016
Q: Given the speculation about upcoming US rate increases and the impact of the Nov.8 US election, I have lost significant valuation on ETFs and bonds across my portfolio.

Is there an expectation that these values could fall even more precipitously in future?

Is it truly wise to remain ‘in bonds’ at this time, even after losses so far?

Is there any hope these could improve in future or is the long term prospect dismal?
Read Answer Asked by J Carl on November 23, 2016
Q: A comment for Dave who was asking about "playing the vix." HVI is a Canadian un-leveraged inverse VIX ETF that is "safer" than going long the VIX. HVU and HUV are, in my limited experience, good vehicles for losing money. With an inverse VIX product like HVI (or XIV in the US) it tends to benefit, not decay from the contango. Strategy in a nutshell is to buy when the market is tanking (VIX > 20) and hold as the VIX declines, which could be over a period of weeks or months. It's still a risky trading strategy, but less so than long VIX products, especially the leveraged long VIX products like HVU.
Read Answer Asked by David on November 22, 2016
Q: A recent article by Larry Bermann in the Globe suggested that infrastructure spending to " repair potholes and bridges" would produce limited economic benefit because of the short term nature
of this spending.Money would be better spent on educating people
to adapt to the future realities of employment.In the interim
he has suggested allocating funds to ZWU as a an income source.
Another columnist suggests avoiding ZWU and sticking with ZUT
because of better long term growth.
What is your opinion of impending infrastructure spending and should ZWU be considered over ZUT? Thanks, Joe
Read Answer Asked by Joseph on November 22, 2016
Q: Hi, the US portion of my portfolio is composed of about 15 stocks, mostly dividend paying. Because the dollar is fairly high, I am reluctant to buy US stocks at the present time. Therefore, I am looking to add to my US exposure through a dividend paying ETF. I think ZUD (which is hedged to CAN dollar) is a good choice (do you agree?), but I was wondering whether you would have other suggestions for an ETF or even a mutual fund that would pay a dividend. Thanks again for your service.
Read Answer Asked by Bernard on November 21, 2016
Q: Hi Team, In my RRSP, I'm Currently holding 30% weight in U.S.market with 20% in VUN (Vanguard Total U.S. Market ETF.) and 10% ZDY (BMO U.S. Dividend ETF) given the potential of rising rates, would I need to get rid of ZDY which has performed well and replace it with VGG.Is there something else you would recommend. Thanks-you! Sam
Read Answer Asked by sam on November 21, 2016
Q: Hi,
Ive own a few etfs (vgg and vfv). I have some other individual stocks as well, but the majority of my portfolio is in the etfs looking for long term growth. I have been thinking about adding emerging markets but am having a hard time rationalizing it. I saw that a few days ago you recommended VEE. Can you explain the value of this etf, or is there a better way to get some emerging markets exposure? VEE opened at 24.65 4 years ago and has been up and down a little, but is only at 28.84 today. Is 4 years not thinking long enough for this? Im just having a hard time seeing the value of adding it to my account since VFV has doubled and VFV is up 65% in less time.

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by david on November 18, 2016
Q: I wanted a quick opinion on the nature of these two ETF's, does ZPR hedge ZRE with interest rates? What I mean is that if interest rates rise ZPR should rise and ZRE should decline and vice versa? Looking long term the interest rate effect will balance out with growth of the companies within ZRE and ZPR should be higher with higher payouts as the preferreds reset?
Read Answer Asked by Nino on November 18, 2016
Q: Hi Peter and Team

What Canadian listed ETF would you recommend today for US market exposure for the TFSA of a thirty year old with a long term time horizon? Would your answer be any different if it was for an RRSP where the 15% US withholding tax was not an issue? There seem to be hedged and nonhedged versions of all of them so would you recommend a hedged version now with the USD so strong?

Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Mary on November 18, 2016
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