Investment Q&A

Q: Our advisor has recommended that we sell some of our equities and purchase more fixed income funds. His recommendations are Manulife Strategic Income F (CAD); TD Retirement Balanced Portfolio F Series; Fiera Defensive Capital Global Equtiy Fund and Lysander-Canso Corporate Value Bond Fund. We are already invested in Pimco Monthly Income Fund (PMO 205), DFA Five-Year Global Equity and CBO. We are leaning in favour of investments we already own as well as XSB, XBB and CLF. We are looking for Canadian, US and International diversification. What would you recommend?

Q: Hello 5i team,

Which ETF is best suited for a long term hold (30 yrs) in a TFSA that will be DRIPPED and contributed to annually. I like the equal weight positions of ZRE but with a higher MER of .61% over the long term it seems the fee's could really start corroding my capital. VRE is the cheapest but also has the smallest yield and is market cap weighted. Is it possible BMO could lower these fee's in the future to stay competitive? I would eventually like to draw income from the holding.

Always appreciate the you insights

Q: I read the blog on U.S. dividend aristocrats but unless I missed something there was no specific ticker or recommendation made. Does 5i have suggestion for an etf to take advantage of this strategy?

Q: Peter and Team,

My total portfolio is approximately 5% Gold Bullion, 9% Short term bonds (Brookfield Infrastructure 5 year and CBO), 86% Equity. The equity exposure is currently 7.5% in US Stocks (JNJ, SBUX, XYL, V) and 78.5% Balanced Equity Model Portfolio.

I was thinking that I am missing international exposure and am thinking that I should be adding some sort of ETF for this. I originally was thinking of building a portfolio including Nestle but I think that the weighting will be too small to build individual positions.

Can you please provide your ideas for ETFs that would provide international diversification given my current holdings and, if possible, any weighting I should be aiming for in terms of international position? I would describe myself as very much in line with the risk profile of the Balanced Equity portfolio.

Thanks!

Q: I am attempting to enter some Vanguard U.S. $ ETFs into my watchlist. It will take VGG , but not VOO, or VTWO or IWR or VIG.

Any thoughts

Thank you

Paul

Q: Hello Peter, I have some US cash to invest in an RRSP. Can you please suggest four US 'growthy but somewhat conservative' stocks for a long-term (10+ years) hold. There is no need for current income. Also, I know you've suggested IWO as a US growth ETF. Would you be inclined to favour that for an investment now, or do you think that, with current near-highs and the upcoming election, it makes sense to wait until closer to year-end. Thank you for the terrific service!

Q: Good afternoon,
You recently responded to a question concerning put write etfs. My understanding is that such an etf may perform poorly in a bear market. Is there an etf trading in Canada employing an option strategy that would benefit from a bear market, apart from the highly leveraged short term products?
Thank you for your advice.

Q: what is your current opinion on this etf and its relative position in your portfolio ?

Q: Some time ago I asked about this fund TRIMARK GLOBAL ENDEAVOUR FUND. and you mentioned the MER is quite high.If I am thinking of selling this fund and would like to know what stocks or ETF would you replace this fund with?

Thanks
D

Q: Why are the put write index etfs so far under the radar? In Canada there is only ZPW which has a market cap of 110 million, and in the U.S. there is only HVPW with a market cap of 38 million. There is also ZPW.U which accepts only U.S. funds but it's extremely small at 5 million. The dividends on these etfs are over 7% and they don't seem any more unsafe than a covered call etf, though it is clear that the share prices could deteriorate as much as any etf under certain market conditions.

Q: Hi Peter and team, If interest rates go up in US but down in Canada what is the likely impact on CPD. Also, in a broad market selloff of greater than 10% how strong is the correlation of CPD to the overall market. Thanks

Q: I owned COS from the IPO and was always happy with the yield. Now, of course, I own Suncor and am not happy with the yield. I am thinking of selling SU and buying a preferred share ETF, either ZPR or CPD or perhaps both, for the yield. What do you think? I am retired and living off dividend income.

Q: would like to add a U.S. gold stock or etf to my portfolio...
would appreciate your thoughts!

Q: What do you think of taking a position for a 5 yr hold in either of these? If you would take a position, which would you choose?

Thx, Carl

Q: I am supposed to increase my fixed income exposure via one or more ETFs. I see you usually recommend CBO, but what about VSC. VSC seems to be a better performer over the last 1, 3 and 5 year periods. Which is better in your opinion and why?

I have about $21K in cash in an RRSP to invest in fixed income products. Should I buy two or 3 ETFs, or all in CBO or VSC is sufficient?

Should I buy now, or wait until after the US election, or even after FED meeting in December to see if they increase interest rates? Does it really matter at this time?

p.s. I have been invested in over 90% equities for the last 25 years (now 53 years old) so I am struggling to get myself to buy fixed income products. I am reluctantly buying fixed income products only because I know I am supposed to have better asset allocation and not be so heavily equity focused, but today the returns are so small I wonder if I would just be better off buying stocks like BCE, T, SLF, FTS, IPL, PPL that pay around 4% dividend.

Q: Good Morning: I want to realize some capital losses on the above energy positions (and others) but do not want to lose exposure to the energy asset class in case of a sudden move upwards (even though I don't expect that in the short term.) So, my plan is to sell all or parts of my losers and buy something else that will give me the same effective exposure. My question is as follows: First, what four stocks in the Cdn. energy sector would you recommend for a purchase at this time; and second, would an etf like XEG be an effective alternative for all or part of this strategy. I may even buy back some of the positions I am currently selling after the 30 day wait period has passed. As always, many thanks. Don

Q: If you were asked to create a Canadian dividend Aristocrat ETF what holdings would you include? Would you equal weight the holdings? Would you diversify it across sectors? How would you base your selections against payout ratios or higher dividend payers? How often would you review the selections and how many names would you hold. Why might you want to do this type of ETF over another example such as growth, small cap index, value , GARP, etc.? Also please compare your Model portfolio to such an ETF. What makes the model portfolio different from this approach? Sorry for the longer question. To sum it up I am hoping to get a feeling of your strategies from the answer. Thank You Jeremy

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

In today's Financial Post, there's an interesting article called "Betting on the U.S. election via the ‘Trump ETF’"

If one wanted to "bet" on a Hillary victory, would a small purchase of EWW be a wise move? Any hesitation I have is due to currency risk, but I am unsure.

Thanks for any advice.

Q: I have no exposure to the oil and gas sector. I am thinking of going 3% to 5% and would like your opinion on whether now is a reasonable time to re-enter this market. If so, would looking at the U.S. market be better than the Canadian Mkt. Any suggested companies or ETF's would be appreciated.

Cheers, Bob

Q: I have these prefs in my rrsp,they are down a lot,paying between 5.5 and 6.4%,would I be better off holding them and hope they recover or selling them and buying etfs such as cdp,zdv or cdz.Any suggestion you guys have would be greatly appreciated.