Investment Q&A

Q: Good morning,

Could you please offer your comments on this ETF and what appears to be its relative under performance. Is this an out of favour investment style that should be bought or an etf to be eliminated?

thanks
Brad

Q: Your thoughts on a portfolio in a non registered account consisting simply of these 3 etf's (ZRE,ZPR,ZDV) to hold forever. Dividends received put into VIG.US, I'm 45 years old, I have no mortgage and no debts looking to borrow and bring my accounts to 100k for each of these 3 etf's totalling 300k, in retirement will use only dividends. (This would act as my deferred annuity but I get to keep my money) is my thinking clear?

Q: I have no REITS in my portfolio and since I do my own taxes I like to keep things simple and did read that it better to hold REITS in an RRSP account if you don't want to be bother with return on capital, etc. I am wondering if I have no room in my RRSP would it be okay to put in my TFSA? I am looking at ZRE and XRE which one you prefer and CSH.UN or is just one index fund good enough.

Thanks
Dolores

Q: Should I be concerned about the low liquidity and small size of VE?

Q: Hello.
Thanks for the ongoing investing commentary.
Given the results I have experienced with a few individual investments over the past 8 months, it is clear I either do not have time to keep up with small cap growth stocks' activity, do not know how to make buy sell decisions, do not have the stomach for the ride or just completely outside my sphere of investor ability. In reviewing my experience with buy sell of Phm, I was up 8000 and ended up selling at loss of 6000. Ad recently up 7000 and end d up selling for 3000 loss. Painfully sitting on a 35,000 loss in Cxr.....largest loss ever in 16 years of direct investing. Can not make money this way. Clearly I should be handing over small company decision making to someone else.

The question.......what Canadian and USA mutual fund or strategy would you have me consider to help capture some of the growth available through small company / special opportunities investing ........ Without being directly involved with the buy sell decision?

I am okay with long term but long term with current results will land me in the poor house.

Appreciate your thoughts on this topic.
Dave

I already own Mawer global small and global mutual funds but they are not invested like 5i portfolio

Q: I've recently moved some RRSP money from a mutual fund company to my own brokerage accounts. My cash accounts and TFSA are in 5i type portfolios but I'm wondering about putting the RRSP money into somewhat "safer" and more diversified areas. I've looked at the Canadian couch potato's model etf portfolios as well as the canadian money saver portfolios. I'm wondering if you could recommend any "ethical" international elf's. I think XEN would fit the bill in Canada. Thanks for your suggestions.

Q: I have just recieved some new money to invest and woukd like to increase my expsosure outside Canada. Im thinking of a US index fund. Can you please tell me the difference between VUN/VUS, HXS and SPY? Which one is better? Do you think this is a good time to invest in the S&P with it at all time highs?
As always your advice is greatly appreciated.
Nancy

Q: Hi !! It is me again. Would you consider it be time to invest in preferred shares again? If you would you recommend straight preferreds or floating rate? Could you also recommend some? Cheers, Tamara

Q: Any comments on if this ETF as a safe place to park money in an income investment that won't get hammered by interest rate hikes in future, and is not locked in like a GIC (i.e. so it can be turned back into cash readily ... e.g. in case a major sell off in markets presented a buying opportunity).

- pays about 2%
- looking at all historical prices, it seems to preserve the capital nicely -- worst dips were only down 2% and came back up shortly thereafter.
- based on floating rate securities so to me, a rise in interest rates would not be negative for this ETF

Q: I am looking for a higher paying dividend ETF for income that isn't too high on financials as I also own some individual stocks. Can you please give me your analysis and opinion on ZDV vs XEI on growth, risk, stablity.
Thanks

Q: I am looking for exposure to U S Technology. Is IGM a suitable vehicle or are there others you would prefer? Thanks again.

Q: I move in and out of gold depending on my fear level and currently have no exposure. Trump is managing to change my perception, however, and am currently looking for ideas. GLDI seems to have a screaming nice yield, but share depreciation has eaten away any gains over the past year. What would need to happen to the gold price to reverse this trend. Any thoughts or other ideas (excluding GLD and XGD).
Thanks in advance

Q: 5-I team
What recommendations do you have regarding investing in the agricultural sector? This can be in the form of any individual stocks I could do research on, ETFs or any other type of vehicle you could recommend for a conservative investor who wants diversification. This could be in Canada, the USA or elsewhere.

Many thanks

Paul

Q: Can you suggest an investment vehicle(s) (eg. ETFs) that invest in U.S. dividend paying stocks and will pay out a Canadian eligible dividend? Is this type of investment available?

Q: Hi team, I'm just starting up my portfolio, and am looking for exposure in the Mining & Metals industry. As my account is still small, I'm trying to avoid transaction fees. Can you suggest one or two ETF's that target this industry, which you like for a 3-5 year hold. While I'm looking for growth potential, a decent dividend never hurt!

Q: Any advice on a good Israeli etf. Taxable or non taxable account.
Thank you

Q: Hi Guys,

I believe that know of Eddy Elfenbein (from the U.S.), what do you think about his new ETF CWS?

thanks,

Jim

Q: Hi I've done well this year: up almost 17% year to date. Thanks to mostly your BE stocks. I'm thinking maybe I should hedge my portfolio somewhat to protect the gains. What do you think of the us etf HDGE. It doesn't seem to have the difficulties of other bear etfs with their daily decay rate.
Or would you just ride the portfolio through the inevitable cycles of downs and ups?

Q: Good morning,

I recall that the yield on "VE" was over 4% several months ago and is now showing as just under 2%. The distributions seem to change quarterly? Hoping you can shed some light on the proper way to understand the yield on this etf.

Many thanks,
Brad

Q: I invested in a 'Global Small Cap' fund about 18 years ago. Incredibly, my return AFTER 18 YEARS is NEGATIVE 16%! (I guess this is lesson in the effects of both high mutual fund MERs and picking a lousy fund company!) Can you please suggest an ETF that would be good for the 'global small cap' space. Or another 'small cap' ETF or strategy, if you don't think a global small cap ETF is the way to go. Thank you!!