Investment Q&A

Q: I am interested in parking funds in this product. Would you endorse it. Is the settlement to buy or sell on the third day. With market sell could I lose more than 1 cent on the spread.
Thank-you
Best Regards
Harold

Q: Hi All !!! I enjoyed the various presenters at the money show on Saturday. I miss Ellen's presentation. Will it be available at a later date? Now to my question. What would you consider a better long term hold in US$ ,...QQQ or IWM? Or a combo of both? Which is the better value at present? Thank you , Tamara

Q: Hello Peter,
I forgot to add the question to my previous one on XLF. ON friday September 16, the ETF was trading in the $23 range. Today, Sept 19th it is trading in the $19 range due to the reasons cite above. Does this mean investors who bought it on Friday will get a special dividend to offset the decline in share price today (I am assuming the decline is approximately the same as the dividend). Please advise. ON another note, do you feel concordia healthcare is very cheap now given the recent decline or is it too risky. Thanks again.

Q: Hello Peter,
I was not able to find the symbol XLF (the US financial sector ETF) on your site so am hoping you can assist. The ETF contains Brk.B, BAC, etc Today, the index fell more than 15% and the news appears to be related to the following:
"Effective on the date of index reconstitution, the Financial Select Sector Index will include securities of companies from the following industries: diversified financial services, insurance, banks, capital markets, consumer finance, thrifts and mortgage finance, and mortgage real estate investment trusts (REITs). The Real Estate Select Sector Index includes real estate management, development and REITs, with the exception of mortgage REITs". If this is true, I am assuming the company that creates the ETF wants to make it more diversified. If so, why would the index fall so much? Is it because investors wanted a concentrated ETF as opposed to the diversified one. From my understanding the XLF before today is similar to the XFN for Cdn Banks and insurance. Thanks very much.

Q: Peter, I also noticed that my XLF has dropped over 17% today, with heavy trading. I verified this with Scotia Itrade. Can you tell me the reason for the drop?

Q: Do you see lithium and solar as "theme" stories that still have legs and a high probability of becoming very profitable investments?
Would you provide 2-3 names that for each sector that appear to be the "best of breed".

Thanks.

Q: What do you think of investing in the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrat index, instead of (or in addition to) the S&P 500 index?

According to this web site (http://www.simplysafedividends.com/dividend-aristocrats/) that index has outperformed the S&P 500 index quite nicely over the last 5 year and 10 year period.

So far I have found only one ETF that tracks the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrat Index. It is NOBL (Prdhares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index) and has a MER of 0.58%. Do you know of any other ETFs that track this dividend aristocrat index, and if so, which ETF would you recommend?

Paul

Q: What utility etf paying a dividend would you suggest for a long term hold

Q: Hello 5i
Could you please give me your take on whether to add Zre at this time or wait until the interest rate decision is made by the FED?
Thanks,
Rick

Q: Good day 5i team, question relates to Healthcare infrastructure within the hospital type environment. In talking to professionals working in primary healthcare (medical/surgical, palliative etc) I get the impression there is a strong need to re design and upgrade aging equipment (beds, monitoring equipment etc). Also, and this is already happening, software upgrades to record charting, patient file keeping etc. Do you have any mid/large cap TSX listed companies or ETF'S operating in this space that you would recommend for a registered/diversified portfolio
Thank you

Q: In my RRSP, 28% of my portfolio is in U.S. stocks. I am getting concerned about the US election, and what it might do to the markets, in the short term, as well as the overall U.S. economy in 2017/18. With the Cdn dollar being down around $.76, would it be advisable to take that down closer to 15%, instead of the 28%, for a while?
Also, I presently have 25% in cash, and want to put half of that into something low risk,but better return than cash, for up to 2 years. Would ETFs with a stable history, be a good place to put the cash,and if so, can you recommend a couple? Or another idea, instead of ETFs...
The remaining 47% of the portfolio is in the Cdn market, and some Emerging Market ETFs.
Thank you
Grant

Q: This is a response to the question posted by Donald on CBO. Be careful with CBO. My experience over the last 14 months has been that the monthly distribution has been completely offset by a reduction in unit price so my total return has been 0.2%. Far different than their posted yields and returns. The HY acct paying 1.5% might not look so bad now.....

Q: Good Morning: I would appreciate your advice in the following situation. I currently hold roughly 15% of my portfolio in a Hi-Yld savings acct. paying 1.5%. The benefit of course is total flexibility in case of a market correction where I see opportunities. The down side is the relatively low return on assets. I have been thinking about transferring some portion of those monies to CBO (or an equivalent if you know of a better option.) However, when I look at the fact sheet for CBO I see the following data: Weighted average yield to maturity is 1.72%; distribution yield is 2.84%, and the trailing 12 month yield is 3.23%. To my relatively novice eyes (esp. in regard to bonds and bond etfs) it doesn't seem that I would be getting that much of a premium, and I would be giving up some flexibility and there is always the risk of a continued decline in the share price (even though it is near its recent lows) thus erasing any gain in yield. There are a lot of issues here that I'm finding it hard to balance out and would appreciate any insight or suggestions you have to offer. Sorry for the length of the question. Don

Q: Hi,

I'm looking for an RRSP investment for my wife. What we have right now is a TD US INDEX fund. Chose this one because it has low MER and tracks the S&P 500. Can you give us other index funds that you can recommend be it US or Canadian with good performance?

Thanks,

Sunday

Q: Very useful. Do you have a suggestion for a ETF that uses both filters ( buyback and increased dividend ) to sort companys.
Great work.

Q: Hello 5i: Can you provide me with two Canadian ETFs equivalent to VIG and IWO.
I believe the foreign exchange rate + 15% withholding tax (clipped at source) + CAD dollar uptrend (It could happen), are sufficient reasons not to go US-bound
Thanks

Q: I am holding TIP in the US as inflation protection, however I am having doubts regarding this strategy. For real return type bond ETFs, an increase in the relevant CPI increases income, yet rising inflation will be met with rising interest rates on nominal bonds that will drive the price of inflation-protected bonds down as well, negating the benefit of the increased income on a total return basis. It would seem to me that real return bonds are only protection from a central bank that has lost control over inflation; orderly inflation not so much. Is this an accurate assessment?

Q: Good Morning: A two part question about CBO. First, what is the difference between CBO and CBO.A, and is one preferable to the other for retail investors? Second, and more importantly, I notice that the stated yield (on my BMO Investorline fact sheet) for CBO is currently 3.3%. In your opinion, would an increase in interest rates in the US be likely to affect this rate in a significantly negative fashion?

Q: During the next 12 months I think the $us will appreciate against $cad because of the pending US rate hike and oil will be depressed a while longer. Do you agree with this thesis and if so I want to play this using ZLU. I don't have any $us, so to avoid currency conversion fees I chose ZLU. My concern with ZLU is 50% of the etf is in staples and utilities. I think these two sectors may not exhibit low volatility over the next year with the pending rate hike, high p/e's and possible fund flows to other sectors. Are my concerns justified and if so can you suggest an alternative play to capitalize on a weak $cad. Thank you.

Q: The above 5 etfs are core holdings with VXC and XHY at 15% each and the others at 10% each. The balance of my portfolio is made up of a diversified set of individual stocks (Canadian companies). I am considering exchanging XIN with ZWE to still have European exposure but with a better yield or should I keep XIN and just add ZWE to my core holdings? As always, thanks for the advice.