Investment Q&A

Q: I have a small position in XGD. Would this be your fav Canadian gold etf. Also, is there a precious metals ETF you could recommend?
Thanks GUY R.

Q: CPD has been slowly rising since hitting $11.13 on February 25 but it is still down 20% from its 52 week high of $15.33. What are your thoughts on this ETF?

Q: Hi 5i team,

I have a 3 month old son and have opened him up an RESP. Can I get your opinion on what 2-3 stocks you would invest in that provide decent income (in the form of a dividend), and are relatively safe knowing that he will need the money in 18 years. I was thinking of playing it more conservative, but I have been contemplating taking a shot at something with a good growth potential.

Thanks so much.

Q: In your perspective which would be the best India ETF to buy and or the best individual India stock to buy?

Thanks.

Q: WHICH GOLD BULLION ETF/S (CANADIAN, US) WD YOU RECOMMEND AND WHY?

Q: Can you please advise which ETF is better to hold when market sells off.
Below ETF has to be hold for one /two weeks or I can hold for long time. If below is not right one - Please recommend another ETF.

ETF: HVU OR HUV

Q: Hello, Many Real estate investment trusts(e.g. IVR)and related ETFs (e.g. REM) distribute ~10 to 12% dividend. This appears very good but may be a high risk investment. What is your opinion about IVR REIT and REM etf?. Which one is better? or may be none?

Thanks

Q: I have held a small position in MNT since 2010. It was suppose to be a little diversification and hopefully protection if the market currencies took a bad dive.

It has not performed well with gold going up. Could you advise why it may be lagging? Is it currency cross winds? Something else?

Keep up the great unbiased work.

Q: Happy Weekend!

Having just read CBC's article about electricity and with electric car sales growing, could you suggest the names of companies that provide transformers and other equipment to electricity providers? Are there any companies you would recommend that would benefit from the growth of the electric car industry? Thanks.

Q: Hi 5I- Have just received lump sum retiring allowance and now 30% cash. Present holdings are 18%GGF31222-10%VUN-7%XEF-7%ZGI-6%SLF-6%VXC-5%ZUH-4%IYT-3%XEH-3%ATD-2%DIS. Would like your suggestions for more etf exposure and would like to start adding slowly with the next downturn, but don't like to sit in cash to long. Would you trim healthcare or USA in general now? We are long term investors. Thanks for your help.

Q: I am an anti-gold bug. I always lose if I ever succumb to the wiles of the yellow metal.
However, i would like to have a single small position in one gold company just in case the gold bugs are right and we are going to hell in a handbasket.

I would like to hold one company which I could put there and forget about but it would follow the metal should it skyrocket. I am looking at the majors ---Barrick and Goldcorp. Which would be better or is there another company which would be better for my purposes?

Bryon in Elmira

Q: Gentlemen: I am thinking of this ETF since it is hedged to the US$ (I already have over 35% US$ exposure and am trying to reduce that to about 25%), and has a decent track record. Thoughts? Thanks so much- Ken

Q: What are your thoughts of using HUV as a hedge in a down looking market. How would you decide what percentage of portoflio to use and how long to keep it.
Thanks and happy Friday

Q: I am 30 years old and have built a sector diversified portfolio of around 25 names from the TSX worth approx 200k. I also have a pension invested conservatively in bonds/mutual funds worth approx 100k. I would like to invest all additional cash for the next few years in 3 or 4 ETF's to diversify out of Canada instead of adding to my Canadian portfolio. Do you see any major flaws in my theory? also could you suggest 2 or 3 ETF's to start out with. My thoughts were: VOO, VEA, and IJR. Thanks

Q: Can you recommend one or ETF's for US $ exposure in a balanced Portfolio.
Thank you

Q: Can I get your thoughts on this very new etf launched by purefunds? Has 36 stocks of companies involved in video games. Has a very small cap of 2.6m. The gaming industry is an evolving industry and judging by the price of video games constantly increasing in price that my kids have no problem in forking out the dough for, revenue should increase for the companies. More companies are getting involved in the online gaming such as Amazon buying twitch, Facebook launching Oculus Rift and China's gaming market is expected to double over the next 4 yrs. This etf would seem to be a winner. I know it is a very risky etf and probably have to hold for a few yrs but what do you think?

Q: Please provide your opinion on purchasing preferred ETF's at the present time, for a one year hold, and which of the following would you prefer and why?.... CPD (Canadian Preferreds), XPF (North American Preferreds), HPR (Actively Managed Preferreds), ZPR (Laddered Preferreds). These funds would be held in a non-registered, fully taxable account. Thanks!

Q: I am not sure if this topic was covered on previous questions, so I thought to bring it up for the benefits of other subscribers who may not know it. Doing my income tax this year I just noticed that my T3 for the XMU ETF contains a large amount of phantom taxable capital gain that was never giving in cash and therefore was never reinvested in new shares. Upon calling Blackrock they informed me that this amount should be added to the cost of the shares. My broker doesn't add this amount to book value, so I have to keep track of these amounts myself for when I sell. This is a quite different from the mutual funds reinvestment of distribution, which you reinvest an actual cash distribution and obviously it is added to book value. Likely there are many other situations like these so one have to be aware of them.

Q: A hold a small position in CBO. Last week in the Globe John Heinzl discussed CBO's return of capital as part of its distribution or yield. He stated that an investor holding CBO gets a fatter distribution now that will be partially offset by a capital loss such that the investor's net return will be approximately the yield-to-maturity of the bonds less the fund's expenses. I didn't realize that CBO returned capital and now I am wondering whether I should be holding this ETF or not. I hold little fixed income in my portfolio currently but receive a defined benefit pension. Would you care to comment on CBO? Is there another CDN bond ETF that you would recommend instead? Thanks for all you do!!

Q: Hi Team
I am well diversified and have about 17% in US Stocks. I have a bit of US cash and would like to purchase a non US unhedged (if you think best) ETF with a lowish MER. I will hold in my RRIF. Of course I would like growth and am not chasing dividends on this. I would hold for 2 to 5 years. VXUS or ????. Thanks guys for all you do.