Investment Q&A

Q: During your BNN appearance you mentioned tech, industrials and consumer discretionary as the most promising US sectors.
Would you please name your preferred nonhedged ETFS for exposure to each of them?
Thanks.

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

An article in the Financial Post recommended the high-yield bond space. (http://business.financialpost.com/active-investor/high-yield-bonds-a-growing-opportunity)

Do you agree with this thesis, and if so, could you please recommend one or more ETF's?

Thanks as always for the valuable advice.

Q: One of these days the price of uranium is going to bounce back what with all the new global nuclear facilities slowly coming on line. How best to play this ie, individual equity eg CCO or ETF like URA. I have USA funds so can be that or Cdn, thx

Q: Hello Peter/Ryan,

My RIF has one annual payment due mid Dec. I have narrowed the source of funds to either XHY, of which there is a large holding, or MRG.UN which also is a fairly large holding. The overall REIT holdings across five accts is 4.7%. The overall holdings of XHY and other high yield bonds is about 6%. Either choice will still leave a fairly large holding (dollar value) of the selected stock/ETF in the RIF

I am inclined to make the withdrawal from XHY as perhaps MRG.UN will provide a bit better return in the year(s) ahead. Do you agree with selling some XHY or would you recommend I sell some of each?

Separate point: Would it be possible to put the Model and Income portfolio stock listings in alphabetical order for next publication (either by symbol or by name).

Many thanks. Bob

Q: Hi 5i team
I'm looking at adjusting my rrsp holdings
I currently hold
25,000.00 in cig837
255,000.00 in cig686
57,000 in mmf006
39,000.00 in pmo006
I'm thinking that I have to much bond exposure and would like
To move some into vgg eft to get some America company exposure
What are your thoughts
Tks for the input
Sam

Q: Thank you for your earlier answer to my question related to these types of funds! But it leaves me with one follow up! In a tax sheltered environment (RRSP/TSFA) is an ETF focused on preferred shares a good choice for fixed income. From my readings, preferred shares ETF seem to be better suited to an un sheltered portfolio because the 'interest' is treated as a dividend for taxation purposes.

Would I be better off in a tax sheltered environment to purchase bond traded funds such as PSB or XSB? It this is a better option which would you choose? With the prospects of rising interest rates in the USA, would I be wise to mix in some US Corporate bonds as well, such as USB? If this is a better option would a 60/40 split (USB/PSB) be a good split?

Thanks again!!

Q: Is now a good time to establish positions in a preferred share ETF? Is there a significant difference among the various funds available (ie: CPD, PPS, ZDV or the National Bank Preferred Equity Income Fund - sorry could not find the symbol)? With interest rates likely to increase, how stable are each of these funds and if it is a good investment (1 to 3 years) which would you recommend? Please indicate how you would rank these funds for performance.

Thanks

Q: My wife and I are retired - if one is currently looking to put half of his portfolio into low risk income investments (bonds, bond ETFs, bond mutuals or low beta equities), what would u recommend in your opinion.
Thank you kindly.

Q: I was looking at a book on asset allocation.
They defined several asset classes within 3 categories: stocks, bonds, and "real assets".
There are 4 asset classes in the "real assets" category: TIPS, Commodities, Gold and REITs.
My question is regarding what vehicles I can use in Canada for the "real assets" asset classes.
TIPS: XRB?
Commodities: XMA? I don't like the market cap weighting. POT and AGU weigh in at about 25%
Gold: CGL? (I would probably avoid this asset class)
REITs: XRE? Or just buy 3 REITs and avoid the fee?

Thanks,

Mike

Q: What is the current price to NAV ratio of ZRE? As an alternative, can you recommend a couple of high quality reits that are currently trading below NAV or at least not much of a premium?
Thanks

Q: I am looking for an ETF that tracks a "dividend growers" index in US$ for global exposure. I note it is relatively small at M$77. What do you think of WDIV or would you have an alternative suggestion? It looks as though VIG would fit the bill for purely US exposure?
Thanks

Q: I am a retired, conservative dividend income investor, with a well diversified portfolio of stocks, ETFs and mutual funds (AD, AQN, ALA, BCE, BNS, CGX, CPG, PBH, RY, SLF, WCP, WEF, WSP, XIT, ZLB, RBC Cdn Eqty Inc, Sentry Cdn Inc, Sentry REIT, Insured Annuities, Fisgard Capital), as well as a company pension and CPP.

Question # 1: BCE is 4.0% of my TOTAL portfolio, but 6.1% of just my EQUITY portfolio. When you discuss stock weightings, is it of the total portfolio or only the equity portfolio? What general guidelines do you recommend? I use roughly 2-4% per stock, and 4-10% for either ETFs or Mutual Funds.

Question # 2: My asset mix is 65% equities and 35% fixed income. Within equities only, my mix is 25% finance, 18% utilities, 17% consumer, 4% health, 14% industrial, 9% info tech, 10% energy and 4% materials.

I am looking for a very conservative, blue-chip, dividend-paying stock (> 3% dividend) to add and I'm not sure which sector to top up. Please point me to the right sector (or two) with 3-5 stocks to consider.

Thanks, Steve

Q: ho folks:

in feb 2011 i purchased this at $30.30 (in rrsp)

-- the income rec'd is very close to the drop in capital value

-- ie, i have rec'd about 2k in income and the shares are down about 2k - so i am about breakeven (ish)

question: understanding the oil/alta problems; am i better to sell and buy say a SIA/EXE or ZRE/XRE or ??, OR is D.UN a blue chip that is suffering unduly?

sell, or hold and wait for eventual recovery?

this is my only real estate holding

thanks

Q: To the issue of portfolio structure. Currently I have 20% of my invested funds in indexes. Dow, S&P, Nasdaq, Russell and TSX. Evenly split. What sector would you allocate this to?

Q: My portfolio consists 25% US stocks, including international coverage with EEM, HEWJ, and ZDM(Cnd$). Can you comment on these ETFs. I want to be sure I have appropriate interests in Europe, Japan and Emerging markets.
Thanks, Michael

Q: I feel the alternate/renewable energy space might be a good place to invest in. what would you recommend, the amt. would be $20,000. or so. it would seem perhaps and etf could be an option vs a stock. What do you recommend? Thank you again.

Q: Hello,
I am building US market ETF portfolio and currently hold XLP, XLY, XLI, IGM, and XLV. With performance & MER combo in mind, which US-traded ETFs can you suggest for the remaining 5 sectors: Financials, Energy, Materials, Telecom, and Utilities?
Thanks.

Q: Last night I asked a question as per bellow. I am re-sending it as it may not have reached you. Thanks. Joseph


I have some US$ to invest and am looking at the technology/internet sector in the US: PNQI (Powershares NASDAQ internet), FDN (First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index), IGM (iShares North American Tech ETF). (All of these have a heavy weighting in Amazon, Google and Facebook). I am also considering to invest in the US financials sector through an etf such as XLF or through a few individual bank stocks such as WFC, BAC & JPM. My goal is to invest in the US sectors that are best positioned to grow in the next 12 - 18 mos. First, do you see these 2 sectors of technology/internet and financials as the best sectors to invest for the next 12 - 18 months and if so, please suggest your best choice for each sector and explain why. Second, is there another sector other than tech/internet and financials worth considering at this time and if so can you suggest what I should invest in for a hold of 12 -18 months?

Q: I'm looking to increase my exposure to the U.S. technology sector. Which of these etf's would you recommend for a Canadian investor. What are respective advantages and disadvantages?
As always, thanks for your much appreciated guidance.

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

The last question about CVD was on Feb. 19th, and I see that it's still in the 5i income portfolio. I'm in the process of reviewing my RRIF and note that when taking dividends into consideration, I'm still down almost 4%. Going forward, is this ETF worth hanging on to? My RRIF is well balanced with various 5i picks from all of your model portfolios. Income is fine and dandy, but I'm a bit frustrated with the negative growth characteristics of CVD, but of course am willing to wait if you're still OK with this ETF.

Thanks as always for your valued advice.