Investment Q&A

Q: Can I have your opinion on this ETF for the US portion of my portfolio. The returns seem to have been quite decent and wandering if the low volatility would protect my portfolio on the downside.

Thanks for the great work and have a happy new year.

Q: I am looking at investing money in health care , would you recommend ETF to do that and if so what US and Canadian ones. If not can you recommend two stocks (US and CDN) . I do not have any health care exposure and would like to allocate 5% of my portfolio to either stocks or the ETF.s, thank you and Happy New Year.

Q: Peter
The following are a mix of “fixed” income ETFs listed in the Nat Post's article on Robo-investors from last November sorted by decreasing yield. I am trying to shore up the fixed income portion of my portfolio and unsure of the rationale and safety of these ETFs.

Just how safe are these instruments? If there was a meltdown, could their values collapse accordingly?

At the lower end, isn't just worthwhile to buy a GIC, it looks as if they net bigger returns than the lower return ETFs?

What distribution of these ETF's would you recommend for a retiree portfolio?

ETF Ticker Institution MER% Yield% Net Distribution %

ZHY BMO Corporate Bond 0.55 5.77 5.22
XHY I shares US Bond .66 5.46 4.8
PBD Purpose Total Bond .45 4.47 4.02
CBO I shares 1-5 Yr Corp Bond 0.27 4.1 3.83
XCB I shares Corp Bond .44 3.38 2.94
XBB I shares Univers Bond .33 3.16 2.83
XSB I shares Shrt Term Bd .27 2.91 2.64
VAB Vanguard Ca Bond 0.12 2.71 2.59
VBU Vanguard Us Ag Bond 0.2 2.6 2.4
XRB I shares Real return 0.39 2.4 2.01
VSB Vanguard Shrt Trm Bond 0.1 2.2 2.1
HFR Horizon Float Rate 0.4 2.17 1.77
PSA Purpose High Savings 0.12 1.34 1.22

1 year GIC 1.9%

Regards

Q: Given the importance of cyber security this new etf just launched in the us seems like a good place to invest instead of trying to find the right stock. They have 20 stocks in the portfolio including Cisco fire eye Symantec palo networks fortinet. No track record but would you consider it a good bet on cyber security. I am thinking this would be a good place for a percent of my US portfolio.

Q: Most analysts warn that you should never hold leveraged ETF's long term. But I see some very large annual returns that are very close to the "three times" the return of the underlying ETF. Is there anything wrong with setting aside 10% of one's portfolio to try to supersize returns in sectors of high conviction. I am thinking of FAS (financials), TECL (technology) and CURE (healthcare).

Q: I note that VUS appears to use derivatives to underpin its investments. Given the role played by derivatives in the 2008 debacle, how safe is this ETF?

Q: On the above mentioned ETF's, which are supposed to pay a dividend monthly, these ones did not pay anything in December. It appears that they will pay in early January. Will I expect two payments in January then? How can an ETF quote that they pay monthly when they do not. This could impact investors who depend on fixed income. Thanks for your response.

Q: could you please recommend one or more etfs that would target US banks in Canadian fund. Do you think it is a good move having limited exposure to the above.
as always thanks
yossi

Q: Hi and Happy New Year
Would you lease recommend a Technology ETF as well ans a US large cap ETF for my TFSA. Thanks for helping me to finish 2014 in great shape.
Guy R

Q: What is your opinion of the TD's e-series funds, specifically of TB900 (TD Canandian Index) and TB902 (TD US Index)?
Would you recommend them?
Many thanks,
Jose.

Q: Hello,

I have some cash in my registered account that I would like to invest over the next few months. In the meantime where can I "park" the funds so that I can earn some interest/income/dividends while having minimal risk of capital erosion? I assume certain ETFs are suitable but I am not sure which. I am also open to other suggestions.

Thanks

Q: The VUS etf is hedged to the CAD dollar. Do you believe it`s wise to switch to the unhedged version (VUN) for 2015, as the US dollar looks poised for strong growth.
And related to this, what is a suitable portfolio percentage allocated to USA etf`s for a retiree. Thank-you.

Q: What is your opinion on purchasing REZ or VNQ at this time as part of a U.S. component in an RRSP as opposed to ZRE or XRE? Thanks. Joe

Q: Good day...with your model portfolio doing so well is there any percentage in not being 100% in your model portfolio and forget about the u.s. and international market...I am adding money to my portfolio in the new year and have 50% of my existing portfolio in your model portfolio and 20% in yourincome portfolio and the remainder in pipelines and some small cap tech stocks...thanks eugene

Q: Good morning,
I would appreciate your views upon EWG as a potential investment for the purposes of diversification and capital gains.
The other Peter

Q: This is a new US healthcare product I was interested in buying. I wonder how you feel it compares with ZUH. Thank you so much and have a Happy New Year to everyone. I value your opinion.

Q: Hello Peter & Co,
With the aim of asset class diversification, I need to invest at least 30% of my RRIF portfolio in fixed income vehicles; could you give me 3 ETFs (corporate, government & other) that would do OK in a gradually rising interest rate environment?
Happy New Year
Tony

Q: You often mention liquidity when recommending ETF, what is the approx Asset Under Management (AUM) you consider liquid.

Thanks and all the best to 5i team in the New Year !

Q: I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and we are looking for a prosperous New year with your advice. I would like to diversify my holdings outside of Canada for growth using etf's. What areas of the world and what etf would you recommend? I already have etfs in the US for exposure there. Perhaps a etf for Britain, Korea, India or China? Or would an etf that covers the world ex US make more sense. I appreciate your wisdom and advice on these matters.
Colin

Q: A portfolio manager on BNN this week suggested that Hi Yield Bonds will outperform the TSX on a total return in 2015. My portfolio is 60% fixed income and 40% equity. The fixed income is equal parts GIC ladder, CBO and PHN Hi Yield Bond Fund [ RBF 1280 ].

To shelter the fixed income capital from a spike in interest rates I am considering selling CBO and buying 1 year GIC's. I will keep the hi yield bond fund because the higher yield will offset the loss in capital, I hope. The duration of the bond fund is 2.3 years.

Do you agree with my proposal or can you suggest an alternative?

Happy New Year to the 5i Team and all the members.