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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Any thoughts on XBI the spyder biotech ETF. MER is .35% Great diversification in a hot sector. I the party over? I am thinking of initiating a small position as a growth stock in my RRSP.
Read Answer Asked by MANFRED on January 10, 2014
Q: Thanks a lot to all of you at 5iResearch. I have been a member for the last 9 months, which have probably been the most profitable investing period I have ever known, in great part due to your advice and information form the Question section. Express Script (ESRX) is one of the few US stocks I own directly. Although this is not your area of expertise, I would like to know if selling ESRX and reinvesting in IWO might be a good move (I have primarily a well diversified Canadian equity portfolio), without consideration to risk or balancing and with a long time line?
Read Answer Asked by jacques on January 09, 2014
Q: Have just renewed. Thank you for such sound advice. I have been financially " guiding" my employed 38 year old daughter for some time. She has $20,000 to place in a non registered account and about$15,000 cash in her TFSA . I have been keeping notes from your Q & A, your portfolio and other research. In her non registered, she has XDV;XIU and a dividend mutual fund. Feel free to suggest weightings , long term horizon, which of the following would you suggest for non registered and TFSA (Or as you like, make any substitutions):
BCE; CGX; BNS; SLF;PWF;T; CBO; BEP.UN; IWO.
Thanks for your input.
Paul
Read Answer Asked by Paul on January 09, 2014
Q: Good evening,
I am wondering whether you could recommend an ETF(s) that focuses upon emerging market economies smaller than the BRIC countries such as MIST or TIMPs. Speculative risk is not an issue. Thank you for your help.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on January 08, 2014
Q: I have no exposure to any health care stock. Can you recommend one or two to me?
Read Answer Asked by david on January 07, 2014
Q: Peter and staff,happy new year to you all.
Thanks for all the great work and hopefully we can make some money this year.
What are your thoughts on DVYE as a diversification into the emerging markets?
It pays a dividend of almost 5%
Looks attractive right now?
Read Answer Asked by Josh on January 07, 2014
Q: Hi 5I Team, I would like your opinion on adding FEZ and EEM (5% each) to my RRIF portfolio. Are they a good at this time? Would you recommend others besides these two. I already own EWH, IDV, XLI and XLF. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Karl on January 07, 2014
Q: I am considering adding either VCE or VCN to our TSFA account for 2014. Which would you recommend and would you invest now or wait for a further pull back?
Thanks Guys.

Read Answer Asked by Warren on January 07, 2014
Q: Hi Peter and Co, and a very prosperous New Year to all,

Would you give me your opinion on XTR, the ishares Diversified Income ETF? I've held this for a while in RRSPs and wonder if it is a good choice for the income part. If not, please make some alternative suggestions.
Many thanks
Read Answer Asked by Gail on January 06, 2014
Q: My daughter is 20 years old and is just starting to invest over the next 45 years .I have convinced her to open up a TFSA She is starting with $ 4,000 .I would love some advice on getting her started

She is still a university student and has very limited income

Thank you for this great service

Paul
Read Answer Asked by Paul on January 06, 2014
Q: Re the question by Keith on CDZ, I don't think a dividend of 6.9% is accurate. With this ETF (and others), the December distributions are always higher than those for the other 11 months of the year. For 2013, 14 cents versus an average of 6.5 cents January to November. Total distributions for 2013 are about 85 cents, which provides an annual yield of about 3.5%.
Read Answer Asked by Thomas on January 06, 2014
Q: Happy New Year
I was thinking of diversifying into the US and was thinking about using etf's. Can you give me your thoughts on this and which ETF's I should consider at this time?
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Colin on January 06, 2014
Q: Hi> The time of year to review TFSA. Wondering about cdz. The dividend of 6.9 percent looks great. Is the a fee to own & how is it paid. Other ideas for growth stocks would be appreciated. Thank you. Keith
Read Answer Asked by keith on January 06, 2014
Q: Hi and happy new year. I am a new member and love your service. Just renewed at the discount rate even though I have only been a member for 3 months. I am impressed with your dedication, I recently asked a question at 6:30 AM and you gave a great answer by 7 am. The Early bird gets the worm. Now to the question: The Vanguard corporate bond ETF "VSC". What do you think. Seems like a small fund but mer is only about .18 per cent.I need to rebalance my stocks which have done very well in the past 4 years and buy some bonds. Corporates still seem the only way to go at this point.
Read Answer Asked by MANFRED on January 06, 2014
Q: could you please give your take on phn total return bond fund i am down 4% and it is app. 5% of portfolio held in tfsa.i am considering adding this years contribution to it but also wondering a better allternative. your gratefully Larry
Read Answer Asked by Larry on January 06, 2014
Q: Hello Peter and Team,

Happy New Year. This is not urgent. I've been following your comments on EEM (emerging markets stock ETF) and VXUS (all markets stocks except US) for foreign stock ETF holdings. I was wondering if you could compare/contrast them with EFA-N (developed markets stocks in Europe, Australia, Asia & the Far East). If you had to choose only one, which would it be and why?

Many thanks. Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on January 03, 2014
Q: Hi Peter,
Ishares has 3 Russell 2000 ETF's, growth, value, and not focused. Is there growth and value in small cap? What are they doing here?
Thanks, Mark
Read Answer Asked by Mark on January 02, 2014
Q: Peter - I like the Technology and healthcare sectors in 2014 and long term (+5 Years). Rather than selecting stocks in these sectors, I am looking at IYW (US Technology) and IYH (US Healthcare), however I am concerned at the low daily volumes. Can you provide your thoughts on these two ETF's and can you recommend any alternative ETF's in these two sectors? Thank You and Best Wishes in 2014!! Thank You for providing us with an excellent service.
Read Answer Asked by Luigi on January 02, 2014
Q: In your answer to Behrouz re a Mining and Metals ETF, you mentioned CMW and XME. I, too, have been looking for a decent ETF in the sector in Canada. The problem in this country is that there are no ETFs in the Mining and Metals sector, just Global Base Metals. XME is listed as having about 9% in gold and another 10% in Precious Metals. I'm sure CMW and a second iShares entry, XBM, have considerably more than that in gold (I can't find out how much). If you wish to avoid gold in a M&M ETF, it's difficult. And besides, both Canadian products are thinly traded. There is a third Canadian entry, this one from BMO, ZMT. Surely one of them could be a more pure M&M play.
Read Answer Asked by Fred on January 02, 2014
Q: In a previous response you mentioned that Brazil could see a recovery this year. Is there an ETF you can recommend that is either a pure play on the Brazilian market or at least one with a heavy weighting in Brazil?
Separately, I would like to also diversify into Europe. You recently responded that for Europe FEZ is “hard to beat”. In previous responses I believe you have at different times also recommended both IEV and VGK. What is your top ETF pick for exposure to Europe (long term) for new buying at this time?
Read Answer Asked by Steven on January 02, 2014