Investment Q&A

Q: Hello Peter et al.

I am wondering if you could give me a list of your top five ETFs that are not Oil or Minerals or TSX related that would provide diversification into the world markets that are not invested in the Canadian markets but are listed on the TSX.

Thanks,

Brendan

Q: I am needing to add more bond/secure type investments to my portfolio. I am 70 years old and only have about 20% of my portfolio in bonds. However there are two funds that I currently have in my portfolio that have done quite well in the past year or two, and their track record is a good one. They are Signature High Income and Mawer Tax Effective Balanced. Both carry approximately 50% of their portfolios in bonds so I am considering selling off some ETFs and stocks (PKI and BCE) in order to increase my bond % through these funds. I also have some XBB. Any thoughts on these funds or XBB?

Q: Hello,
Back on January 22, 5i was commenting on Albert`s question that VUN has had consistently better performance than it`s hedged cousin, the VUS.
How does that occur when they both track the same index? Does the VUS have added admin costs with converting back into CAD dollars daily, which negatively impacts it`s performance numbers? Thanks for clarifying.

Q: Hi team. Thanks to your guidance and the present market, I have been able to shave a few of my equities, that are from your PFs, and am ready to purchase more U.S. I am thinking of this ETF. I understand you prefer unhedged. I have Canadian $ which I suppose I can convert. But having read answers on these ETFs am still confused. Which of the 2 is preferable? Is it best to convert my Can $ to US $ and then buy? (which one of the 2?) Or is that a waste of time and should I purchase with Canadian $ ?(again which one?) I am sorry for the confusion. Thank you as always for your sage advice.

Q: The question about CXI and reporting got me to checking my portfolios. Do I have to fill in Form 1135 for ETFs based on the S&P 500, like VFV and XSP, which trade on the TSX? What about EWWS and EWU which trade on an American Exchange?

Q: I hold VTV.US...it is a vanguard value ETF. It has done very well by me...any thoughts on VTV? Any other US ETFs you might suggest I look at.

Q: Hello 5i Team,

A co-worker is basically starting out on the investment journey and I mentioned your expertise in portfolio development/management. My question is, can you recommend a group of ETF’s that would offer good diversification (international included) with little maintenance. The idea would be to have the basic structure there and as more funds become available he would just add to them. I think this would be a good start. I recommended he become a member so his investment knowledge grows over time with the portfolio, the portfolio is approximately $100,000.

Thanks,

Q: I just sold IBM and GE, Otherwise little US exposure. Also, I also have limited exposure to Canadian oil about 4%. One consideration for US is Vanguard US dividend Appreciation (hedged). They do have a non hedged. Since I only have 4% oil exposure maybe BTE or something else. BNS or TD is another thought since banks are down. Your thoughts would greatly appreciated.

BTW great job.

Q: I was looking at the different European etfs in Canada
ZEQ, XEH, XEU, EUR and VE. In your opinion which one of these
would you pick as and investment vehicle in Europe at the present time and why

Q: Do you have an opinion on XSI. Would an investment in this ETF fall more into "income investing" or might it be more a bet on the future rise of interest rates. In general, is it better to wait for the ETF to gain an experience before investing in it?

Q: With the CAD dollar moving lower, is it wise to switch out of a current position in VUS (the hedged version) and into the VUN (unhedged). Any other considerations, other than the capital gain that will happen on the sale of VUS. This is held within a taxable investment account. Thx.

Q: Per IShares website, CPD's current trailing and distribution yield is 4.82%, or 5.32% pre MER which looks attractive. However, in scanning the current yield of Scotia Capital's preferred share universe holdings it is hard to envision the universe yield is nearly that high. IShares reflects CPD's monthly distribution simply as a cash amount of about 6.2 cents, no other break-down is provided. While CPD may not exactly represent the Universe it is very diversified and appears relatively representative. Do you have any thoughts? Thanks.

Q: I need your advice on the fixed income portion of my portfolio, currently 17%. The equity portion is a well diversified mix of dividend payers, mostly 5i companies. Current fixed income holdings are:

CBO (2%)
XHY (2%)
CVD (2%)
CPD (2%)
CF.PR.A (1%)
5 year GIC Ladder (3%)
HISA/Cash (5%)

The first rung of the GIC ladder recently matured, but I have been reluctant to purchase another 5 year GIC with rates being so low (~ 2.05%). Would I be better off with a floating rate ETF like HFR or FLOT, or should I just continue with the laddering strategy knowing that eventually it will adjust to rising rates? I am also aware that I lack any government bond exposure. I am considering CLF, but with a YTM of .75% I wonder if I would just be better of with a HISA at 1%. I am 40 years old with a 10-15 year time horizon. Your input is most appreciated.

Q: BMO has a Floating Rate High Yield ETF (ZFH) that somehow combines T-Bills with Credit Default Swaps (whatever they are) to create a product that is midway between T-Bills and High Yield Corporate Bond ETF's in yield, risk, and volatility, which seems like a worthwhile result. The description of what they are doing might as well have been written in Sanskrit for all that I got out of it. ZFH has attracted $400M worth of investment in its year or so of existence. Would it be a reasonable addition to the bond portion of a balanced portfolio?

Q: This is a comment rather than a question. Roger asked about whether ZSP or ZSP.U was preferable given he wanted un-hedged exposure to the US dollar. The hedged version is ZUE. I believe that ZSP and ZSP.U are virtually identical. If you don't have US dollars and don't want to go through the conversion, you can buy ZSP. I asked BMO investorline this question but in respect to another ETF that I hold, ZLU. I asked that if I wanted to sell ZLU as ZLU.U could I do this and obtain US dollars and was told that I could. This would be similar to the conversions that are done using DLR and DLR.U. My only caveat is that in looking the list of BMO ETFs I see that the distribution yields listed are different.

Q: Peter and Team,

Can you please suggest which ETF is better for US corporate bond exposure between CSD and XHY? XHY has a more significant energy exposure (14%) versus CSD which has 7% in energy.

CSD is defined as short duration (which I like) with an average duration of 3.14 years. XHY doesn't seem to define a duration. CSD feels lower risk to me but I'd like your opinion.

Your thoughts?

Marc

Q: With a dividend yield of 2.21 %, and an MER of 0.23%
this appears as a good choice for fixed income. May I have your thoughts. With thanks, Bill

Q: Hi,

At some point I would like to get into the Health Care sector (possibly with ZUH) but it seems so expensive right now, and you have stated this as well. But I feel that you are not a fan of waiting for a correction. How would you convince someone to buy into it right now, or would you wait?

Thank you

Q: What is your opinion on those ETF ?

Q: Peter and team,

I currently hold CBO and HFR at 5% each of the portfolio. Rest of the Portfolio is currently stocks that are pretty close to the 5i model portfolio. Due to high personal exposure, I am thinking of selling TRP stock (5% of the portfolio) and adding XHY in its place.

I think the XHY should add some currency diversity to my portfolio as well as providing nice yield and it looks like the recent decline in value is finding a bottom.

Any thoughts here? By the way, my opinion on interest rates is that they are going to continue to stay lower for longer than anyone thought possible but I am cognicent that they can almost only go up from here and therefore have stuck to floating rate and short durations so far.

Thanks,

marc