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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: Hi Peter, I am looking for a conservative spot to park some RSP cash that I recently converted from mutual funds to my itrade account. I am currently 80% in stocks. Right now do you prefer XCB or CPD for 18-24 months and why?
Read Answer Asked by Robert on January 30, 2015
Q: Good morning Peter and team, I was interested in your answer to Carla's question regarding her fixed income component. I was faced with the same situation and chose XQB.It has a management fee of 0.12% and contains 60% government and 40% corporate bonds. The yield is on the low side but with reinvested dividends, it's up 9.4% in the last year. Also,it's one of iTrade's "commission-free" etf's which is an added benefit. What is your take on XQB?
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on January 30, 2015
Q: I currently hold only GICs in my fixed income portion of my account, however, I'd like to move towards bond ETFs as they are more liquid and have a higher yield. My allocation would be 20% bonds, 80% equities because I'm only in my late thirties.

I'm looking for a bond fund that will 1) preserve my capital (if the stock market tanks I want to know that my 20% is safe. I want something that I can hold for the next twenty years that won't be too affected by interest rates, and 2) I want something that will give me some income.

I've looked at VAB.It seems to be a good mix of government and corporate. But would eventual interest rate hikes cause it to tank? I've also considered CBO, but since it's only corporate, I'd probably need to buy a Government bond ETF too... I think ishares has one similar to CBO.

Do you like either of these options? Or would you suggest something else? Would one ETF be safe or should I have more than one? I'd like to keep my fixed income investing simple.

And finally, on an unrelated note, I've been watching XTC for the last little while. It had great earnings and went up a lot today. Is it to late to get in now? Should I wait for a pullback? How high risk is this stock?
Read Answer Asked by Carla on January 30, 2015
Q: Hello,

ZPR is now down over 5% ytd. This seems to be more than interest rates concerns. Has the credit risk increased? Any ideas why the preferred market is being hit so hard?

BTW, I noticed that the credit ratings of CPD holdings has been removed from their website. I called Blackrock about it: they said they would find out and call me back, but they never did.

Thanks, Greg
Read Answer Asked by Greg on January 30, 2015
Q: Are you still OK with EWH? I bought it about 14 months ago and I must be up around 37% straight dollars and I suppose 42% with the currency fluctuations. I read in the paper how the economy is imploding in China and the banking sector is a looming disaster, with the banks over extended, so I am wondering if there is any truth to all the negative news. I have a 3% weighting in EWH and it is my only Asian exposure.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by James on January 30, 2015
Q: Hi Peter and 5i team, We saw how U.S. markets have rallied thanks to Fed's QE program. Can we expect a similar stock market rally in Europe thanks to ECB's $1.2 trillion stimulus package? If so what's a good way to play it. Any ETF that you would recommend?
Read Answer Asked by RAJITH on January 30, 2015
Q: I have recently raised quite a bit of cash and am looking for somewhere to hold it, would this be a good place, someone recommended it, if you have an alternative I would appreciate it
Read Answer Asked by Lynda on January 29, 2015
Q: I'm confused as to why CPD would be dropping now. I thought they would move up with an interest rate cut. Is this a buying opportunity for the fixed interest part of my portfolio or is the market concerned with the safety of preferred shares? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Rod on January 29, 2015
Q: I am new to this investing game, so have a ways to go to get an understanding of important details.
I notice that on my QTrade profile sheet for this ETF the yield is 7.6% but the Jan 23/15monthly distribution was only $.074. This monthly amount X 12 months = $.89 which is about a 3.3% yield on a $27.00 ETF. Can you explain the discrepency?
Can the dividends be automatically reinvested?
Thankyou for your answers....Jim
Read Answer Asked by James on January 28, 2015
Q: As a follow up question, the bonds etfs I meant to list before autocorrect are xhy,cvd,cpd,cbo,xbb,Flot. I plan to hold 2% weight in portfolio of each, does this make sense (any overlap?) or can I cut any? Also, you mentioned taking 10% from canadian equity and switching to international, can you list your top 2 or 3 international equity etfs that you prefer? Thanks again, sorry for confusion on bond etfs
Read Answer Asked by Sheldon on January 28, 2015
Q: Hi 5i,

Do you know of any companies or ETFs which invest in national or (preferably) global infrastructure -- roads, airports, electricity and water networks, etc.? I'm already aware of Brookfield (BEP,BIP,BPY) and would like to know if there any other companies/ETFs which you think merit consideration in this sector. Thanks for your excellent service.

Davis
Read Answer Asked by Davis on January 27, 2015
Q: Hi Team,
I was considering buying this ETF for yield and relative safety for the next couple of years. Can you share your thoughts. I am assuming that it has declined because the recent BOC rate cut?

Thanks as always for your reply.
Read Answer Asked by Douglas on January 27, 2015
Q: Why was this stock halted this morning? Wasn,t quite expecting us drop? Thanks I advance, Cliff
Read Answer Asked by cliff on January 27, 2015
Q: Hello, I plan to complete my portfolio with the following efts. Right now I am 100% canadian equity spread somewhat evenly over the 10 sectors using your income/model portfolios as a guide. I plan to add 2% of each bond ..xhy, cvd, cod, cob, ebb, flot, for 12% bond exposure, and 18% us equity etfs split evenly between vig, spy, iwo. This would leave 70% canadian equity with a mix of growth/dividend stocks 30/70 ratio. We have a 20 year time frame before retirement, very stable income. My portfolio is broken down to 22%rrsp, 28%tfsa, 50% non registered. I am thinking I should place my us etfs in the rrsp to avoid us taxes. Are XHY and FLOT considered US income as well?(main question) If so, I am assuming I should place these within a rrsp account as well and the rest of the bond etfs in my TFSAs. Would like your thoughts on this strategy. Also, do I have enough international/US exposure, or should I increase my US ETFs 5-10% or add an emerging market etf like VWO. Thanks again for your assistance, may have to dock me a few credits for this one:)
Read Answer Asked by Sheldon on January 27, 2015
Q: Hi Peter and 5i team, Can you recommend an ETF (preferably USD denominated) that will benefit from the $1.2 trillion European stimulus/QE program? Can we expect a stock market rally in Europe similar to what we've seen in the U.S. thanks to FED's QE program?
Read Answer Asked by RAJITH on January 27, 2015
Q: Hello Peter, I've held this ETF in my RRSP for two years. While the yield is approx 6%, it has also dropped in price by a total of almost 6% in 2 years (resulting in net annual gain of only 3%). My question is that with generally falling interest rates and an improving US economy - presumably translating to lower defaults/default risk levels - I'm unable to understand how a corporate bond portfolio could lose 6% of its value over two years. I have not looked into the specific components of the ETF but if you can help me understand the loss, much appreciated. I am not risk-averse and won't need the funds for several years. Would you suggest a better vehicle for higher US returns? Thanks, Bob
Read Answer Asked by James on January 27, 2015
Q: Hello Peter and team,

On Feb 2nd deletions from the S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index will include Evertz Technologies (ET) (in your income portfolio), and two of your covered companies (CSU and HLF).

As of Jan 23rd the iShares Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index ETF (CDZ) had $21,797,887 worth of ET shares. My math equates this to 1,371,799 ET shares. This represents 5.2% of the floating shares.

Similarly CDZ had $12,124,809 of HLF shares, which equates to 598,756 HLF shares. That is 5% of the floating shares.

The number of CSU shares held by CDZ would be 0.2% of the floating shares, which is negligible.

How does the ETF go about disposing of such a large quantity of ET and HLF shares? Does the ETF have to sell all of them exactly on Jan 30th, or does the ETF have days or weeks before and after Feb 2nd to gradually dispose of their shares (so as not to flood the market)?

If the ETF has to dispose of all their shares on Jan 30th, do they wait until the last minute of trading? And being that it is 5% of the floating shares in the case of ET and HLF, won’t this have quite a negative impact on the share price (in the short term)?

I may be interested in acquiring some ET and HLF shares. Is it possible to take advantage of this situation? How would I do this? Should I place a low ball order on Jan 30th and see if I get filled?


Paul J.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on January 27, 2015
Q: what is your opinion on the guggenhiem equal weighted rtfs. thanks
Read Answer Asked by andre on January 26, 2015
Q: I invest mostly in ETF's of foreign equities, but sold in Canada. Example XID. These are held in RRIF and TFSA accounts. If these are held for longer terms, is there any reason I should not purchase U.S. based ETF's instead? In an earlier question you recommended INDA and EPI rather than XID. What are the implications of holding US equities rather than ones based in Canada?
Read Answer Asked by Jim on January 26, 2015