Investment Q&A

Q: Hello 5i,
Could you direct me to a bond fund in the u.s. Denominated in u.s. Dollars? Do they have anything similar to our GIC's?
Thanks

Q: What effect would there be on bond funds such as XHY, XBB and CBO if the US Federal Reserve went to negative interest rates? I hold all in a registered account.

Q: Hi there,
Do you think this is a good entry point for XLV.US for a 2 year hold? Any opinion on this ETF?
Thanks,
Kerri

Q: For international diversification for 30% of my portfolio I am thinking about vxc, I know you have recommended vxus in the past but due to currency conversion (U.S. Rates). I was wondering about Vxc. What do you think about this ? Or should I bite the bullet and convert currency to USD? Can you comment on tax implications as well in registered and non registered accounts as well. Thanks.

Q: In your response to me you state "Our preference to dividend appreciation stocks is based on fact, however. Stocks that consistently grow dividends have been shown to be far far superior on a risk adjusted basis to any other category of the market." Can you please provide the facts (data) using ETF's to validate your claims. My data shows:
VUN 2 years = 46.6% versus
VGG 2 years = 37.6%
Thanks and I do appreciate your service.
Steve

Q: Rob today asked for your recommendation on an ETF that tracks the broader US market, that he can buy with CDN funds. Your recommendation was VGG a dividend appreciation etf with 1 year return (as of yesterday) of ~ 18%. You have recommended this etf on various other occasions today and in the past. You should be aware the tempting 18% return is due to currency because the hedged VGH return over the same period is a mere 1.9%. I cannot understand why you continue to pick these "niche " etf's especially when someone asks for a broad index. The broadest US index with lowest mer in US $ is VTI and in Canadian $ VUN. And VUN has 1 year return of 22.6%. VTI/VUN over various cycles outperforms these "niche" etf's tracking some subset of a market and this is what etf's were originally designed to do anyways so just recommend the broadest index to maximize investors returns.
Steve

Q: Hi Peter and 5I team.
I am trying to build a portfolio for my wife's LIRA acct, with 70% from the BE portfolio and the remainder made up from 2 foreign exposure ETFs. I was thinking XSP for US and one of the following for diversity, (VDU,VEF,VXC,) can you please advise or recommend which Vanguard product would be best suited for a 8-10 year timeframe, and does this idea make sense to you. Thank's for your great service, James

Q: Doing some research I have become quite impressed with the Mawer group of funds. For the most part they have done very well versus the indexes both in Canada, the U.S. and world. I have reviewed Maw, 102,108,120,150,106,130,104 and 105.

What is your opinion of Mawer ? Any things to watch out for.

Many thanks

Paul

Q: Can you please recommend an ETF that tracks the broader US market, that I can buy with CDN funds. I know you have identified IWO in the past but I don't have US funds and the cost and spread on currency conversion turns me off... It seems you are going to lose 3+% coming and going just on the conversion charges. Thanks

Q: HI Folks: Is owning PHS.U a good/safer way to "own" silver or would buying silver bars and rounds be better and, would this be a good time to buy PHS.U or should I wait until after the CEF.A and the SBT deals are complete?

Q: Hello 5i team I am building a US stock portfolio and would like your opinion on the stocks I wish to accumulate. jpm,t,psx,jnj,nvda,tot. I plan on buying these over 6-8 month period and holding for 3-5 yrs. I am trying to into get into different industries and picking some best of breeds. I would also like to add 2-3 etf (1-growth,1-income,1-balanced)if you could recommend some to compliment these stocks. Thks

Q: Your thoughts on ZRE and CPD at this moment. Are they a buy?
Thanks

Q: I am nearing retirement and would like to sell some stocks and purchase a 1 to 5 year bond ladder. But, a bond ladder can be difficult to manage for a retail investor. Can you recommend a good 1 to 5 year bond ladder ETF? Will a bond ladder ETF actually perform like a bond ladder, where every bond is held to maturity or would it be more subject to capital gains and losses with fluctuating interest rates? Would I be better off with a 5 year GIC ladder at today's rates?
Thanks,

Q: Investing in preferred shares is a conundrum at present.Do you have any suggestions on investing in these products or should they
be avoided for other income products which offer less risk of capital loss? Are pref share ETFs worth the effort? Joe

Q: Re the ETF question, another company making money on ETF's is Blackrock, which has the ubiquitous i-shares in Canada as well as in the US.

Q: In his recent article on etf investing Cullen Roche's closing comment is: "making markets in index funds is hugely profitable". I wonder if there are companies specializing in this area that you could name that would be worth researching. Also, of course, do you agree that they have potential for a profitable investment.
Many thanks
Mike

Q: I would appreciate your opinion on FIE for a balanced income portfolio. Will the capital value hold up in our current flat interest rate environment with rates gradually rising over the coming quarters? A big part of this ETF is composed of preferred shares. Will preferred re-sets do better in a rising interest environment? Many thanks!

Q: Hi,

Has the dividend on VDU gone down a lot? I'm sure when I looked at it a few months ago it was about 4% and now it is under 2%. What would account for this change?

Best,

Carla

Q: Can you please give a update.. Thanks for the great service.. Rgards Cliff

Q: At the current unit price of these etfs, do you think they are a buy at this time for a person looking for yield? Or, do you see further downside in October and November for the North American markets?

Thank You