Investment Q&A

Q: Hello 5i Team,
In my portfolio I am holding GOOG (6 shares); APPL (30 shares); and HD (295 shares). I also hold 4200 shares of ZSP and 3000 shares of XSP. Apple is the largest holding at 2.82%, Google 1.86% and Home Depot .66% of assets in both ETFs. I am thinking that I should sell my individual shares and buy more names from your new model. portfolio. Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much for your wonderful service.

Q: Hi Peter,

I'm all for simplicity when it comes to maintaining a portfolio, and my question is two-fold:

- Could you recommend a two or three ETF portfolio (Canadian ETFs preferably) that would allow for both long-term equity growth (domestic and international) and monthly income?

Would a mix of XWD with CDZ/VDY (or XTR) fit this criteria, or are there better alternatives?

- Would you recommend such a strategy? What would I be giving up by following this strategy, and how would you tweak it and yet keep it simple?

My goal is to have a straightforward ETF portfolio and to make monthly investments to the ETFs. Please note that there would be no fees for buying the ETFs since I use Questrade.

Thanks!

Q: I have 30K in BNS and 18K in ZEB.Ijust added SLF 19K.My question is would it be better to sell ZEB and start buying other banks starting with TD and RY or buy XFN ,lower fees,more exposure or just stay withy ZEB.I am leaning towards replicating ZEB as you have mentioned before but wanted a second opinion.Thanks for all your wonderful advice.

Q: Hi.Which of exchange Traded Europe fund is your favourite ? and is it worth considering at this time.Thank you and have a good day.ebrahim

Q: Peter; Is CIF big enough to take a 5% position or are there better ETF'S ? Thanks, Rod

Q: Could you please expand on the selection of CVD,CPD,ZRE and XHY for the model income portfolio. My concern is that theses ETFs likely have considerable exposure to rising interest rates and in the current environment may not have much appreciation/return potential. I have been holding CBO for the past year and while I have not done the actual calculations I suspect that any 'dividends/payout' may have been offset by the decrease in the price of the units. I realize that in an income portfolio one needs fixed income or similar holdings but were specific debentures, bonds etc. with a defined maturity date a consideration? I would like to ensure you that I am not questioning your choice of these ETFs, but would like to have a better understanding before I add them to the fixed income side of my own investment portfolio. Thanks for you help.

Q: Hi Ryan and Peter: I have a question about the income portfolio. You include FLOT which has a trailing dividend of 0.4%. I presume therefore that the role of FLOT in the portfolio is to preserve capital, and it does seem to have done this well through the recent downs. But it seems to me that HFR (Horizons actively managed floating rate ETF) does this just as well while posting a trailing payout of just over 2%. What am I missing? Roland T.

Q: First thanks for having an excellent service!

In your new Income portfolio your first item is FLOT which is US. Aren't there dangers in holding a US item in a CDN portfolio? Aside from the exchange issue, which I have been burned with in the past, aren't there tax implications with the new IRS rules concerning income and agreements as well as estate filings required to liquidate the holding if the holder passes away?

If someone didn't want to hold a US holding in the portfolio would you recommend just changing the weighting or have an alternative?
Thanks again!

Q: 1) I understand that companies that have increased their dividends recently do so because they're confident of their earnings for the next year or two. Is there an ETF that focuses on these companies?
2)I own PKW (concentrates on companies buying back their stock)and wonder which of these two approaches, companies that are buying back stock or those that increase their dividends, you would endorse?

Q: Hello Peter! I have 30K in my TFSA and I want to invest them in one or two of Canadian Banks or in bank ETFs.Please provide me with 2 good banks and 2 good ETFs names. In your opinion what is better choice for long time, single bank or bank ETF? Thanks.

Q: In the income portfolio CVD has a yield of 4.9% but on the ishares website the YTM is 2.29%. What would be the yield if I purchased this product today. Thank you Ron

Q: re: XEG
I bought this a few years ago for growth
I found out that the energy sector is very cyclical
I am finally very near to breaking even (the 2% dividend helps)
The trend has been upward in the last few months
what is your outlook for XEG ?
I also owns Suncor, CNQ, HSE (all have gained 20%)
As for gas, I have ALA which has also gained 30%
The COS is the weak link in my portfolio, it has lost
over 20% though the trend has been up recently

could you kindly comment on the seasonal trend for XEG ?
much appreciated !
I might sell it and put it in something else, looking for
a decent timing to do it
Thanks

Q: What would be your USD equivalent for XHY?

Q: What is your view of the senior loan floating rate funds, like SSF.UN or MFR.UN? They look interesting with fairly high yields and mostly ROC for tax purposes. Also seem to trade below NAV. How secure are the loans and does the floating rate really provide any inflation protection (as they promote)? Would you buy today, solely for income, and do you have a preference in the group?

Thank-you

Q: please suggest a good agriculture ETF. US or Canada? thanks

Q: What is your opinion on MXF as means of getting some exposure to precious metals with a little income on the side? Is the payout reasonably secure with this kind of product?
Thanks for the info.
Brian B

Q: Thank you Peter, for your response concerning my TFSA portfolio. In keeping with my goal of creating growth, I have come up with the following ETFs and would ask your opinion on their value. If you differ with any of them could I ask you to recommend a substitute. I find it a challenge, with the resources available to me,to pin down ``dividend growth`` ETFs. I have selected the following based on their asset size, MER, and sector diversification. They are as follows:
CDZ, XRE, ZPR, XTR and CHB. They would make up the entire portfolio. Thanks for all you do for us.

Q: I'm interested in investing in stocks that are in the business of cloud computing for my tech sector allocation. I'm aware of the big names like Apple, Amazon, Google and now Microsoft but don't feel comfortable picking one or two. Do you have any ETF (or other) recommendations in this sector? Thanks again for all your guidance :)

Q: I, perhaps foolishly, assumed that Vanguard Canada ETFs sold on the TSX in Canadian dollars would be Canadian income.... Are all the Vanguard Canada products US income, including VDY? Therefore is it ineffective to hold them in a TFSA?

Q: With the reduction in MER's yesterday in 9 of Blackrock's ishares ETF's, (XIC,XEI,XSP,XUS,XEF,XEC,CAB,XSH,XLB)can you comment on how you would rate these in their categories compared to other company ETFs (i.e.- with the fee reductions, would you now recommend these over competing ETF's?).