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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: Hello,
I have a question about adding fixed income to a portfolio.
My registered portfolio is all equities, mostly large cap dividend payers and some growthier names thanks to 5i, reasonably well diversified, a little heavy on financials.
I am happy with the results and will be relying on it as my main source of retirement income in about 5 years.
I am thinking it is time to gradually add some fixed income, to decrease volatility somewhat and increase predictability, targeting a 70/30 equity/fixed income split over time.
Would like to keep it simple with ideally 2 ETFs, was thinking XBB or ZAG plus something else.
I see that the Canadian Money Saver portfolio uses XBB, CBO, CPD and XHY for fixed income.
What would you pair with XBB/ZAG in this scenario?
Is a US fixed income component a good idea?
What do you think of combining a passive bond universe ETF with an actively managed ETF/fund?

Thanks as always.
Read Answer Asked by Roman on March 04, 2025
Q: I hold the following High dividend players: CALL, DGS, GLCC, HDIV, HMAX, HPYT, QQCC and QQQY. Can you please rate these as safest and best for growth. I am down on HMAX, HPYT and QQQY. I hold so many as I am leery to place all dollars on one player. Or are there some I should sell.
Read Answer Asked by John on March 04, 2025
Q: Hi Peter and 5i Team,

I’m wondering why, for all periods (3 month, 6 month, 1 year, YTD, 3 years, and 5 years) MNT beats both CGL and CGL.C even though the M.E.R. Of MNT is slightly higher than the other two. Is MNT a good way to get some gold exposure in these turbulent times? Thanks as always for your insight.
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on March 04, 2025
Q: DYNF— iShares U.S. Equity Factor Rotation Active ETF (not in your data base). Does this ETF look promising to you going forward ? Based on information in the fund sheet , this ETF is a diversified and tactical exposure to style factors via a factor rotation model. ETF.com says “... The [ETF] model allows securities to be included in multiple equity style factors rather than being solely assigned to a single style factor”.

DYNF has performed very well over the years. It has a 5-star rating from Morningstar based on past performance; Morningstar rates it ‘bronze’ looking forward. I don’t expect the ETF to deliver returns similar to what returns of the past ten years. Nevertheless, in your opinion is this ETF a worthy addition to a portfolio? Unfortunately, my ‘portfolios are overly aggressive and lack dividends, so this ETF is may not be the best. I assume however that since the manager uses several different factors, DYNF may well continue to surpass the S&P 500. Is the above a logical or wrong-headed assumption? If you have better suggestions please advise (US or Europe only) :sab:
Read Answer Asked by Adam on March 04, 2025
Q: Can you suggest any Commodity ETF's that track the S&P livestock index, or food index? Do you think that they could provide increased returns due to tariffs, or possibly other disease and weather related events that may affect global food supply?
Read Answer Asked by Will on March 04, 2025
Q: Hello 5 I,

Just wondering the best avenue to invest it Bitcoin or Etherium directly. I dont want to do the whole wallet route and want to hold in my brokerage account. With that said is there a product that directly moves with the ETH and Bitcoin? Are either of them buys in your eyes? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Tyler on March 03, 2025
Q: Hi 5i,
What's your best choice for an ETF to park some money in a safe place that will get better returns than a high interest savings account. Previously I had some in the ETF CASH but I understand that some governmental changes have resulted in these types of ETFs delivering lower return than previously.
Thanks!
Murray
Read Answer Asked by Murray on March 03, 2025
Q: Can I get your thought on DLR/DLR.U vs. SGOV or BIL for parking $300K in US cash for a 4 months period? The yields are very close and additional consideration for DLR/DLR.U is that the distributions are paid every 3 months, so the holdings can be sold prior to ex-dividend date to get capital gains instead of income.
Read Answer Asked by Ken on February 28, 2025
Q: Hi,

1) Is there an advantage to holding PHYS:CA vs. PHYS:US? How do they stack up with currency fluctuations?

2) Is there any risk with PHYS:US trading on a US exchange if the US goes crazy about Canadians investing in the US? Would it be better to hold PHYS:CA?

Thanks for the help. Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on February 27, 2025
Q: Based on the current market situation, what level of cash would be apropriate to have ?, and if wait and see it is the best approach now , what is the best parking place for cash ?
Read Answer Asked by Alejandro (Alex) on February 27, 2025
Q: Hi,

This is my first question so I hope I am doing it right.

I recently transferred a small pension to a LIRA because of the amount time before retirement (20+ years). I feel like 70% VGRO because of it's holding diversity and with 30% VFV to raise my risk but not all the way to a VEQT risk. Is this a responsible train of thought?

Also, do you recommend a dividend ETF as well because reinvesting dividends the only way I would be able to farther contribute to a LIRA or is that even necessary?
Read Answer Asked by Ross on February 27, 2025