Investment Q&A

Q: How high a percentage of your portfolio would you feel comfortable keeping in VIDY? Would that number be lower if one also had, say, an additional 5% in VXM?

Q: Could you please recommend a couple of Copper ETFs going forward.

Q: To get true ETF diversification I feel it is important to look beyond broad based funds. This would include investing in individual sectors that separately cover Canada, USA and outside of North America. My question concerns which of the individual sectors are covered too thinly by any ETFs in CAD. It would be much better to invest with USD. Please rank the following sectors as to which sectors you recommend investing in USD, rather than CAD in order to cover USA and then outside North America. The first one would be best to invest in in USD down to where we could comfortable invest in CAD, either hedged or unhedged.

Materials, Communication, Consumer Cyclical, Consumer Defensive, Energy, Financial Services, Health Care, Industrials, Real Estate, Tech, Utilities.

This is a follow up ETF question about diversification. Currency risk aside, do you see any difference in investing in ETFs in USA or outside North America in CAD of USD? I guess am wondering how the brokerage firms handle the fx game and are we generally better to simply invest in USD.

Bringing in the issue of currency risk, how significant are tracking errors? How do we find out the tracking error of a specific hedged fund.

Thank you

Paul

Q: I am considering gradually switching from an all equity portfolio to these six ETFs at the following percentages: XGRO 20%, VBAL 20%, ZSP 15%, SPY 15%, XIC 15%, and VIU 15%. I have been happy with my returns but am thinking more conservatively.
1. What do you think about this mix, are there any you'd suggest a replacement for?
2. What would your educated guess be for an annualized return over the next 10 years?

Q: Hi 5i Team.

Looking to add some exposure to Copper in my portfolio. Can you list a few of your preferred ETF's , and miners and perhaps briefly explain those choices?

Thanks.

Q: Would you consider these 2 ETF's equivalents?

Q: Good morning - I have a meandering position in MCHI and have become concerned about investing in China as its structural issues seem dire ( real estate, youth unemployment etc) while its exports have soared. I'm wondering which international market makes the most sense these days. I have VEA which is doing fine. I had Japan exposure and left it for China. India seems fully priced. I have plenty of US exposure already and don't want more. So, where to invest? Europe? I know the international markets are not your forte but which ETF(s) would you suggest?

Thanks, as always.

al

Q: Would replicating the bond ETS's and weightings from XBAL be a good strategy to copy for one's bond portfolio?

Q: What would be your top pick for an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 in US$?

Q: I was given the above five ETFs from a friend to consider adding to my portfolio. I assume the criteria of ranking the ETFs are the same as stocks, so I would like your recommendation on how you would rank these five. Also which ones amongst them five are the ones that you would strongly recommend that I should/"must" own.

Thank you.

Q: Hi there. Do you have any thoughts on the ETF DDFD as a way to have exposure to both long and short sides of the market? Is it worth it to have a position/ half a position here? Thanks

Q: I read in the Q&A that portfolio analytics does not give a sector breakdown for HXS.
Does this mean that the analysis of my portfolio indicating which sectors i need to increase or decrease are inaccurate?

Q: This question relates to income tax….

Is tax deducted from dividends paid to this CDN ETF held in a TFSA ?
(listed in Canada, holding European stocks)

Would tax be deducted from a similar CDN ETF holding US stocks?

Is a TFSA the best place to place EBNK ?

Q: RSP is the equal weight S&P 500 ETF available from US exhange with an MER of 0.2%. IMO this MER seems high since the the normal S&P 500 ETF is .03%. Do you know of any similar alternatives at more competitive MER's closer to .03%? Many thanks.

Q: Hello,
For international exposure, I was thinking of buying equal amounts of Vanguard VEQT, and Bmo ZDI or should i diversify and buy equal amounts of the two plus the Manulife IDIV-B international dividend etf . These 2 or 3 three (based on your view) would be in addition to the US ETF , VUN on toronto and XIU on toronto ..Your comments would be appreciated .

Q: I own both and just wonder if both SIL and SVM are needed? I would sell one to buy CCO.

Thanks

Q: I have around 35% cash to deploy in my TFSA, with a long term time frame in mind. I currently have positions in XIC (16%) and VFV (10%). Looking to add and diversify with another 2-3 ETF's. Could you list a few suggestions?

Q: This is a follow-up question regarding XIC/XIU. In your response you said that you preferred XIC over XIU because it is more diversified. This seems to be at odds with the portfolios outlined in the ETF publication where XIU is the preferred option. Somewhat confused. Could you provide some rationale please. Thanks

Q: is there an equal weight S&P 500 ETF that can be bought in CAD (but not hedged) and does not pay a dividend?

Q: Please see below some recent commentary from The Economist. Can you please provide your thoughts? Could you also please suggest one or two US listed ETFs that fit the bill and ideally have worldwide coverage?

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From: How to Hedge a Bubble, AI Edition

“Some of the most effective hedging strategies the Goldman analysts found fell into the third category: combinations of stocks and non-bond diversifiers. In fact, the best diversifiers were mostly filtered baskets of stocks, such as the S&P 500 “low volatility” subindex, which includes the 100 least volatile stocks in the main index. A 50/50 split between this and the S&P 500 would, from 1996 to 2002, have generated nearly twice the annualised excess returns (over cash) of the S&P 500 index alone. So would a similar split with the S&P 500 “dividend aristocrats” index, which includes only companies that have increased their dividends every year for the past 25. Diversifying into “quality” stocks (with high returns on equity, stable earnings and low net debt) would have brought similar returns.
Today, the idea that the best way to hedge equity risk is with equities feels unsatisfying. Considering the alternatives, though, it might just be the best shareholders can do.”