Investment Q&A

Q: Here is a challenge for investors to beat financing charges. The financing is 2.4% for 36 months and I need better than 2.6% to pay taxes on unregistered account. With a ladder of tbills, bonds and strips one can obtain 3.1% with very little risk. If one could live with a bit more risk ( say possibility -5% over the term) are there any other options such as a low volatility income fund or preferred shares?

Q: I am setting up a TFA for my son. As the initial amount is less than $10k i will be investing in ETF/Index funds.

60% of amount will go to broad based fund such as VFV
20% of amount will go to Div paying fund such as VDY
20% Of amount will go to global large mid/large cap fund

Question:

1. I noticed some p/e ratio for various S&P 500 funds vary greatly . The PE for VFV is currently 32 but last week it was 22 ?. Any S&P 500 fund that you prefer over VFV suitable for TFSA?

2. Any suggestions for a global fund geared to mid/large growth companies suitable for TFSA long term?

3. Does my allocation seem reasonable ?

Take whatever credits required, thank you for great service

Q: Can you please recommend a few few USA treasury bill ETFs?

Carl

Q: Hi there. I am wondering your thoughts on QQQI as a way to capture the 100 biggest tech growth names and get an outsized yield (currently 12%) versus just owning VOO or something similar. I would like to generate income over time, and this would also be a way I could have some exposure to options without having to really understand how they work.
Does this thinking make sense? If so, what possible portfolio weighting would you suggest? Thanks for any information you can provide.

Q: Thoughts during the current market cycle?

Q: US Bonds. Do you favor them currently? If so, are there any US Bond ETF's traded in Canada that you would suggest? Thanks, great service.

Q: Good morning,
I currently own HXS and HXT in most of my RESP/TFSA/RRIF and NON - REGISTERED accounts.
In completing an annual performance review of my family portfolio, I noticed that the difference in calendar year performance between HXS and HXS.U is quite significant. In fact for 2024 the calendar year performance of HXS was 35.04% while the calendar year performance of the HXS.U was 24.48%.
I assume that most of the difference can be attributed to the difference between the Can $ and US $.

Q1. If one believes that the CDN$ will remain depressed compared to the US$ for the foreseeable future, which version of these Global X ETFs, do you recommend holding in RESP/TFSA/RRIF accounts where taxes are not an issue.

Q2. Which type of accounts (RESP/RRIF/TFSA/Non-Registered) stand to benefit the most from holding these Total Return ETFs and in what order?

Thank you and I'll await your response.

Francesco

Q: Are there good reasons to expect PHD or, for that matter, floating rate ETFs, in general, will have a better future 5-10 years than their past record would indicate?

Q: I am looking for an Emerging Markets ex-China ETF that has a lower weighting of TSM than what I've found in AVXC (currently at about 9%). Is there a suitable option that exists?

Q: I use ZAG as fixed income ETF for my RRSP following standard recommendations. am i missing out by only using a Canadian ETF? Is there an ETF in CAD that would include US or global content?

Q: Good afternoon,

I have around 18k in my FHSA currently all cash, I'm looking for some investment options to allocate that cash to but not sure of the best practice. I'm looking at purchasing my 1st home in 8-12 months. Would it be best to invest the 18k in different ETFs? Should I allocate 1/3, 1/3, 1/3? What would you recommend as diversification as well as some ETF's you think would be appropriate for my current situation.

Thanks!

Q: I'm looking at portfolio style ETFs for my RRSP like VGRO. I find these Canadian based ETFs are overweight Canadian equites. My aim is to reduce the number of ETFs that i own in my RRSP. Is there any CAD ETFs that you recommend that cover global equities, including US, that doesn't overweight Canada?

Q: Is there a total return ETF similar to HXS, but for the total US market? If not, are there any corporate funds you’d recommend to do the same thing?

Thanks.

Q: I have owned CVD for a while and while it has shown decent results, I am in the unfortunate position of being unsure why I bought it! If I understand the product, a series of bonds (duration unknown to me) would rise faster than a similar bond fund without the conversion features if equity markets rose. I, therefore, assume that in declining equity markets, the fund would decrease less than the underlying equities because the bond provides a "floor" to some extent.

When the conversion price is reached does the fund buy the equity and keep it or does it sell it on the market and use the proceeds to buy more bonds?

If my understanding is correct would you not be better off buying pure equities if you expect the markets to rise and a pure bond bond if you think markets are going to decline? So I am left with the question: "What is the value proposition of a convertible bond fund?"

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: I have another question on these covered call style funds. If the underlying stock rises and the 'at the money' option is exercised and the stock is sold, do the funds have to rebuy equivalent stock?

Or is part of the risk profile that they may be paying out some of the increase in NAV as monthly dividends and the NAV will then decrease over time (or at least the # of shares will decrease).

Q: What is your opinion on this bond ETF? Have owned this in an RSP for a very long time on a DRIP plan which has been extremely disappointing. Would you continue holding? Continue with the DRIP?...or just dump it and move to, say, a laddered GIC scheme. Thanks Ron

Q: I would like you to explain or direct me to an explanation of how the mechanics of CAD hedged USD ETF'S work.

Thank you, Hugh

Q: I am preparing for the sky to fall in coming weeks if not days and may pivot right out of equities, or at least anything remotely tech/risky. My question: can you recommend any monthly pay bond etfs or similarly vehicles where I can sell at any time and don't have to lock in, even for 30 days, so that I can realize some income from the portfolio? Looking to have my cake and eat it too! Thank you.

Q: could you pls suggest a couple of US denominated etfs that track the sp500 - preferably equally weighted. Thanks

Q: To my big surprise the monthly income from XDIV is classified as "interests" income at BMO Investorline and not as dividends income. A T5 slip will confirm this in a few weeks but in your view should it be interest or dividend? Thanks.