Investment Q&A

Q: Dear 5i team.
The following was your response to a bond question I asked in '24.

"Nothing is guaranteed, but bonds' leverage is highly correlated to their maturity. CLF has a relatively low duration of 2.8 years, whereas XLB is 15 years. As a general rule, for every 1% increase or decrease in interest rates, a bond's price will change approximately 1% in the opposite direction for every year of duration. With a bond ETF in theory the move should be similar, and thus XLB in theory should see a much larger move than CLF when rates move (either way). In reality it is not so concrete, and depends on variables in the yield curve and other factors (supply/demand). But we would be very confident in saying that if rates move lower XLB's bond portfolio should do significantly better than CLF. Owning XLB is essentially a 'bet' that rates will drop. As such, we would be fine owning both XBB and XLB for a bit more diversification of bonds. XBB's duration is 7.5 years so a good middle ground between CLF and XLB."

Been watching XLB/XBB for some time now, and both appear to be in downward trends in terms of share price, and close on yields. Rates have been steady, or in decline, so I'm completely confused.
Please take a look and try to make sense of this for me?

Many thanks for your help.

Q: I've set aside $50,000 to pay tax instalments in September and December. can you recommend a fairly safe investment that would provide decent income while I wait?

Q: Good afternoon 5i;

I have been a holder of the TLT ETF for some time; only a very short period was it in the green. While the yield has been decent, I am now down 14% as the Jerome Powell cage gets rattled.

My question is simply, are the Trumpian risks becoming too much to hold this ETF? I believe he is radical enough to remove Powell, but likely won't and will just continue to make noise. Even the noise is having impact.

If yes, do you have a Canadian Bond Fund you might recommend of similar characteristics?

Q: Hi Team:
I have some cash sitting in RIF acct. Presently in RBF2010 paying 2.3% interest, with unlimited charge for buy or sells..
Would I be better to spent the $9.95 and buy into something like CASH or PSA? Then I would also have to pay $9.95 to get out.
As a follow-up to that question how about if this was in an 'open account' , Where the interest is taxed at 100% income whereas CASH or PSA would act like a dividend income and therefore taxed at roughly 66% income.
OR do you have a better suggestion for larger amounts of $$
Thank you. :-)

Q: David Rosenberg recently wrote an article relating to the outsized US debt situation.
One of his recommendations is high quality bonds. Would you agree with this assessment?
What high quality bonds would you purchase and what length of time - short or long term?
Thank you!

Q: What are your thoughts on the prospects of this ETF?
Is it worth holding? What other suggestions might you have?

Q: I'm trying to understand HPYT and what factors will influence the market price . In Dec. 23 market price was $12.83 and yield was 14% . Today it is $8.91 and yield is 20% . Am I correct in assuming as the price drops the yield will rise ? I did notice that since inception HPYT has paid .15 cents a month . Up until the recent June payment which was .13 cents. Why the decrease ?

What factors influence the market price ? Interest rates I assume . What effect will rising interest rates have on the price ? And what effect will dropping interest rates have ?

What effect will a Taco tariff policy have on the price ?

Will the " Great Big Beautiful Bill " have an effect on the price ? Going to be a substantial increase in U.S. debt .....

Will the price be influenced by Trump's rhetoric of replacing Powell ? And what effect will that be ? .....I can't imagine Mr Market will react positively to a politically motivated Fed Chair .....

Can I slot this into the fixed income portion of my portfolio or is it too volatile ?
Basically I would like to know the various factors 5i feels will influence the price/yield of this security .....

Thanks for your terrific service .....

Q: Hi, new hear and would like to know the best place to park some money for each account type. Money will be needed between 3 to 12 months. Also if selling in which order would you sell the following ZWK, ZPW, UMAX, ENCC, TD, NA, FC, SLF.
Thank you

Q: What are thoughts on Collateralized Loan Obligation ETF's? Is ZAAA a good one, or are there better ones?

Q: Could you give me a brief overview of of CLO etfs,(e.g. BAAA) and their safety compared to short term funds such as ZST

Q: Hello 5i
I am overweight Nvidia and plan to sell some. At my stage it is probably wise to put this in fixed income. I don’t know much about this, however, and have been made a bit gunshy by hearing of people losing money in what one would imagine to be a safe and secure bet. So, iaskif you could give me some possibilities for US dollar fixed income in a non-registered account. Something that could reduce taxes would be helpful, as well
Thanks for your great service

Q: Please give me your opinion on the following bond from Top Aces Inc. Is it a good buy and is it safe to invest in it? The details from CIRO are:
CUSIP: 890523AA1
ISIN: CA890523AA10
FIGI: BBG01SQB5TM1

Q: Hello 5i,

We have a bit of a conundrum on our fixed low-risk investments for our RRSP’s. We have laddered GIC’s (@5%-5.4%) that expire each year to cover costs + we sell some USD fixed income for vacations. We are running dry on GIC’s and our fixed income (BIL) may have rates reduced. We need to replenish Canadian and USD fixed income as those investments are our safety net in case everything goes for a crap for 1-2 years.

Our standard decision in a lower rate environment is to purchase stocks or ETF’s with decent yields but the market is very high, 5-10 year Treasuries seem to be risky now due to Trumponomics, and our time-line is always short for that strategy.

Our goal is to have a 5% increase per year (thru yield or ETF or stock increase). Do you have a few suggestions?

Thank you
D&J

Q: I am relooking at the Fixed Income portion of my portfolio. The bulk is bond funds, but it also includes a few GIC’s and a HISA. But what about Preferred Shares, EIT, FIE, TXF, and UMAX, all of which I hold STRICKLY for their distributions? I am currently grouping them in with my dividend stocks but maybe they should be included in Fixed Income? EIT and FIE have paid out the same distribution for ten plus years. Thanks.

Q: Could you suggest a global bond ETF in Canadian dollars? Thanks

Q: I had purchased this in my RRIF thinking it would be fairly stable. Unfortunately with the drop in the US dollar it has not performed well. Would you continue to hold short term US gov bonds in this environment?. The second part of th e question is this a reasonable ETF for that purpose. I do hold AGG as well

Q: I was on forums looking at a question about parking US cash. The discussion was between Rob and Jeff dated Feb. 4, 2025. It seemed from my understanding that you can have T Bills that pay about the best rates and at that time it was 5% plus. I have accounts online both US and Canadian. Are these US online accounts set up to buy T Bills like I buy a stock? Thanks so much.

Q: Is there a Cdn $ etf that benefits from US$ strength and the higher (vs Cdn) US short term bond rates ? Thank you.

Q: I hold the Franklin Quotential Diversified Income Portfolio Series F (TML3253) mutual fund in my RRSP. It accounts for about 10% of my entire portfolio. I pretty much ignore it, mostly because I find bonds hard to understand. Do you think retirees need bonds in their portfolio if they hold a lot of dividend stocks and funds like FIE and EIT, plus keep a years worth of cash to live on outside of the market? If yes, would you continue to hold this fund or move into a bond ETF? And what ETF would you suggest? And if no bonds, what would you suggest moving the fund into? Thank you.

Q: Can you please explain why or why not it is important to have bond funds in one's portfolio. I have been reluctant to buy as during COVID market crash my bond funds, did very poorly at a time when I thought they would provide stability. Since my fixed income was supposed to be the worry-free part of my portfolio I have not reentered bond funds and choose GICs for fixed portion. The same happened with preferred shares years ago. Why would one not just buy a bond where your principle is guaranteed if you hold until maturity? Are these bond funds doing what they are supposed to do and what are the benefits of a bond fund as opposed to just buying the bonds outright? Is money earned still taxed as interest in a a bond fund? For someone with no bond fund exposure what would you suggest?