Investment Q&A

Q: With the lowering of interest rates, what bond funds to invest in? Bond ETF’s?

Q: What is your opinion on structured notes. If they are good for income, how do we purchase them? Thanks, James
Also are their similar ETFs?

Q: Would you consider this a good hold for a 3-5 year time horizon?

Thank you.

Q: How do these corporate bonds compare. I was considering a 2% position.
Do you prefer one over the other, or a 1-1.5% position in both.

Thank you

Q: Hello,
Follow up question about Ester’s question on August 29. Can these bonds be redeemed prior to maturity and, excluding the credit risks , are there other material risks to be aware about these bonds or similar corporate bonds. Also, can you please confirm capital loss or gain don’t apply for registered accounts or TFSA. Thank you,

Q: Everyone seems to dislike bonds these days, especially long-term bonds. I was considering TLT for a portion of my portfolio, but I noticed a very poor return this year (4.7% one-year return), even though the Fed has clearly signaled rate cuts at the upcoming meetings. One explanation for the poor performance of treasuries is the oversupply of bonds. With U.S. debt ballooning, there seems to be fewer buyers. While, in theory, TLT's price should increase as rates go lower, I was reading that it may, in fact, remain flat and stuck in the sub-$100 range due to the oversupply. What are your thoughts on this?

Q: I'd like to buy a bond ETF that is actively managed. Please recommend 2 or 3 ETF's that have a track record of doing better than those that are not actively managed. If you have other suggestions that would help me achieve superior returns from the bond universe I'm open to all suggestions.

Q: Greetings,
I have put some cash into HSAV but feel there is not much return coming. As being very conservative is there a better place for better returns to pack some cash?

Thank you,
John

Q: Hello! I’ve been researching a list of high-yield, high-risk bonds, and I’m considering investing in some for fixed income. Here are the details on the bonds I’ve looked at:

1) Laurentian: 5.75% due in 2032, priced at 98.30, with a BB (high) rating.
2) Allied REIT: 45.45% due in 2027, priced at 84.34, with a BBB rating.
3) Brookfield Property: 5.29% due in 2028, priced at 106.125, with a BBB (Low) rating.
4) Enbridge: 5.055% due in 2039, priced at 107.246, with an A (low) rating.
5) Sobey: 4.95% due in 2035, priced at 109.203, with a BBB rating.
6) Canadian Tire 4.947% due in 2035, priced at 107.574.

Could you provide your thoughts on whether these companies are financially sound investments? I’d appreciate your comments. Thanks!

Q: Could you recommend 2-3 fixed income ideas for both in a registered and non-registered situation.

Q: How would you rate this bond fund? Is there a better alternative in terms of performance, risk and cost?

Q: In an investment account that does three cash transactions per month would you park the cash in TDB8150 or the CASH etf? Thanks Ron

Q: My son is 25 years old and saving to buy a house in the near future. Which is a better TFSA investment strategy for him, investing his savings in a balanced ETF Vanguard Growth ETF portfolio (VGRO.TO) vs. allocating 25% of savings to Vanguard Canadian Aggregate Bond Index ETF (VAB), 25% to Vanguard FTSE Canada All Cap Index ETF (VCN), and 50% to Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap ex Canada Index ETF(VXC)?

Q: I have been retired for 5 years. With equities outperforming my fixed income significantly over this time period I am now looking at options to increase the fixed income allocation in my portfolio from 20% to 25 or 30%.

I am looking for advice on what to purchase. I have had some laddered GICs but returns are dropping. Should I consider buying actual bonds...ie construct a bond ladder that might see better returns especially if interest rates continue to drop?

Q: Hi,
I'm looking for your sage opinion on how to deploy cash at this point in time. I have enough cash for 5 years of expenses and I'm in my 2nd year of retirement. The rest of my nest egg is in equities, real estate and bullion.

I have been thinking of just putting this cash into a five year GIC ladder and call it a day. But.... rates are already falling on GICs as we speak, likely in anticipation of further Bank of Canada and soon US Fed cuts.

Have you other options for me to consider for how to deploy this cash to 1) ensure a high probability of being able to meet expenses without selling equities in the event of a market downturn, while 2) ensuring a reasonably decent return from this cash over such a long period.

Specifically, does it make sense to accept around 4% as a guaranteed average rate or is there a solid case to make for dividend payers instead of GICs. Open to other and all suggestions.

Thanks for your invaluable service.
Michael

Q: Your thoughts on TLT, is it likely there more up side in the next year?

Thanks.

Q: Hi 5i Team - In your opinion what might be the possibility of a Canadian bank or several of them failing, at least temporarily, because of a cyber attack, with the consequence of account holders not being able to withdraw cash.

As a corollary to this question what would be your recommendations of safe options for people wanting to store a portion of their cash in case of the above event.
Thanks.

Q: Dear 5i team.

I tried going through recent Q+A to make sense of these two ETFs.

Can you simplify for me?

1) What are the key differences of these two? The yappear to have similar holdings, just diff %.

2) Closing in on one year since inception, any more visibility to performance/cost etc?

3) Can both be held, or do you prefer one over the other?

Many thanks for your help.

Q: Please provide you input on the pros and cons on the difference between ETF bonds, such as RQQ, with maturity dates, vs ETF bonds, such as VAB and/or XLB, with no maturity dates. Instead of investing in GICs, which you are locked in for a period, RQQ can be bought and sold when the market opens, making it seems to be almost as good as GIC.
Thank you

Q: Good afternoon, I am realigning my RRSP account using geographic and asset type recommendations. The asset allocator recommends that 15% of my portfolio be in fixed income. Can you please recommend a few fixed-income ETFs? Also, should fixed-income holdings be mostly domestic or include international as well? Lastly, would you consider CASH.CA part of the fixed-income component of a portfolio or simply a place to keep cash until it is directed into another asset? Thank you in advance.