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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: I am trying to understand bond diversification better. I have a long term portfolio of mostly equity exposures and some XBB. Do you generally recommend further diversifying bond holdings? Eg to an inflation protected fund or more global exposure or specific maturity profile (eg shorter maturities)? If so could you recommend ETFs for diversification purposes?

I don’t want to over complicate things but also want diversification to different market scenarios in the spirit of an « all weather » portfolio. In particular real return bonds seem useful for this compared to XBB. I would be grateful for your thoughts. Thank you very much.
Read Answer Asked by Chris on January 11, 2022
Q: I own 100 shares of STIP in my RRSP. It's expected interest is listed as slightly over 4 percent. But in my TD Waterhouse account, under expected income it shows me getting $739 dollars per year in interest or 61.60 per month. That works out to 7% in interest. Is this right? I've owned the ETF for three months and sure enough I have received the 61.60 for each of those months. If so, it is a really good return for fixed income. I'm just not sure what accounts for the discrepancy.
Read Answer Asked by Carla on January 11, 2022
Q: Why is there such a variance in the performance of these bond funds. XBB seems to be the lowest and FTB the best with PMIF the second. What would you recommend holding in a portfolio. I am a 79 year old with a private pension.

Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on January 11, 2022
Q: Hello 5i Team,
I have a mixed basket of ETFs across assets types (equity, bond, preferred, etc...) in my TFSA for income.

I was looking at the dividend growth over the past 5 years and noticed that many of the ETFs have had a negative growth. Namely, bond indexes (VAB,XHY, HYI, and ZEF) have trended downward as well as prefs, REITs and europe/emerging equities (CPD, XRE, and ZWE).

I was wondering why that is? Is it because of low interest rates over the years or rising debt levels(or something worse)?

Thank You,
Andrew
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on January 09, 2022
Q: I currently own CLF,CPD,ZAG and HLY in a LIRA account. The weight of these 4 ETFs are all 2 %. each. I would like to sell 2 and then use the cash to increase the weight of the other 2 that I will keep. Which 2 ETFs would you sell?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked on January 09, 2022
Q: HNY - Amid the confusion among predictions for 2022 is a recommendation from veteran income investor Mark Grant who says he's putting clients into ETF PDI from Pimco as a means of generating 10% income returns annually. I would be interested in having your analysis of this ETF including the risks, rewards, fees, etc. Obviously not in your growth wheelhouse but for an income position in US dollars what are your views on this one?
Read Answer Asked by Ken on January 04, 2022
Q: What ETFs do you recommend for a retired senior with a company pension age 79. I am a conservative investor. How should covid developments affect my selection?
Read Answer Asked by Donald on January 03, 2022
Q: I have about 10% of my portfolio in these bond ETFs XBB 2%, CLF 4%, XSB 2%, XSH 1%, PMIF 1%. They have shown a negative performance recently with CLF down 7%. The coupon reduces the losses. Will increased interest rates improve their performance? An alternative is to reduce my exposure and buy something like BCE with a low beta and a better yield (5% +). I am 79 years old and have pension income. My portfolio is conservative holding a large proportion in banks, telecoms and utilities. I am looking for stocks, ETFs with a low beta and good yield..
Read Answer Asked by Donald on January 03, 2022
Q: Good morning. I have had RBF7280 for decades. It yields 3.43% and has an MER of 1.43. Would it be comparable to XHY which has a higher yield and a lower MER? Is there another alternative that you can suggest?
I don't trade or worry very much since I started with 5i a few years ago. Thank. John
Read Answer Asked by John on January 03, 2022
Q: Is there a Canadian Dollar equivalent to the
US I Savings Bond?
Read Answer Asked by Sue on December 14, 2021
Q: I need to shore up my accounts with some fixed income (low risk) positions. All indications are that interest rates are likely to rise, which makes me nervous to hold bonds or bond funds. I am not sure where to turn - maybe Bond ETF's? I don't want to micromanage a specific bond portfolio either. Do you have any advice on the best approach? I am still 10-15 years from "retirement" (whatever that means), so my investment horizon is still pretty long term.

Thanks in advance
Read Answer Asked by Don on December 13, 2021
Q: With the 30 year US bond flirting with 1.7% I am wondering what 5i's take is relative to the current discussion about inflation and the taper. Conventional wisdom would suggest selling bonds should tend to move rates up as would expectations of higher inflation.
Thanks in advance.
Mike
Read Answer Asked by michael on December 06, 2021
Q: Can you suggest some short-term bond ETFs that are investing in government and/or large blue-chip companies? 3 for Canadian market and 3 for internal markets please? This is to provide regular income after retirement.
Read Answer Asked by CK on December 06, 2021
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