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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: Hi,
Could I please have your opinion about the iShares Core 1-5 Year USD Bond ETF (ISTB). YCHARTS shows a 1 year return of 2.59%, MER of 0.06% and AUM of $4.856B. Shown as well is a 47% allocation to 1-3 year bonds and 43% to 3-5 years with only 6% long-term.. Do you think this is a solid choice for a US bond fund if one is looking for an intermediate term fund?
Thank you, Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on March 06, 2021
Q: I am not familiar with fixed income investments. I am looking at investing 30k in fixed income . Your portfolios show investments in CVD, CPB, and XHY. Looking for best optimization of rising rate environment and falling bond prices in the future. Just going through your question answer background material , I find VGRO, ICVT, and CSU.DB, very interesting. What would be the best combination in addition to any suggestions you may have. Thank you for your valuable guidance and a great job 5i is doing.
Read Answer Asked by Vinod on March 05, 2021
Q: Good morning team,
A few years ago I purchased ZAG as my bond portfolio for a long-term hold. It did will rising to $17.15, but as interest rates rose and it declined to my purchase price of $16.40, and given that I am over 70 years old, I sold out to preserve capital. I am looking for an alternative, safer place to put the fixed income portion of my portfolio. GICs and money market funds offer weak returns. I am looking at ZST (and ZUS for $US). Do you think these are a good places to go for safety of capital and rising return assuming interest rates continue to go up?
Read Answer Asked by Ken on March 05, 2021
Q: Hello, How come I do not see you recommend ZAG for bond exposure? I saw a recent question where you recommended ZCS for bond exposure. When I look at a 10 year chart, ZAG seems to have outperformed ZCS. Is it because of rising bond yields that you recommend holding ZCS as you predict better performance over ZAG?

Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Alex on March 04, 2021
Q: hello 5i:
Many moons ago, we bought CSU.DB as a fixed income part of the portfolio for its (large) interest rate over prevailing rates at the time. All that was expected was a steady, relatively safe interest payment. The fact we've now got a very good capital gain as well, is a real bonus.
So, the question: is there a debt instrument, currently, that you would put in the same class as CSU.DB, that still has decent liquidity?
thanks
Paul L
Read Answer Asked by Paul on February 26, 2021
Q: Hello, I own above ETF's, and with rising bond yields, is it time to bail out ? If so, which one(s) to let go and which one(s) to keep.
Thanks
Carlo
Read Answer Asked by Carlo on February 26, 2021
Q: Hello,
I am considering moving about 10% of my unregistered portfolio into international (developed market and emerging market) bonds.
I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts on this move -- as some are saying the bonds are even more of a potential bubble than equities -- and which specific bond ETFs you might recommend (ie: EMB for emerging markets).
As always, many thanks in advance! Aaron
Read Answer Asked by Aaron on February 17, 2021
Q: Given current markets and in the near term, I'm considering a 1/3 position in Equities, Fixed Income and Cash. Are these levels reasonable and what is your view of the above ETF's making up my fixed income allocation? You guys are awesome, thanks for your help.
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on February 17, 2021
Q: How does one approach bond investments given the low interest rates. I see XBB had a significant drop today. Why? How would you compare XBB to PMIF?
I am retired senior 78 with a pension.
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Donald on February 17, 2021
Q: Hi - I'm trying to beef up the fixed income side of my portfolio and non-convertible debentures such as the ones above look like a very interesting alternative to bonds. Their yields are >5.5% and CSU.DB even adjusts its distribution for inflation each year. What am I missing here? It seems like people should be all over these, but their prices don't reflect that.
Read Answer Asked by Michael on February 16, 2021
Q: Please list the above in order of preference. Would all three, equally weighted, be sufficient for a conservative portfolio? Two of three?
Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Paul W on February 11, 2021
Q: I need some fixed income suggestions for my RRSP. Anything you particularly like at this time? I know its fixed income but I do have some risk tolerance and a 17 year investment horizon so open to something that pays more than .0000012% interest. Appreciate your thoughts :)

As always.. amazing job team!
Read Answer Asked by Don on February 10, 2021
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