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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
I am looking to add a bond etf to my portfolio. I am looking for something with a reasonable yield, that is defensive with some possible growth opportunities. Could you recommend the one that fits that those criterion or if you have a better choice, I would appreciate it. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Leonard on November 07, 2019
Q: Working on the fixed income portion of my portfolio, thinking of the above plus IYLD all at 4.24% except ZAG at 6.36%.
Retired and looking for income, do I need to increase, decrease or eliminate any, or add something better?
Would all of these be best in RRSP?
Read Answer Asked by Yvonne on November 07, 2019
Q: I would appreciate your help in simplifying my RRIF fixed income portfolio. I am retired at 73, with about 55/45 equity/income split.primary aim is income and capital preservation. I hold positions in zag 10%, xsh 9%, clf 5%, pmif 5%, tlt 5%, xlb 3%, Xhy 2.5%, srln 2.5%, rbf 1340 4%, mdl240 23% and (sadly) preferreds HPR 3% vrp (US) 1.5% .the rest is cash type investments. I would like to switch the canadian PFD to all US: switch xlb for more TLT. I am gradually decreasing mdl240 which has to be withdrawn overtime for another more flexible short duration ETF. Keeping either xhy or srln which ever you feel would improve the porfolio. I would appreciate your thoughts of these etfs, and percentage allotments to them If there are better choices please share your insight. Please use the number of credits appropriate. Thanks very much Tom
Read Answer Asked by Tom on November 07, 2019
Q: hello 5i,
I have generally done well with your stocks but I bought tlt:US only a couple of weeks ago. I am already down 4 percent. I imagine I bought at a bad time because it has gone up for the year. Now stock markets are moving up and bonds, I guess are moving down. I am at a bit of a loss regarding how to proceed with this. I suppose I should buy something like gst's with fixed income to make sure i don't lose money. so, the question is what to do with tlt now. Do you still consider it worthwhile in the current situationÉ
thanks
Read Answer Asked by joseph on November 05, 2019
Q: Another re-balancing questions as my “fixed income” levels are about 20% below where they should be .... as a retiree. And am holding 20% of my portfolios in cash.
My question is regarding XRB and if that would be an appropriate diversifier to a bond portfolio consisting mostly or your previous recommendations: XLB - CBO -XTR - TLT - CBO and VSC.
At some point interest rates will go up and in the meantime XRB has a 1.86% yield which at least beats cash.
Buy? Pass on this - at least for now? Buy something else as a fixed income diversifier.
As usual thank you for your any guidance you can provide here.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on October 29, 2019
Q: Within fixed income today, is it wise to move from longer term bonds into floating rate bonds...seems the longer bonds are beginning to slide while floating rates bonds are holding firm. both pay similar yields. thanks as always.
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on October 28, 2019
Q: Hello 5i team,
I'm looking for a one stop global balanced dividend etf at this time, for the next 4 year time frame.
Maybe VGRO, Vbal etc. but not prefered, I'd like about 3% Canadian content in it.
Too much in Canada already.
Any ideas other than balancing MAW120 or XAW with a GIC ladder ?
Read Answer Asked by Bernie on October 28, 2019
Q: 11:06 AM 10/19/2019

I am trying to compare PSA to TDB8150

My problem is I have already $100K in TDB8150 in my Cash acct and would like to put additional cash funds somewhere, ideally with CDIC protection. I have no more room in TFSA and RRIF accounts. So I am wondering if it is ok to just exceed the $100K amount in TDB8150 since PSA is not CDIC insured anyway. I am not interested in GICs or T-bills as these are not really liquid. Do you have any suggestions? The difference between TDB8150's 1.6% and PSA's 2.14% [or 1.74%?] seems trivial at this time when safety of principal is paramount.

I am very confused about PSA because Yahoo! gives the following data on PSA;
Net Assets 2.1B
Yield 2.16%
YTD Daily Total Return 1.74%
Beta (3Y Monthly) 0.00
Expense Ratio (net) 0.15%
Inception Date 2013-10-15

Does the yield vary from 2.16% ? I see on Aug 06 19 you said PSA has a "2.37% indicated yield", not the 2.16% mentioned in Yahoo. Why does Yahoo indicate a YTD Daily Total Return of "only" 1.74%. What yield do I actually get?

The price of PSA starts each month at $50.00 and rises in 9 or 10 steps a cent at a time during the month to end the month at $50.09 or $50.10 then drops back to $50.00 at the start of the next month. Are the earnings [interest] accumulated during the month and only paid out at month end? Is the payment in cash to one's brokerage account or are more units issued or the cash reinvested?

Thank you.......... Paul K



Read Answer Asked by Paul on October 22, 2019
Q: Hi. Given the current market and economic situation, what is your opinion of ZWC as part of an income portfolio for the next 12 months. I had thought of using both ZWC and XDV to generate some income. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by John on October 21, 2019
Q: it seems to me that a good place to have bond ETF is in an RRSP. do you agree? currently I have about have of my wife's RRSP in VSC and the rest is in cash right now. i was thinking that I would place the remainder in another bond ETF with low management fee and with perhaps a more aggressive posture. Does this make sense and what other bond ETF would you recommend? thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Stuart on October 21, 2019
Q: I'm looking to put some money away in a safe mix of ETF's (likely fixed income) with a desire to earn around 3% over the next 12 months, given overall market risks and conditions what would you suggest. thanks for your advice.
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on October 11, 2019
Q: Hello team,

Just a follow up on 5i answer on Sam's inquiry about buying exchange traded US pay
PSU.U. The list you provided of possible brokers that will allow you to buy the product included TD. I use TD Webbroker for online trading, and they have conflicting offerings and won't let me purchase. The TD previous trade you saw yesterday was most likely Institutional.

Stephen
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on October 08, 2019
Q: Hi there
I am looking to invest 30% of my TFSA portfolio in a bond ETF . The remaining 70% are in dividend stocks (mainly in financial institutions). Would you please suggest what bonds ETF or any other fixed income option should I be considering? The goal is to protect my principal amount.
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by A on October 04, 2019