Investment Q&A

Q: 1. As I approach retirement I am looking for options to at least slightly improve the dismal returns from the fixed income portion of my portfolio (currently in bond funds, PSA, GICs, returns 2.2-3%).
I am wondering what you think of market linked GICs? The 5-year TD Canadian Banking & Utilities GIC offers an annual guaranteed minimum interest of 2.75%, and maximum total return 25.00%. The 5 year Oaken GIC rate is 2.85%. With 100% principal protection, a competitive minimum interest rate and the potential for a modestly greater return I cannot see any downside to the TD product which makes me think I must be missing something.

Q: Hello 5i team, I am slowly reducing my exposure to equities for two reasons: position my portfolios ( US + CDN) for a possible recession or slowdown and also, I am 66 year old and my portfolios are 80% equities.
I have taken small positions to above bonds ETFs.. May I have your comments and also, would you recommend short/long or medium bonds and treasuries? As well, do you have other recommendations for someone my age? Thanks CR

Q: For an investor with a high equity tilt (e.g. 90% equity - 10% bonds), can you recommend one fund as a one-stop-shop for the bond component? PMIF currently has my attention.

Q: In his profoundly influential book, The Battle for Investment Survival, originally written in 1935, Gerald Loeb states: "Indeed, should some super-solvent agency agree to preserve the buying power of capital for a substantial length of time at a stated fee per annum, informed people would embrace the plan enthusiastically if they felt there was any real possibility of the agency staying solvent."

According to Bloomberg, 17 trillion dollars are invested at negative interest rates today. Surely, much of that is smart money. Is that money acting on Loeb's dictum?

Q: Further clarification of my question re bond holdings in portfolio. md stable income fund is a segregated group annuity insurance policy holding 50% insurance and 30% short term bonds. I would like to decrease my weighting to 10% or switch to another short term fund as 20% plus cash holdings is hurting my returns. What percentage do you feel of a moderate rrif should be short term bond? Thanks once again for your opinion
Tom

Q: What would you consider good alternatives to XTR (iShares diversified monthly income ETF) that Do Not use return of capital in their distributions?

Thank You
Frank

Q: Hi, Would these two funds be too correlated to each other, or too much overlap to hold for at least five years, thanks?

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

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?

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

Q: What can you tell me about this company? I have held it for about 10 years in a registered account. Not sure what the yield is either. Is there another similar bond fund that is better?

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

Q: Good morning,

Looking for your opinion on the most recent issue of 5.25% , Dec/2024 debentures ?

Thank you.

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.

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.

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 ?

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

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

Q: please give me your assessment of this ETF - risk, suitability, and likely performance compared to what Dynamic suggests might happen

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.