Investment Q&A

Q: I am considering this fund to diversify my fixed income holdings. I currently own VAB, VSB a GIC ladder. The plan is gradually to replace VSB and part of the GICs with LWF021. I would appreciate any comments you may have. Thank you.

Q: What do you think of the the Fidelity Opportunities fund? It has dominated the other Canadian equity mutual funds and ETFs in terms of performance for all time periods (it holds 15% USD so may not be a fair comparison). 2.28% MER. I'm thinking the extra MER is worth the extra cost to replace my holdings in MAW106 in my registered account. Do you agree with this switch? Which series would you purchase ? Thank-you.

Q: Good Morning 5i,

I’ve been offered a DCPP with my employer and I have to select the funds to allocate contributions to.

Available are the typical Canada, US, EAFE low cost indexes as well as the Mawer Global Equity Fund (with a heavily discount MER). In your opinion would it be best to spread out my contributions to create a passive global index strategy or is it better to go with Mawer Global Equity? What do you do if you were me?

Also, if you were to spread it amongst the geographic indexes, what would the the suggested breakdown between the different countries?

Thanks for your time!

Q: I have CIF 843 in my RRSP - it comprises 8% of the RRSP. What is your opinion of it's performance & costs. Also- could you provide 3 or 4 alternates each of both Mutual Funds and ETF, in the same asset class.

Q: I currently own the Mackenzie Greenship Global Environmental All Cap Fund Series F (MFC 5786). I would like to know what do you think of this fund and if I would be better to own an ETF or stocks instead. If it is the case what it might be?

Q: Peter,

I would be quite interested in your very knowledgeable opinion on the Sat article in the Globe re the Bridging Finance Inc fiasco. It smells of Madoff of the North. I find it ironic that they would lend to mid-sized companies that had been ignored { declined } the banks , but the banks were then pushing out the end product as a recommended investment. How with any common sense would the spin sent out by the Sharpes ever pass the sniff test when they claim they were in essence lending to companies that banks would not touch , yet had zero writeoffs. I must be missing something.

How as retail investors are we to protect ourselves when the " experts" look like they were hook line and sinker into a pile of garbage.

Thanks

Paul

Q: Hi 5i,

Can I get your initial thoughts about the Purpose Longevity Pension Fund?
I am age 63 and I think it might be like a reasonable bond substitute in my RRSP.
Do you think the targeted 6.1% is sustainable?
Why haven't the big banks like TD which have a lot of mutual funds offered this product?
If one doesn't need the income is it better to invest in a balance ETF?

thanks

Q: Annually I review my portfolio following a great book I read years ago, called "Master Your Retirement" by Douglas V. Nelson. One calculation I perform is to calculate the average beta for my entire portfolio.

I hold these two legacy funds. I haven't been able to find their beta for a number of years. The last data I had was 1.00 for RBF1018 and 0.40 for CIG50217. Can you check your search engines for anything more recent...thanks.

I also hold Eric's Nine Point Energy ETF (NNRG). I can't find a beta for it either. As a proxy I used the beta for XEG (2.33). Do you have anything better...thanks.

Thanks for your help...Steve

Q: Which one do you prefer or both? Your opinion is much appreciated, Thanks

Q: What are the similarities and differences between the TD Canadian Index fund (e series) and XIU? The TD fund is based on the Solactive Canada Broad Market Index. XIU is based on the S&P/TSX 60 Index. After reviewing materials I'm not sure of the similarities and differences. Please explain.

Thank you for your ongoing excellent commentary on questions. I review questions and answers daily. It's a little after one year after signing up, and I am a much, much better investor because of your service.

Q: Peter; Do you have an opinion on SMA’s being touted lately? Are they really a necessary addition to a balanced portfolio, and how has the Mawer offering
performed ? Thanks.
Rod

Q: For my kids RESP's I buy low cost TD index funds "e-series" to keep things simple. However I notice they added a disclaimer which didn't used to be there when buying this last time, it says "A short-term trading fee of up to 2%, payable to the fund, may apply to all units of TD Mutual Funds (except money market funds". What does this mean? Short term makes it sound like I get the money back? But if not, f they are adding 2% to the purchase of low cost index funds, those are no longer low cost. Thoughts?

Q: Could you please outline how to evaluate the value of a segregated fund, and also what ramifications there are to selling it, as compared to other equities or funds?

Thanks

Peted

Q: I am looking to finally replace the following mutual funds held in a self admin RSP account, to equivalent ETFs.
FID269 - Fid Monthly Inc;
FID5973 - Fid Global Innovation;
FID207 - Fid Global Concentrated Equity;
RBC460 - Sel Bal Ptf
TDB2760 - Td Retirement Balance
TDB652 - Td Global Entertainment & communication
TDB976 - Td Health Science
TDB2580 Td Tactical Monthly Inc
My goal is to replace these mutual funds with long term, high yielding where possible, low MER, CDN or US $ equivalent ETFs. Please provide 2 or 3 suggestions for each. Please deduct as many credit s as need.
Thank you for all the invaluable investment help you provide.

Q: What are your thoughts on the latest Mawer mutual fund - MAW 180 and does it have place in a well diversified portfolio?
Also is there a withholding tax if held outside of a RSP.
Thank you

Q: Hi. Thanks for your amazing service. Dividend investor here.

What do you think of RBF 1012 for monthly income? Do you have ETFs you would prefer?

Thanks

Q: Please give me your opinion on Multi-Factor investing, in general, and the Manulife Multifactor ETFs for long term investing.
Thanks.

Q: Have you heard of this private fund called Merchant Opportunities Fund? If so, what are your thoughts on this?

Q: If you owned Dynamic American 041 would you be inclined to replace it with the ETF equivalent… We understand that Mr Fingold manages an ETF but can’t find an exact proxy …
What do you think of DXF or
DXG

Q: Appreciate your opinion on this fund.

Thanks