Investment Q&A

Q: These 2 funds look quite attractive, comments, can you suggest anything else?

Q: Hello, In an effort to make my Portfolio Analytics as accurate as possible, can you provide a way to track mutual funds held through Sunlife group company rrsp?
I hold the following BLK Bond Index fund, BLK EAFE Equity Index
BLK Aggressive Balanced, BLK US Equity Index Reg. Thanks

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. I have two legacy mutual funds...RBC Canadian Equity Income Fund...series D, with a MER of 1.04% and Sentry Canadian Income Fund with a MER of 2.35%. I have owed each for just over 9 years. My original thesis was to have some professional management look after some of my portfolio with the goal of consistent dividend income and some growth of capital. I have just over 5% of the equity portion of my portfolio in each of them.

Periodically I review their performance....the thinking being that as long as they are meeting my investment goals, then the higher MER may appear worthwhile. Here is my methodology, albeit very simplified...does it make sense to you?

I took my unrealized capital gains directly from RBC Direct Investing and divided it by the holding period to create the average annual return of the capital. Then I took the dividend yield and netted out the average ROC to create a "net dividend yield". Add the two together to create the Total Return.

Example: Sentry = 42.14% unrealized CG divided by 9.17 years = 4.6%/yr. Gross dividend of 5.1% netted down by 24% average ROC creates a net dividend of 3.9%. Total Return = 8.5%/year.

For RBC = 7.4%/year (3.6% + 3.8%).

When I look at the posted RBC-5 yr (8.3%) and 10 yr (7.9%) averages, my calculation looks low, but within reason. When I look at the Sentry-5 yr (5.6%) and 10 yr (7.2%) averages, my calculation looks high. Since the original purchases, there were no additional funds added. I have trimmed each position once.

Question #1 = I know you can shoot holes through this, but from a "very ballpark" laymen's point of view, does my methodology make sense? I understand I only used "simple" averages, not "time-weighted" averages.

Q#2 = I had to create my own average for ROC. I went back through my income tax receipts which showed how the distributions were broken down into CG, Dividend, Interest income, ROC. It was actually pretty easy to do. Then I simply averaged them. For the RBC fund, the simple average since 2013 = 6% ROC. For Sentry = 24% ROC. Does your data base show any better data on a longer term average ROC...long shot, but I thought I'd ask. My data only goes back to 2013.

Q#3 = should I have ignored the ROC issue? In real simple terms I wanted to compare the capital invested versus dividends received + capital received (if I was to sell out).

Thanks for your help...much appreciated...Steve

Q: What is your opinion of Invesco International Fund Series F or other Invesco International Fund Series?

Q: hi, What yours thoughts for those Fund for 2/3% portfolio?
is it to expensive?
thanks jean guy.

Q: Hi Guys
How do you think Mawer International fund will perform going out 5 or 10 years, or would you choose Emerging Markets instead, Would China be a risk ?
Geographic Allocation
45.9% Europe Ex. U.K.
20.0% United Kingdom
14.2% Asia Pacific Ex. Japan
10.7% Japan
5.3% United States
3.9% Cash & Cash Equivalents
0.0% Middle East/Africa
0.0% Latin America
0.0% Canada

Q: How safe is the etf
Is this a good way for short term savings
And how is the income taxed
Thanks
Sam

Q: Could I have your view on the following companies.

Q: Hello,

Can I get a couple of your recommendations for the best balanced growth ETF and/or mutual fund as well as a pure growth recommendation. Sector & Geographic allocation not a huge concern.

Thanks.

Q: Dear 5i,

I am considering purchasing either PGF860 or PGF260 for my RIF and TFSA accounts.
Morningstar describes both as Global Small/Mid/Cap equity mutual funds but, PGF860 appears to have much fewer holdings. May I please have your thoughts on these two funds and whether they might be good considerations for my two different accounts. Might one be better suited for each account?
Thanks for the terrific service!

Q: hi, what is your thoughts MFC 5786:ca and MFC 5303:ca for 2-3% portfolio

thanks Jean guy

Q: Looking for feedback on a couple Fidelity Funds. Fidelity Canadian Growth Company & Fidelity Global Innovators. Notice there are some redundancies between them in holdings but each has been recommended to me by my Sun life Advisor.

Thanks.

Q: When mutual funds and ETF'S show there annual returns are they net of all fees? So if a mutual fund has a higher MER but out performs a lower fee ETF it would be obviously better to go with the Mutual fund if history shows better returns even if it's only say 0.5 %. Not guaranting future returns of course. Is this why you like recommending Mawer funds!

Q: Good afternoon:
I have a Foundation account that I am managing
for my late mother, and was wondering if you could suggest 6 mutual funds to invest in. I am not allowed to invest in any higher risk funds. (I do like
the Mawer group of funds.)
Thanks!

Q: First a big thank you for the terrific returns we received in 2020 thanks to your stellar guidance (our largest holdings we first discovered through 5i -hello LSPD,XBC and WELL!). We gifted our kids memberships in December and praise your service to everyone. This is truly an invaluable service.
Now to the question, my brother is tired of paying high fees for his CIBC pension holdings. When I looked into this for him last year, some pools had MER in the 2% range! He’s moved the following into cash and is looking for lower fee/higher return alternatives in the following areas of his pension account:
-Imperial Canadian Dividend Income Pool
-Imperial Canadian Equity High Income Pool
-Imperial US Equity Pool
-Imperial International Equity Pool
-Imperial Short Term Bond Pool
-Imperial Long Term Bond Pool
Please charge as many questions as required.

Q: Hello,
I have some holdings in the Sun Life Granite Balanced Growth Portfolio class F as a "steady" fund for a blend of growth and safety. Thoughts on this fund please and any funds in your view that could be better in the space.

Thanks.

Q: Would like your opinion of this fund (Desjardins Overseas growth fund)and of the portfolio manager (Baillie Gifford) . Would you have a recommendation on an ETF that is comparable and what other funds/etf's does this fund manager handles. Thanks

Q: Hi Peter
Can you point me to a good actively managed mutual fund(s). with reasonable MERs. Having been a very successful manager yourself is there anyone that stands out over the longer term preferablly with a mandate bigger than Canada.
Thx Blake

Q: Peter; I own multiple Mawer funds thanks to you . One is the Maw130- I just tried to buy some more and was told by BMOINVESTORLINE that it is F class fund and I can’t buy it - yet I must have once because I own it and it shows in my holdings. Can you clear this up ? Thanks. Rod

Q: Your thoughts on the IPO for Ninepoint Partners LP Bitcoin Trust - Class A, and how does this compare to other listed companies (GBTC, QBTC, BTCG, GLXY)? I am not interested in participating in the current FOMO, so willing to wait for the next pullback. In the meantime I'd like to assess how these current offerings compare to Ninepoint. Does Ninepoint trade like an ETF? Much thx.