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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: I’m assuming that the holdings of PMIF are identical to PMO005, which are 48% securitized; 38% government; 22% corporate; 13% other.

Question 1: what is meant by ‘securitized’? Is that a good thing in a bond fund?

I’ve spent a day researching C$ bond ETFs and the more I research, the more confused I become.

Question 2: Is PMIF about as good as any other bond ETF out there?
I’m not too concerned about fees or yield, as what I’m looking for is low volatility, preservation of capital, with a reasonable total return.

Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Irwin on November 08, 2017
Q: Hi, I am helping my in-laws manage their retirement savings, and I would like to have suggestions for investing the remaining balance in my father-in-law's RRIF (about $7000). The rate of withdrawal is fairly high as he is now 92. I was thinking the best way would be to invest in a balanced, dividend or bond mutual fund, to avoid commissions. This mutual fund, composed of various ETFs, is managed by Larry Berman. It seems to generate a decent and constant dividend, without much volatility. The series D has an MER of about 1.17%. What do you think of this fund? Would you have other suggestions? The overall portfolio is very diversified and of course fairly conservative. Thanks for your service.
Read Answer Asked by Bernard on November 03, 2017
Q: Peter,

I want to compare performance of various mutual funds on my electronic watchlist. This will involve equity funds as well as balanced funds. I have no interest in bond funds. I will be looking at both small cap & large cap. What companies to you recommend me comparing. I know you like Mawer and have owned various of their funds for a number of years and am very happy with the results.
If specific mutual fund families have a specific successful niche ( ie small cap etc ) please indicate. looking at Canada, USA, non North America as well as Emerging Markets.

Thanks for allowing us to renew at old prices early.


Thank you

Paul
Read Answer Asked by paul on October 31, 2017
Q: Can you please give me your thoughts (or alternative recommendations) on the following Funds for a 64 year old heading into retirement within the next year.

RBC Select Balanced Portfolio - Series A . (RBF460)
EdgePoint Cdn Growth & Income Port Sr A (CAD). - (EDG188)
EdgePoint Global Growth & Inc Port Sr A (CAD). - (EDG180)
PIMCO Monthly Income A (CAD). - (PMO005)

Please deduct as many credits as required.

As always, thank you for your invaluable service.

Micheal
Read Answer Asked by micheal on October 31, 2017
Q: Hello, iam a retired investor with $190,000 in a tangerine fund.
50,000 in rrsp balanced fund
70,000 in non reg. balanced fund
70,000 in tfsa equity growth fund
I will be transferring the above to a CIBC global monthly income balanced fund,as I will be getting a employee discount on the MER.
My tfsa will be in a equity growth fund at CIBC.
My question is that Tanerine only pays a dividend once a year around Dec. 20th.
Should I wait for the dividend,or because the fund drops in price after the dividend it would not make any difference?
I think I would be better off getting the dividend and then transferring in the new year, any thoughts on this
Thanks Brad.A
Read Answer Asked by Brad on October 30, 2017
Q: A friend of mine has $100K invested in RBC Select Conservative Portfolio Series (RBF461). She is 55, and those are all her assets. Her risk profile is conservative, and she has no investment knowledge. The fund meets her investor profile and risk tolerance, however the Morningstar Quartile ranking has been 3rd in each of the past 5 years and 4th in the 2 years previous to that. MER is 1.84%.

Could you suggest some other mutual fund (even from RBC), or ETF that fits her profile, but has better performance (like a 1st or 2nd Quartile performer from Morningstar).

Read Answer Asked by Paul on October 30, 2017
Q: I have a 40% US weighting in all my portfolios combined, with the above four holdings comprising 75% of the 40%.
VGT 4.6%, VUN 7.7%, CIB590 10.1%, CIB595 7.1%- equalling 30% of total equity portfolio.

Could I have your comments wrt the overlap in these four holdings. Is there enough diversity to continue to hold all four or would you collapse and combine?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by JEFF on October 23, 2017
Q: In your recent report on Absolute Software, you refer to Van Berkom and Associates as a major stockholder of that company.

Checking their website I was struck by the astounding track record for their Canadian Small-Cap Strategy Fund. Over a period of 25 years it generated a compound annualized rate of return of 13,93%. However the website does not give any specific info on the stocks that currently make up the portfolio.

Do you have that piece of info or do you know of a site where it is available?

Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Guy on October 23, 2017
Q: Hi there, I currently have no exposure outside of the TSX and the Canadian market. I know ETFs are often recommended as good ways to get exposure outside of Canada but I was doing research into mutual funds and the new Fidelity Insights fund managed by Will Danoff seems like it is performing well. In addition, it sounds like his Fidelity Contra Fund in the US seems to perform quite well over time. What are your thoughts on him as a fund manager and the Fidelity Insights fund for outside of Canada exposure? Also, there is the standard version and a currency neutral version - which I presume implies hedged and unhedged. If this will be a longterm position, which would be preferred between the two? Thanks for your guidance!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on October 16, 2017
Q: I am trying to clean up my husband's portfolio but am missing some ACB data. Specifically, when I checked his 2000 investment statement, he had Janus Global Equity Fund, but now he doesn't have this holding. However, he has a Mackenzie fund (MFC1055) that he didn't remember buying. I am thinking there was a fund merger at some point. Where can I find information about historical fund mergers?
Read Answer Asked by M on October 04, 2017
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