Investment Q&A

Q: For portfolio type mutual funds such as the Mawer 104 balanced fund or the BMO select trust balanced portfolio is it possible to track down the MERs for the underlying holdings to better understand the overall fee structure? For the Mawer fund I can't find any information on the MER for the series O funds held in the portfolio as compared to their regular series A funds.

I haven't started to dig into the BMO fund yet, but it too is of interest as it has been recommended to family members by the local bank branch 'advisor' and already has a high MER on the portfolio fund.

Q: Hi 5i:

I have a set percentage of my portfolio dedicated to fixed income, with a primary focus on safety, but also with the hope of some return. I have focused on short term bond ladder ETFs, corporate and gov't. Over the last few years I have seen the reported distributions drop, slowly but steadily, and also the price of the ETFs drop steadily. For example, CBO now shows a dividend of about 3.6% wile I'm down about 3.3% on the market value of the ETF. I would have been much better off over the last few years in a GIC. I have some of the latter and like the ETFs because I can redeem them at will. Is there any other alternative to these bond ETFs (most that I have looked behave similarly)? What about RBC's Target Bond ETFs? These are held to maturity, though it seems to me that this might not help if the main problem is that the bonds included in the ETFs are bought at a premium. Your advice would be much appreciated.

Q: I was recently told that if I sell my investment in AGF Fixed Income Plus fund, there was a penalty to be paid. I could not get much more info from the broker or the AGF web site.Is this a portion of their MER or can you enlighten me.
Thanks

Q: Ours is a very conservative portfolio, with one third in dividend-paying equities, half of that individual stocks and half no-load funds. The latter's performance doesn't seem to justify the MER's so I would like to reduce, maybe eliminate, that cost, roughly $5,000 per year. Any thoughts you might have on how best to effect that change and what form that should take, eg less funds, more stocks and/or ETF's, will be much appreciated.

Q: what is your opinion of the stck DFN - dividend 15 split

Thank you for your opinion

Q: Hi,
My brother is a Primerica agent (err..salesperson). Im not big on Primerica as a company at all. He keeps pushing though about this large cap fund ( http://www.fidelity.ca/cs/Satellite/en/public/products/mutual_funds/equity_funds/cdn_equity/bu) supposed to have great long term returns. One of the things I don't like about this is the management rate of 2.28%.
Im not an active investor, but have some exposure to real estate (through reits) and a little finance through CM.
I am young and have tfsa savings and want to invest in long term growth (etfs maybe?). Could you offer some recommendations on good long term low cost, passive investments?

Your website is awesome and Ill be signing up as a member tonight!

Thanks
Dave

Q: The returns on this fund are excellent, the mer not so much 2.34%.
Your thoughts please or alternate suggestions. Thank you.

Q: Sentry Global REIT Fund cut their distribution at the beginning of the year. Is it still a good buy?

Q: What do you think about Strathbridge funds? As a retired income investor I like covered call funds as I do not mind missing the big upside for stead and reliable income. Their finds seem small and their 1.1% fee seems high for investing in blue chip TSX stocks but the &+% return is attractive.They say they us a propriety method of doing covered calls.
Dont ask many questions but am an avid reader of everyone elses.
Thanks for the great service.
Don

Q: Hello, I am looking for a very safe mutual fund for my daughter's RDSP. I am looking to get her out of equity funds as much as possible for a while and into something which pays reasonably more than the fee and is at the same time RDSP eligible. Thank-you

Q: Could you give us your latest opinion on cix pls

Q: We are Seniors who do not need current income from investments. Have various accts. at TD Waterhouse - considering using their new ETF's to increase international exposure: TPU vs. THU; TPE vs. THE. What is your current thinking re hedged versus unhedged?
Any thoughts re investing in TD's new ETF's versus using TD-efunds?

Q: Good Afternoon,
My parents are getting older now ( in their 70's) and getting more and more nervous with volatile stock markets and problems around the world, needless to say they have become nervous investors. What do you think of Segregated Funds, more specifically Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit (GMWB)? Basically a seg fund that not only provides a maturity guarantee, death guarantee but a guaranteed income stream as well. I know all these benefits result in much higher costs. Do the higher costs associated with these products make sense for all these guarantees and hopefully more of a sleep factor? They seem very complicated though.
Thank-you

Q: I am considering the Mawer international equity fund for some exposure outside of north america. Historically it seems to have had respectable performance and outperformed many of the international index ETF's that I have been looking at, although exposure does seem biased a bit to the UK.

Given that there are so many funds/ETFs out there do you have any favourites for international exposure that you currently recommend instead of MAW102? My only current international holding is a position in the Euro stoxx 50, FEZ.

Thanks, Jeff

Q: Can I get your views on the Linde Equity fund and the Linde Equity Report ( mentioned in the recent issue of Moneysense)

Q: Under symbol TDB976, I have the only 2 questions (Sept 28/15 and Feb 19/16). They contain my background information.

My weighting in this fund is 3% and am still waiting to top it up a bit. It has fallen significantly lately, which I believe is currency related, due to the fund not being hedged.

Question 1 = from here, what does your speculative crystal ball think about where the Cdn-USA currency rate will go, especially now that the Fed is slowing down the normalization process? Oil seems to also be having a currency impact.

Question 2 = should I top this fund up now that it is even more on sale, or wait until the USA election rhetoric subsides? OR, should I sell?

Basically, do you see upside potential for this security? Since buying, I am a little underwater. It is held in my TFSA.

Confused. Thanks,
Steve

Q: What is your view of FID MTHLY INCM (SR-B) (CC) FE (FID416-C) ?
It is difficult to understand how much fee I pay to hold that fund. (paid and still paying)
I thought of replacing it by XIC.
Do you agree?

Q: Hello, on October 29 last you advised that MAW105 was better for a non-registered account. Conversely is MAW104 better for a registered account? Thanks, Bill

Q: I have recently joined my local share club and am learning how to feel more comfortable acting as my own financial advisor.
I have transferred my existing mutual funds over to a TD Waterhouse Account and would like your advise on what to do next with these funds. I am 56 and would like this to grow over the next 10 years and then produce income for me as I have no pension. Thank You.
These are approximate
TDB889C - 29%
AIM1595C - 19%
AIM1571C - 13%
AIM1561 - 9%
AIM1581C - 7%
AIM1559C - 5%
Cash - 17.5%

Thank you

Q: I currently own small positions in XEG, CPG, ARX, WCP and VET. They total 6% of my portfolio and I plan to move towards a 10% oil weighting by the end of the year.

I'd also like to buy a position in small cap energy so that I can benefit from the rebound, but I can't pick which one to invest in and am afraid if I buy just one, it may end up being the small cap that goes bankrupt. What do you think of me buying Sprott's Energy fund? I don't usually like mutual funds because of the high fee (2.5%) but if I buy very small positions in 10 small caps myself, it will cost me 1-2% in transaction costs anyway. Also, if the fund goes up 30 or 40 percent, I won't care much about the fee. Do you think this is a good idea? Do you like the fund? Are there any ETFs that would be comparable? I own XEG but it is mostly large cap oil, so not comparable.