Investment Q&A

Q: Thanks for the great service as always.

I'm looking to replace a couple of mutual funds in the family RESP. We have two kids ages 6 and 9. The current funds (~$65k) are split between RBC Target Education 2025 (about 2/3) and RBC Target Education 2030 (about 1/3).
To save on those high MERs, I was thinking of replacing those two funds with 40% XBB, 30% XIC, and 30% XUS. Contributions over the next ~10 years will go straight towards XBB. The goal is to keep it diversified and simple.
Does this change make sense?

Q: RESP. I will be using TD e-series funds and adding monthly contributions. Is there a best generic investment guideline I can follow? and guideline on how to adjust the risk and the kids age. My kids are 5 and 7. Currently the funds are in TD dividend growth fund and TD dividend income fund.

Thank you again.

Q: Hello, can you give me your top 5 stocks as of today, no concerns for risk, sector etc. this would be for a grandchild's RESP, Ages 3 and 1.

Q: My 2 sons are done their university courses and I still have over $100,000 in the RESP investment account - what is the most cost efficient way to wind down this account (I have limited cont room in my RSP) THX
Ralph...

Q: I have an RESP for my two year old granddaughter that is diversified into 6 TSX stocks and one US ETF. Each TSX stock is currently a small holding because of the limited RESP donations to date. My question is - when the RESP is liquidated many years from now, is there a minimum number of shares I should have in each stock to facilitate selling the position?

Q: Hello -
Is TSGI suitable for an RESP, or is there too much risk with the stock? For what it is worth, my two grand daughters are still over a decade away from withdrawing any funds from this account.
Thanks.

Q: Good Morning,

My daughter's RESP has the following stocks. I have added some CSU because I simply can't pass up the buy opportunity on this weakness. I am overweight in IT now, what would you recommend for an 8 yr horizon please.

Current holdings:
BNS, CSU, DSG, DHX, ENB, ECI, HR.UN, KBL, MUX, RHT, STN, SLF, TSGI. She also has 3 ETF - US Dividend, Emerging Markets, Nasdaq Indexed all equal weight.

Thanks for all you do!!

Eric

Q: Hi Peter/Ryan,

My daughter is 11 years old and currently in her RESP account I have invested $40,000 in CBO,XBB,CDZ,CPD,XHY (equal amounts).
I am considering selling the current holdings and investing equal amount into below
1) ZQQ OR QQC.F
2) XIU OR XIC
3) VFV OR XUS
4) Balanced:  GC, SIS, PBH, NFI, CSU
5) Growth: PHO, KXS, GSY, ECN, PEO
Please let me know your thoughts about the above strategy.

Thanks

Q: Just curious to what the status is on the Minto Apartment REIT IPO? Can you wait until after the IPO to get in or should one try to get in on the IPO? What will the price be when it goes public? What info do you have on the dividend? Any other information on this would be great.

Thanks, Jimmy

Q: I started my children's RESP in 1999 and at first I had the funds 100% invested in a Canadian Dividend Mutual Fund When I found 5i, I started to invest the funds solely in equities. Three years ago, my oldest started University and the RESP value was $210,000. In May before the start of the University year, I sell $25,000 of stocks to cover the cost of one year. My oldest daughter is going into 4th year and my other daughter is going into 2nd year. To date I have cashed out $150,000 of stocks and as I kept my balance in equities throughout I have a remaining balance of $107,000 with two more years of undergraduate to pay for. Over the past 19 years, the stock market has mostly gone up and down (2001, 2008, 2011). I am positive if 5i was around in 1999, the RESP would have been much higher than $210,000.
Stephen

Q: Peter/Ryan, RESP to be used starting in 3 years has BNS, GUD, OTC & PHO all ~15% + 40% cash. Would COV and/or VB be good additions ~10% each ? What else would you add or subtract ? Thank you.

Q: In my daughter's RESP I hold TD(39%)up 13%, PBH (39%)up 110%, GUD(17%) down 20% and 5% cash.
I still have 9 years to go before the first withdrawal.
I was thinking of diversifying TD and/or PBH. Which dividend ETF (with growth potential) would you recommend?

Q: Hi 5i. I am just starting an RESP for my 2 yr old granddaughter. I'm thinking long term of course and with only $5,000 available was considering VGG or VFV for a start. Either one or both. What do you think or is there a better alternative ? Thanks for your help. Ron

Q: 5i,
I currently have approx $14k cash in RESP. I have a 6 year old and 1 year old. How would you recommend me investing this money? Can you please name me top 3 stocks, and top 3 ETF to Invest in please. Thanks for your valuable input.

Q: Hi Peter and 5i:
In my grandkids (ages 3 and 2) RESP I currently have as core ETF's:
XIU - $14,000
XAW - $11,000
I have this years contribution of $6,000 to invest.
My plan is:
1. Start doing some individual stocks.
2. Reduce XIU by $7,500 and buy TD.
3. PHO - Invest $3,500 (or might you suggest ZQQ)
4. XAW - Invest $2,500
Does the above portfolio approach look reasonable to you? Look forward to your suggestions and always valuable feedback.
Thanks so much.

Q: Hello
I have a 17 months and a 6 yrs old. I did very well on my 6 yrs old RESP and now wondering if I should get a separate RESP for my 17 months or switch to a joint account. Any recommendations? Any benefits having a joint account assuming only one of the 2 would reach University for example? If all things equal I would prefer to manage a single but bigger portfolio.
Thank you!

Q: I am looking for an ETF for RESPs for my three grandchildren. The eldest is 8 yrs old, so the money will not be needed for some time. I would like conservative growth, if there is such a thing. I am thinking of XIC or CDZ. Or maybe you could suggest something else. The amounts are about $5K so one ETF is probably best, for now. Thanks

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

Greetings for 2018!

For my daughter's RESP, I am trying to decide between 2 tech stocks, Kinaxis (KXS) or Descartes(DSG)? Which do you recommend? What is the optimal number of stocks to hold in the RESP, 5 to 6 stocks?

Thanks.

Q: Your thoughts on ZQQ as a long term (10+ years) RESP hold or would you just buy a low fee S&P 500 (maybe VFV) ?

Q: Hi Team,

I hold MFC in my kids RESP. It's up over 75% since I bought it many years ago. It represents 50% of the portfolio now, (enb, fts and bce are the other stocks). I want to switch some things around and add a bit of growth, but with the interest rates rising should I leave it alone ... or do you think a lot of those potential gains from rising rates have already happened?

What would a couple growth ideas be for a 10 year horizon in an RESP?

Thanks!