Investment Q&A

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. Sitting on roughly 5-6% cash for topping up existing positions to, over time, hit Asset Allocation targets.

Candidates = BCE, GSY, HHL, HMAX, XST, ZUT. If I was deciding to deploy funds to create the largest total return over the next year or two, from their existing valuation, a) in what order would you deploy the funds and b) a short qualifier for each position?

My view = buy in this order:
ZUT = good momentum, room to run before hitting earlier peak
GSY = good value, $150-155 should be excellent value
XST = graph against 50 and 200mda...very tight chart....could buy anytime
HMAX = good value, banks should run
HHL = healthcare stocks should get over their fear of their new boss in a few months....or not. Give it some time.
BCE = last on the list. Just rebought after cap loss capture. Give it even more time.

Thanks for your help....Steve

Q: Retired (70 yrs old), dividend-income investor. Been meaning to ask this question for a long time. We run a concentrated portfolio of roughly 10 ETFs and 10 stocks, plus fixed income on top. Our pro-rated MER for the equity ETFs is 0.64 and for the entire portfolio is 0.38.

I use the ETFs above that are sector ETFs (like HHL, NNRG, XIT) as my proxy for the sector and am ok with the trade off of paying fees for a sector ETF instead of having lots of stocks.

I then add my individual stock selections to achieve my targeted Asset Allocation for the entire portfolio (like AD, BCE, FTS, GSY, RY, NWC, PBH, TRP, WSP, etc). I weight each of these relative to my risk tolerance.

Does this make sense to you? Does my "sector ETF" make sense, especially with a potentially large weighting in one ETF. Virtually all of my ETFs are capped at around 7% of the equity portfolio and the stocks are capped at 5% max.

Your thoughts on my strategy and on my MER....thanks...Steve

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. I have spent a bit of time using your chart feature, which I think is excellent. I like the feature of it being total return (CG plus dividends).

Comparing total return for ZEB vs ZWB over various timeframes is easy, since they both have adequate history. The complication arises when adding HMAX to the comparison, due to it's very short history and therefore not being through a full cycle. It is apparent to me that the covered call ETFs do indeed give up total return for higher steady income.

To my amateur eyes, it appears that ZEB is the clear winner over 1-3-5 year timeframes, with HMAX taking over 2nd place in the 1 year timeframe.

However without the benefit of a full economic cycle, I can not come to a final decision. I have started building a position in HMAX, but I am now wondering if I should have been building a ZEB-ZWC position. I know that ZEB is banks, whereas HMAX is financials (banks, ins, etc).

Any thoughts you could throw in the mix would be helpful. Any indication of how it might perform over the longer term, based on the history so far....thanks...Steve

Q: Please advise if HAMILTON covered call ETF (QMAX, EMAX and others) eligible for the Canadian dividend tax credit.

Thanks for the great service

Q: In my RRIF I hold the above 5 stocks in the "financial" sector:

1) What impact, positive or negative will interest rate reduction have on each of the stocks?
2) Would you please rate the 5 for total return possibility over the next 12-18 months, and
3) They represent about a 25% of the RRIF - would you be comfortable with this level of allocation n the current environment?

Thanks,
Terry

Q: I'm considering buying HDIV ETF. On the ETF website it shows a 2023 total distribution of $1.974 and a ROC (return of capitol) of $ 1.66201 . After watching a video of ROC sometimes the ROC is not a reduction of NAV but just for tax purposes. And in some instances it is actually a return of your own capital and your NAV is reduced. Can you give some clarity on ROC. And how to determine if an ETF in my investment account has dropped in value from return of my own capital or loss of the underlying securities of ETF? My personal situation all my investment accounts are RRSP and TSFSA.

Thanks, Brian.

Q: Retired dividend income investors. We prioritize asset allocation in all of our portfolio decisions. We plan on capturing some income tax savings by selling the remaining shares of my wife's BNS, thereby offsetting other capital gains. I need to replace these funds in the same sector...ie: financials.

She leans more on the conservative side. Combined, we already have a full position in RY and other financials contained within ZLB, CDZ, ZWC, as well as AD.UN.

In the current declining interest rate environment, does HMAX fit the bill? As interest rates decline, what impact will this have on the share price? Should I assume that the capital appreciation will be fairly minimal, while the dividend maintains roughly where it is now?

I appreciate your help...as always.
Steve

Q: Holding the following Financial sector stocks: BAM, BN, BNS, GSY, PRL, SLF, TD, X for a total of 20% in TFSA & RIF combined. Would like to reduce # of holdings to 5 or 6 and Financial % to about 15% . Your comments/suggestions/alternatives on the following setup would be appreciated:
RIF = HMAX, BAM, X
TFSA = BN, GSY (or BN, PRL or BN, PRL, GSY??)
As always, thank you for helping to provide clarity.

Q: In a non-registered account give me your pick in preference order HMAX or XTR or XDIV? Thanks so much.

Q: Between the 3 which would be your preference for someone who's looking for a long-term income holding.

TY

Q: With ETFs like these with high high returns but also high return on capital which contribute to these returns is it more beneficial to keep them in a taxable accounts or non taxable accounts like RRSP or TFSA ?
Thank you.

Q: Value investor with some growth, 78 years old with good pension. I am slightly overweight in financials as above. I now see that I own both BKCC and HMAX. I do not seem to need both. I intend to sell BKCC and buy AW.UN to take advantage of its current situation. Does this sound like a plan or are there pitfalls?
Thank you

Q: In my earlier question I also should have asked about leverage. Thanks

Q: Good morning,

What an amazing job done here. My son is enrolled in a private school starting this year.

I'd like to tailor my non-registered to an income account to cover his monthly payments with capital preservation in mind.

I am comfortable with any and all options including covered call.

Rough metrics for this are 120k. Yielding 6% and greater.

Thank you very much.

Q: Hello
I'm looking to include this company in my rrsp account. I would like to hear your analytical opinion on holding this long term. I am however curious to know how can they pay such a juicy dividend when most of their holdings pay less in distribution and has been lagging in the markets lately. Finaly, is this something you could see yourself including in an income portfolio.

Q: The vast majority of my holdings are non-dividend paying growth stocks. The one exception is HMAX, which I purchased earlier this year for its 15% dividend. It is now 3.5% of my portfolio and I am contemplating increasing this to a full position. My reasoning is that most of the bad news in the banking/insurance sector has already been factored into the share price and that, overtime, HMAX's value will rise again. Meanwhile, I'll receive a healthy dividend. I bought HMAX at $13.67; today it's trading at $13. 24. Do you believe the dividend is safe (I'm aware it was reduced last year from 17%) and do you see the current price as a buying opportunity assuming one has patience, likes the dividend, holds no other banks or insurance companies and expects only moderate growth going forward? Thank you.

Q: I'd like to assess the following group of ETF's I am considering purchasing from a conservative and safety point of view ...... HYPT has been used as the fixed income part of the portfolio . Please advise if this is appropriate and if not a suitable replacement ? The 5i income portfolio has Canadian preferred, convertible bond, and high yield US bonds for around a 15% weighting as the fixed income section ...... Please give a rating of between one and ten with one being the most " conservative and safe " for the following group of ETF's . I will assign the 5i income portfolio a four just so I can see how my choices rank against it using the criteria I suggested ...... Also everything I have chosen is a Hamilton product. Does 5i consider that problematic ? Thanks for your terrific service .....

FMAX 10%
HMAX 10%
QMAX 20%
HYPT 15%
SMAX 20%
LMAX 10%
HYLD 10%
HDIV 5%

Q: portfolio strategy question

I have adopted a dividend investment strategy of investing predominantly in canadian dividend paying equities and as expected am overweight in financials, telecom and utilities, this strategy allows me to sleep well at night, I am looking at enough dividend income from the portfolio to retire on and not have to touch the principle investment.

besides the lack of diversification in geography and sector. can you give me your opinion about concerns you may have with such a strategy and what you would suggest doing otherwise ?

Q: Interested in your thoughts on this one .... Global X Russell 2000 Covered Call ETF (RYLD). What is the ROC level and any thoughts on the reason for the steady decline over the last 3 years. Also, would you consider it relatively "safe" for a retired investor ... maybe @ 5-7% of total portfolio value.

Q: Hello,

My mother, who is 72 years old, recently received an inheritance. She is looking to invest this money in her TFSA and would like to use it to generate monthly income while also aiming for some growth. Could you please suggest a few ETFs that would be suitable for achieving these goals?

Thank you,

Derek