Investment Q&A

Q: This is not a criticism, but simply a point I am making.
When comparing covered call ETF's, quite often you do not compare the percentage of holdings that the ETF is writing covered calls on. In particular, QMAX only writes calls on 30% of it's holdings, leaving the other 70% to go up and down with the market.
When you wrote your last answer about QMAX, it left me with the impression that they were writing calls on 100% of the holdings, which is wrong, and a bit misleading.
I realize that I am somewhat splitting hairs, but I feel that the percentage the fund is writing calls on is quite important, especially a tech ETF that will swing more, than say a T-Bill ETF.
Thanks for all you do!

Q: Hi Team, I'm a 65 yr old dividend investor and I have been investigating BMO Covered Call ETF (ZWT) and Hamilton's QMAX.
The only pure holding I have in Technology right now is DCBO (for growth) with <1% holding and I'm thinking of selling that and dumping into either of the above.
I'm really intrigued with QMAX yield of ~ 12% and MER of .65% compared to ZWT with a yield of ~3.57% and higher MER of .71%.
I understand that both could be very volatile (ZWT -30.9% in 2022 and up 64.5% in 2023). QMAX isn't a year old yet so no stats but I assume will be comparable?
Anyway, looking for your thoughts on which is better, is QMAX yield of 11.9% (too good to be true)? With QMAX, AUM of $374,505,060 some people like it? Thanks Bill

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: Good Morning,

Please advise your top 5 covered call ETFs with associated yields, brief descriptions and a degree of growth potential.

Thanks very much.

Q: I recently upgraded my subscription and received the Canadian Money Saver magazine subscription, which I'm really enjoying. In the most recent issue there is a page of top US dividends within a certain criteria. I was surprised at the number of funds paying 10% plus divs. I realize that this isn't always a safe investment, but in light of rates falling, I wonder if you have a few suggestions for high dividend paying etf's (US and or Cdn) or REITs that would have capital preservation (generally maintain share price, or increase) as the rates come down, but realize income through the div.

Q: I'm looking to add some tech exposure and am considering one of the following three ETFs: QMAX, HTA, TXF.
They're all pretty similar but which one do you feel is the best for long term growth and income and why?
I know QMAX's strategy is a little bit different than the other two in that they use "at the money" calls ... is this a positive or a negative?

Thanks, Rick

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: A final (?) adjustment to my RRIF. I would like to add some Tech with a dividend component. I would appreciate your thoughts on HTA as an option. If you have other comments or suggestions they would be most welcome. Thanks Dan.

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: Good evening,

I have a couple of questions regarding the following 5 ETF's. If it cost more than one credit that is ok. Just curious if you only own those 5 ETF's how diversified would you be? I understand that you be giving up some upside but from a diversification perspective do you have all your sectors covered?

For full disclosure I have 15 percent of my entire portfolio allocated to this 5 ETfs too add a little boost in income.

My last question regarding these 5 ETF's iss they all pay a distribution except SMAX and QMAX. SMAX and QMAX pay dividends according to my platform BMO investorline. Does that mean both these two are eligible for the dividend tax credit?

Thanks and have a great day.
Jimmy

Q: In your answer to Gary this morning about SMAX and QMAX you stated that they both had less than $1M in assets. Not sure where you're getting your data, but fact sheets from Hamilton's website indicate that SMAX has $85M in assets and QMAX has $50M in assets. Looks like a rather big oopsie to me.

Q: Could you please give me your thoughts on the following etf's for a RIF that is looking at income? HMAX,UMAX,SMAX and QMAX. Thanks Gary

Q: There are a number of ETFs offered which has a policy of using Options of up to 30% of the investment. The management fees in general is higher as it attempts to provide higher yield as well as Capital gains. As I have a few of these funds in various accounts, where can I find how much are they making in Options, Dividends and Capital gains. Will appreciate the source of such information in general for these kinds of ETFs.

Q: I am an income investor. I believe that umax and zwu are similar.

Would umax (14% yield) not be preferred to zwu at 8.2%

Same for qmax (11.8%) vs. txf at 8.3%

thank you for your comments

Q: Good day, 5i. I am looking for your opinion of Hamilton Technology
Yield Maximizer ETF. Thank you.