skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A
You can view 3 more answers this month. Sign up for a free trial for unlimited access.

Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: 55 years old,will work at least to age 60 and will have a large pension.Have about $100,000 to invest long term with no need to use any of it in the foreseeable future,
Please recommend an ETF for Canadian market (moderate risk,and tilted more to growth than to income) and an ETF for US markets (moderate risk and tilted more to growth than to income).
If you think two ETFs for each of Canada and US would be better than one for each,please elaborate.
Read Answer Asked by George on April 29, 2019
Q: Thank you for for answer yesterday about setting up my parent's investments. To summarize, they are very conservative, above 80 years old, and looking for safety and income.

I would now like to ask you about the distribution of the equity component of the investments (composing only 17% of the total, the rest being in bonds, preferred, and GICs). Those below are all in equal weight. What do you thing?

BEP.UN, BCE, BNS, CM, CU, ENB, TRP
XHC for healthcare exposure
IWO for US growth
VGG for US exposure
XEF (in a half position) for international exposure
VEE (in a half position) for emerging market exposure

Could you please suggest some more to round things out? I need another 5 or 6 stocks.


Also, do you have any objection to using ZAG and HYGH as bond substitutes for their conservative portfolio? I am buying individual preferred shares for that component.

Thank you once again,

Fed
Read Answer Asked by Federico on April 29, 2019
Q: Hi 5i
I am completely new to the world of ETFs but, according to Portfolio Analytics (and I did know it was a good idea before being told, really I did) I need to add US and International exposure to my portfolio. I think the only reasonable way for me to do that given I don't/can't follow non-Canadian equity markets is through ETFs.
I would like to place 55K in US ETFs and 45K in International ETFs and this will, for now, comprise the entire non-Canadian portion of my portfolio.
I am not adverse to some above average risk and while I'd like income I'm more interested in growth.
In researching where to place this money I've concluded that I might not have the candle power necessary to make rational decisions about ETFs because of the distinct possibility of purchasing ETFs that hold the same or similar underlying equities from the same or similar geographies in the same or similar sectors (assuming I'm not just concentrating on discrete sectors). Left to my own devices I feel that I could very possibly purchase a little bundle of different ETFs that are all essentially but unintentionally quite similar.
My question is two-fold:
1. Is my concern about concentration valid or have I misinterpreted the lay of the land, and
2. Could you suggest 4 or 5 US ETFs and a similar # of International ETFs that I can consider and that won't have the type of overlap I'm worried about.
I realize this is a broad and general (and perhaps rambling) question - so please deduct as many credits as you think is warranted.
Thanks a lot!
Peter
Read Answer Asked by Peter on April 25, 2019
Q: CIF 823 is the last remnant from the portfolio of my former financial advisor. How would you assess this mutual fund? Would an ETF (or several) be a preferred replacement?
Your input is always appreciated!
Read Answer Asked by Sigrid on April 10, 2019
Q: Hello 5i team,
I have noticed from looking in the past 3 years that most of my losses have been from small cap stocks (BOS,MCB,RRX,RHT,etc...) and almost all of my gains have been from mid to large caps. I would still like to have a certain percent exposure to small caps without buying individual stocks.

-I was wondering if there are ETFs that track small caps in Canada or the US (or and ETF that tracks both) for the very long term?

-Are there some that would have a decent dividend?

-What is an ideal percent allocation for small caps in a diversified portfolio?

Thank You,
Andrew
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on April 02, 2019
Q: Hi - looking for recommendation for ETF recommendations within my TFSA. 40% of TFSA will be for this ETF mix and 60% is in your Balanced Equity model. Long term investment horizon for me as in mid 30s. Any recommendations?
Read Answer Asked by Chris on March 27, 2019
Q: I have been contributing to my TFSA since inception and I currently have $90,000. I just put in $6000 as my 2019 contribution and I'm wondering what stocks I should look at. I'm 27 years old, have a long term time horizon, and I'm very comfortable with a lot of risk. Looking mainly for growth at this point. I currently have 30% of my account in the following (wxm, iwo, xsu, tdb3055 and RBF1035) (pretty well equal amounts). In addition I hold T, rY, BNS, JE, Enb, dol, ala, cjr, and fts all set up in Drips in roughly equal amounts. I also hold about 10% of my tfsa in ABM, EDT, loto and GQ for risky plays, all of which are down 50% except abm which is up 50%. what do you suggest adding at this point? Thanks so much!
Read Answer Asked by Danielle on March 08, 2019
Q: I would like some recommendations on some companies or ETF's that you like now and going forward. I'm looking for growth as I have a 20year+ time frame and low aversion to risk. I currently hold in my TFSA: CJR.B (down about 5%, should I hold or sell some/all off? -heaviest weighting of portfolio currently), GS, BNS, CPH, CR, KXS, NIF, SIS. Would like to add more companies to TFSA for some more sector diversification and can add to RRSP as well - possibly a growth ETF with US/International exposure? Would appreciate your input, thanks very much.
Read Answer Asked by Dustin on January 29, 2019
Q: Hi Peter, Ryan & Team
In addition to my current 5i Balanced portfolio I want to build an additional RRSP ETF portfolio.Time horizon 3-5 Years and my risk level is moderate.
I am thinking to invest in the following ETF. Appreciate you advise on the distribution, concentration and risk level.
XMD 30%
VUN 20%
XIU 10%
VEE 10%
VXUS 10%
IXC 10%
IWO 10%

Thanks,
Read Answer Asked by Yousef on January 29, 2019
Q: I am looking to better allocate some USD in my RRSP. I currently hold IWO and want to build on this with 3 holdings in strong US growth companies/ industries that are proven capital compounders for the long term. I am considering Google and Mastercard and am looking for one more compliment assuming you like the 2 mentioned. Also would you prefer MA over V? My timeframe is 10 years +
Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Kyle on January 23, 2019
Q: Hi 5I,
The above names are all owned in my TFSA. Of these, I am underweight in COV, IWO, PHO, SDX, SYZ AND VB. I've got some cash to put to work with a long term objective. With consideration to the sector weighting, and my under weights, would you recommend I top up on any at this time or maybe introduce a completely different name or names to the portfolio? Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Rob on January 21, 2019