Investment Q&A

Q: I just retired with no pension and living off my portfolio. I’m sitting on a lot of cash right now with very little US investments. I would like to start buying slowly. What would you suggest. Preferably ETF’s listed on the TSX with the odd US stock. Thanks

Q: If you were to start an resp now, would you consider these etfs as suitable or a combination thereof,or do you have alternatives? Thanx.

Q: Good morning 5i. I am considering "parking" about 10% of my portfolio in "cash equivalents". Are CVD and CPD your preferences in this case as I see they pay out roughly 5% which seems a reasonable risk/reward scenario? Are there other options or recommendations that you might consider? Thank you in advance.

Q: The bond portion of my portfolio is equally weighted between CLF and ZAG. With CLF having a government bond and shorter term focus and ZAG having a corporate bond component and longer average bond life, would it be sensible for someone with a medium risk profile to sell CLF and consolidate the bond portfolio in ZAG to take advantage of the higher interest return?

Q: What are the best government bonds for a retired 70 year old, that presently has no fixed income????

Q: I have no exposure to fixed income and wanted to know if there are any other that you were preferred over this list? I am looking at buying all of these names each for a 5 % weight.

Thanks

Q: Appreciate your comments on the ETF ZAG and the Mutual Fund AIM2143 Emerging Market Class. If you have a better alternative please recommend it.
Thanks.
Clayton

Q: I am currently reviewing my mother's non-equity portion of her retirement portfolio. She currently owns CLF, ZAG and short-term GICs. The interest from these investments are not needed for immediate living expenses. The non-equity investments in her portfolio serve to reduce volatility, and provide peace of mind.

Everything I have read recently indicates that interest rates have likely made a long-term bottom. As such, I am wondering whether my mother should sell ZAG and keep her interest-bearing investments in short-term, secure instruments only (i.e. CLF and GICs). In short, should she be staying away from mid-long term bonds?

Jeremy Siegel recently recommended that retirees should modify the traditional 60/40 stock/bond portfolio to 75/25 going forward because he does not anticipate good returns from longer-term bonds. Do you agree?

Many thanks for your thoughtful and valued insights.

Q: Good morning! I would like to add to the fixed income side of my portfolio ... pls recommend the best fixed income investment today (retired, long-term hold, dividend investor). Thank you for this Q&A service!

Q: Could you please suggest few a) good fixed income high yield ETFs b) least volatile ETFs with some income ?
Thanks

Q: What are your top 5 Fixed Income ETFs (Cdn or US / International exposure) to hold long term in a RRIF or RSP in the current environment?
Thank you in advance.

Q: would you agree with the expectation of lower rates for longer and if so, what about selling Pref shares which have been killed and switching to a high yield
bond etf or fund? Does this make sense given the current sell off in credit?
Any recommendations for a purchase ? thanks

Q: Thanks for all your hard work during this uncertain period.

I'm transferring conservative Mutual fund monies (to get out from under their fees) over to Questrade.

I want to keep that money conservative. I'm not drawing back, but just trying to keep my allocation.

I've read that similar bond ETFs are not the best way to go forward. Some recommend cash, even US cash but this seems too fearful.

Please recommend an ETF option for this situation.

Q: I am wondering about Bond ETFs and why they are dropping when interest rates are at historic lows. Does this have to do with liquidity issues of the etf's, with people trying to sell them so fast that the managers of the ETF cannot sell the underlying assets quick enough? Does that mean that the underlying assets of the ETF are actually much higher than the price to buy the ETFs themselves? As an example I am considering the 9% drop of ZAG that occurred today.

Q: Hi, is it good time to invest in Bonds? if yes, which one would you recommend and why.
I only have a small position in ZAG and it has not performed well recently.
Thanks,

Q: Interest rates are dropping but bond funds are getting clobbered - they normally would go up - is there fear that huge numbers of companies are going bankrupt such that bonds will not be repaid? It doesn't seem to matter whether short term or long term bonds - they are going down. XBB down 3%, ZAG down 3%, ZCS down 4% today so far. This seems crazy. Is this a buy opportunity for corporate bond funds or is the great depression about to happen and everything should be sold into cash?

Q: Hi, I am surprised bond index funds have not performed great at this time either? Which ones are doing well? Today is another bad day...investors brought to their knees..I personally have several lessons learned..One of them being never feel shy to take profits off the table due to tax consequences. .The second one being, the day you feel like selling your bond fund in order to purchase more equities ( while assuming that this would be for the short term)..is the day you should be selling more equities.. cheers,

Shyam

Q: I have both CLF and ZAG in my bond portfolio. CLF continues to go up as interest rates come down. ZAG was doing the same until the last two days. Do you think the drop in ZAG is due to the industrial bond component and business credit risk? If there is fear that businesses will default on their bonds, it might be appropriate to take profits in this fund.

Q: Can you please give me your opinion of ZAG. For one's bond allocation in a portfolio, could this serve as a one stop option ? Thanks!

Just renewed my membership for another great year !! Thanks Gentlemen !!

Q: Have you got any recommendations for GICs or bonds? These days one can get 2.45% in cash with EQ bank so I find it hard to get excited by fixed income.