Investment Q&A

Q: I'm looking for a safe place for cash with a decent yield. This could be for several months or several years. How would you compare ZSH to PSA? Is one better than the other? With uncertainty over interest rates, do you have any recommendations for the fixed income portion of an investment portfolio?

Q: I am considering XBB for my RRSP. Would greatly appreciate your comments on this ETF and competitors. Thanks

Q: Hi, I do not have any bonds or fixed income. Looking for one or two prospects to start, with about $50,000 to invest. Would like 3-4%+income. What are your views on the above, and of course any other you may suggest. Would like one size fits all if possible.
Also in a possible 30% downturn in the market , how much would a bond etf cushion the blow?
Thanks

Q: Hi 5i,
For a 3 to 5 years hold which etf VSB or ZAG would you side with and why
Thanks
F

Q: Hello,

I want to add fixed income to balance my portfolio and will hold it in a cash account. I'm targeting 15% fixed income with > 10 year hold.

1. Are the ETF's in the income portfolio appropriate? or should I have more concentration? Or a different selection?

2. If > one ETF do you have a weighting suggestion?

3. Will these be taxed as income or dividends?

Thanks!

Dave

Q: Hello 5iResearch,

I have a couple requests:

1. Would you please send me your recommendations for two or three ETFs I could use for hedging against a recession/market correction but still get an annualized distribution yield of about 3%?

2. Could you please also let me know what your recommendation would be for a gold ETF?

Thank you,
Natasha

Q: Hello 5i team, I am slowly reducing my exposure to equities for two reasons: position my portfolios ( US + CDN) for a possible recession or slowdown and also, I am 66 year old and my portfolios are 80% equities.
I have taken small positions to above bonds ETFs.. May I have your comments and also, would you recommend short/long or medium bonds and treasuries? As well, do you have other recommendations for someone my age? Thanks CR

Q: Hi
I am looking to add a bond etf to my portfolio. I am looking for something with a reasonable yield, that is defensive with some possible growth opportunities. Could you recommend the one that fits that those criterion or if you have a better choice, I would appreciate it. Thanks

Q: Working on the fixed income portion of my portfolio, thinking of the above plus IYLD all at 4.24% except ZAG at 6.36%.
Retired and looking for income, do I need to increase, decrease or eliminate any, or add something better?
Would all of these be best in RRSP?

Q: I would appreciate your help in simplifying my RRIF fixed income portfolio. I am retired at 73, with about 55/45 equity/income split.primary aim is income and capital preservation. I hold positions in zag 10%, xsh 9%, clf 5%, pmif 5%, tlt 5%, xlb 3%, Xhy 2.5%, srln 2.5%, rbf 1340 4%, mdl240 23% and (sadly) preferreds HPR 3% vrp (US) 1.5% .the rest is cash type investments. I would like to switch the canadian PFD to all US: switch xlb for more TLT. I am gradually decreasing mdl240 which has to be withdrawn overtime for another more flexible short duration ETF. Keeping either xhy or srln which ever you feel would improve the porfolio. I would appreciate your thoughts of these etfs, and percentage allotments to them If there are better choices please share your insight. Please use the number of credits appropriate. Thanks very much Tom

Q: For my fixed income side of my portfolio I've just been keeping cash in a high interest savings account (Achieva Financial in Manitoba). It pays 2.3% interest. I just checked the yield to maturity of BND the US Vanguard bond ETF and it's 2.3%. The YTM for ZAG the Canadian BMO bond ETF is 2.2%. Hardly seems worth paying an MER and risking price fluctuations. What do you think, am I missing something here?

Q: Hi there
I am looking to invest 30% of my TFSA portfolio in a bond ETF . The remaining 70% are in dividend stocks (mainly in financial institutions). Would you please suggest what bonds ETF or any other fixed income option should I be considering? The goal is to protect my principal amount.
Thank you

Q: I am re-balancing our portfolio and find I am sitting on 30K cash which balances out my cash/fixed income portion of my portfolio. My question is what 3 or 4 fixed income or bond ETFs would you suggest I entertain dropping my cash into ?

Thanks,
John

Q: I am retired and looking to increase my fixed income assets with ZAG. For tax efficiency is it best to hold it in a RRSP or TFSA account? Any comment?

Q: I was reading Norm Rothery's article on the "hot potato" portfolio strategy. As you know it involves investing in one of four etf's based on the previous year's best performance. The asset classes are Canadian Bond Index, S&P/TSX Composite Index, S&P 500 and MSVI EAGE Index. I have to do a little more research on this strategy but should I decide to allocate a small investment here, what 4 specific etf's would you recommend?
Dennis

Q: Hi 5i
I purchased this etf for my mom. Can you tell me:
1) would 5i expect it to trade below its one year expected yield return from dec 31,2019 to dec 31 2020?
2) Mom’s capital position is currently underwater. What is 5is best guess for the closing price of each share dec 31, 2020?
3. I’m trying to assess the overall risk of the etf. How would this ETF do if a recession broke out in 2020?
4. Can you recommend a better replacement? Why is this better?
Thank you.

Q: I have been investing in ETFs for several years, using a simple 5 ETF portfolio which includes VCN (27%), XUU (27%), XEF (19%), XEC(7%), and ZAB (20%). When I use the portfolio analytics, the suggested ETF portfolio includes about 15 ETFs. Just wondering what if the added complication of the additional funds is worth the effort. I assume that yours has better downside protection as it reduces some of the concentrated sectors and perhaps has better returns? My portfolio has grown in size over the past years so I am ok with the additional work to manage the portfolio, just wanted to better understand why.

Thanks,

Q: I have money parked in a GIC that will expire very soon. Needless to say that the current rate isn't good enough and I'm looking for a higher return without too much risk. As a replacement of my GIC, can you suggest 4 or 5 mutual funds (bond oriented or others - I am open !) that I can rely on for an "adequate" yield ? I am not looking for an homerun with bases loaded. I would be satisfied with a yield of 4-5 % approx. per year. I am not a fan of mutual funds showing yields that vary a lot year after year.

I really appreciate your excellent services !

Q: I just noticed that 60% of ZAG’s holdings are other BMO bond ETFs, and the rest are direct bonds. I am wondering about the implications of this of MER, yield, and taxation.

In the BMO documentation for ZAG, they note “as ZAG is a fund of fund, the management fees charged are reduced by those accrued in the underlying funds,” which I find confusing. ZAG’s MER is 0.09%, but the underlying ETFs have MERs ranging from 0.11% to 0.33%. Is the 0.09% MER in addition to the MER paid to the underlying ETFs, or is it just 0.09%?

Does the ‘fund of funds’ characteristic of ZAG mean there are taxation issues in terms of it’s dividends being eligible dividends in Canada?

Are the dividends considered eligible dividends or interest?

Thanks again,

Fed

Q: Good morning,

I currently have fixed income as 30% of my portfolio, made up right now of ZAG and CPD (15% each). CPD is dripping and within a few more months of contributions ZAG will be too. Once they are both dripping, what would be the next Canadian-listed fixed income ETF you would add to compliment those two? Thanks in advance.