Investment Q&A

Q: Good Morning, I have been watching ZAG and XBB in order to deploy cash. Not sure when is a good entry point? I know we cannot time the market but what would you suggest I should look for (e.g.. off it's 52 wk high, net asset value etc). Which one would you prefer ZAG or XBB. Thank you. Heather

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

Q: Hi,

My wife's group RRSP has Manulife AllianceBernstein Canadian Core Plus Bond as one of the options. How does it compare with CLF. Should I instead invest in MAW102 in the group RRSP and buy CLF in her regular RRSP account as part of bond portfolio allocation.

Thanks
Ninad

Q: As suggested in Portfolio Analytics I need to add Fixed Income to family portfolio. It suggested ZAG or XBB; Defensive CBO or FLOT, Aggressive CPD or ZPR. Which of the three would you suggest to invest in? Also researching them they refer to Dividend Yield. Is it actually dividend yield or interest income? The reason I am asking should the fixed income be in RRSP (I know it is preferable for US$) or would a non-registered corporation account be fine also?
Heather

Q: We have about $150k in a Family RESP invested in the Fidelity Clearpath 2025 Portfolio Series B ISC target date fund. On the Fidelity fact sheet it says "Series B has the highest combined management and administration fees among the series in the Program". We were put into the fund by our previous financial advisor. Funny how that worked. The current MER is 2.17%. Could you recommend two or three alternative ETF's or funds with more reasonable MER's or even possibly a handful of suitable stocks? The funds won't be needed for another five years. Thanks.

Q: Thank you for your answer regarding the Can $ interest payment of ZAG. I would appreciate it if you could also please respond to the last part of my question, re XBB or ZAG purchase decision. (which I am copying below). The amount of purchase being suggested by the Portfolio Analytics is a significant (to me) value of $240,000, so I would like to get it right.
"Are there other pros/cons I should be considering ? Also, any thoughts on purchase timing of these bond etfs - or would you recommend a gradual entry over the next 6 months or so?

Q: Your Portfolio Analytics recommendations was a good reminder that I really should increase the Fixed Income component in our RIFS by a fair amount. There were 3 categories each with two suggestions: 1) "Regular" Fixed Income 2) Fixed Income Defensive Diversifier 3) Fixed Income Aggressive Diversifier. In the 1st category - what I call "Regular fixed income, Two suggestions were given : ZAG and XBB. I was going to select ZAG as it has a better yield (3.86 vs 2.83 %) and a lower MER (.10 vs .19), however, I also notice that the distribution for ZAG is paid in US $. We do not have a significant need for US $ and do not have an active US account . Will the cost of conversion from US to Canadian $'s offset the better yield offered by ZAG ? Are there other pros/cons I should be considering ? Also, any thoughts on purchase timing of these bond etfs - or would you recommend a gradual entry over the next 6 months or so?
Many thanks as always.

Q: A lot of research and writing has addressed the reality that it is *very* hard for an active fund manager/stock picker to beat the indices on an after-fee basis.

But what about the bond market? Does 5i know of a body of research/evidence that explores whether or not over time, an active bond trader/manager could beat a passive bond index fund such as XBB/VAB/ZAG? Should I go passive or active with my fixed income allocation? Which actively managed fixed income ETFs do you like, if any?

Thank you.

Q: Hi, 60 year old investor. Wanted to get your thoughts on a portfolio consisting of about 11% each of zlb, xiu, wxm, zqq, zsp, zlu and ~ 33% zag. Won’t need the money for about 5 years. Thanks, Mike

Q: Hi 5I,

Could you please rate the following bond ETFs.
VAB, ZAG, XBB.
I'm thinking about XBB because I can trade it for free on my itrade account.

Thanks.
Steve

Q: I would liked to switch the focus of my investments from equities to ETF's. Could you give me some broad parameters for guidance.
Could you suggest 10 ETF's for starters. Mid to long term with medium risk.
Thanks for your help.

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,

Q: I have a substantial USD investing and as I age am beginning to think that I should invest some of it in fixed income ie bonds, gic type or preferreds. Do you have any suggestions for me as everyone I listen to focusses on Capital gains strategies only.

Q: I loaded these three ETFs into a dummy Globe & Mail Portfolio with a mock purchase date of January 2, 2018. The output returns to date are CLF (4.5%), ZAG (4.5%) and HYGH (10%). Why did HYGH do so well or is the Globe utility having issues?

Thanks so much!

Q: I own both ZAG and VAB in equal amounts, are they similar enough that I should own just one?
I am retired and follow both the Income portfolio and Conservative ETF portfolio fairly closely.

Q: I have a question about fixed income ETFs and the bond market. Is this the time to be putting large sums of money into fixed income ETFs like ZAG, VAB and ZCM? What risk do these ETFs pose in a rising interest rate environment? Should one even be concerned with the price fluctuations over a month, 6 months or a year?

Q: i have about $500,000 to invest for 10 or more years. i don't need income from it. in order to keep it simple and be able to easily rebalance every six months or so, i am considering investing in only 3 etfs, as suggested by the canadian portfolio manager.
1. do you see any problems with this strategy? (i already have another portfolio in individual stocks.)
2.would ZAG be preferable to the suggested ZDB?
3. would ZLB be preferable to the suggested VCN?

thanks in advance. take whatever number of points necessary.

Q: Hello 5i - If we have fewer interest rate hikes going forward, or as some expect, 2019 may bring a recession, what could be the effect on bond fund ETFs such as ZAG, VAB or HAB for example? If investors have reduced equity exposure (to reduce risk) and increased "bond investments", are they in for an unpleasant surprise? Thanks, Ron

Q: I have recently paid off a sizable chunk of consumer debt, and now have a few thousand bucks at my disposal each month. I want to invest most of this in my TFSA so that I can catch up to my lifetime limit, and thereafter invest at a monthly amount equivalent to the annual limit. I've been thinking of investing most of this money in ETFs, but am a bit confused about the advice I see online. In your view, what is my best strategy here? Invest in one or two solid ETFs? If so, which do you recommend? Often, the ETFs I see experts recommending don't seem all that appealing. They hover at the same price for years and years and typically don't have much in the way of other types of yield. Anyway, I'm a bit confused and just wanting to have a basic plan for moving forward over the next year or two in my TFSA.

Q: Hi,

My portfolio is light on fixed income and it's not a sector that gets me excited to educate myself about it...What is the best way to get exposure to fixed income at a decent yield? Any ETFs or mutuals you can recommend? Or should I buck up and educate myself and buy some Bonds?

Cam.