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Investment Q&A

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

Q: I would like to put about 50% of my portfolio into safe, higher yielding (10%+) Canadian focused ETF's or Mutual Funds, and adjust my holdings as needed going forward based on sector performance. I feel that both Banks & Utilities are nearing lows and that a further correction may occur in the general market due to tax loss selling or possibly one more rate hike. Do you feel that the mix of ETF's listed provide a safe way to invest with the goals indicated? What % for each, as part of the 50%, would you recommend as a holding, and how would they be treated for tax purposes? Thanks for the great service and please use as many credits as necessary.
Read Answer Asked by Will on October 25, 2023
Q: Would like to get your view on ETFs that use covered call options to enhance returns. As interest rates plateau and eventually begin to fall is there anything 'in general' that we can expect from these ETFs? Will the share price increase, like bonds, to bring yields more inline with expectations or is the share price more influenced by the underlying share prices of the stocks held in the ETFs?
Read Answer Asked by Larry M. on September 18, 2023
Q: I am at a point in my life where I am looking to my investments more for income than growth. My question concerns how you might incorporate a strategy that are includes "dividend" stocks that pay a low yield. eg HD, TRI, CN etc. Assuming you wish to obtain an overall yield of 4% - 5% from your portfolio (in order to satisfy RRIF requirements while maintaining some growth) I would think it best not to load up only on high yield stocks and continue maintain a balanced portfolio. To achieve the necessary income should one invest in low dividend payers and sell a portion of the low yield dividend payers annually in order to achieve the be needed income; go a bit overweight on high yield equities in order to juice the income; or just forget about balancing the portfolio?

Any thought you have would be greatly welcomed.

Appreciate the insight.

Paul F.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on September 14, 2023
Q: If you had $20,000 to invest today for and Income with some growth investor in an otherwise well diversified portfolio, what would you pick or just add to?
Read Answer Asked by Martin on August 28, 2023
Q: Hi 5I
I want to make sure I understand the effect of management fee and management expense ratio MER, on an ETFs dividend yield.

For example looking at ZWB the indicated dividend yield on my brokers site is listed as
Div - 7.64%,
MER -0.72 %
Mgt fee - 0.065 %

Is the stated dividend 7.64% the amount received after all expenses are paid or do you subtract the fees to get the actual dividend received?

thx
Read Answer Asked by jim on August 21, 2023
Q: I listed in descending order securities that under performed since their 2022 highs. Please rank the securities in order of the best chance to recover their losses when we get back to the risk on mode. Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Richard on July 25, 2023
Q: Hi, I'm slowly transitioning from a growth portfolio to a dividend portfolio for retirement, starting with positions in JEPI and JEPQ. Can you suggest a couple of US and a couple of Canadian ETFs with high dividends (+6%) that would complement these two? Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by TK on July 10, 2023
Q: I have both of the above ETF's. Thinking of selling all of ZWB and adding to ZEB . While I like the high yield of the covered calls I think there is better opportunity for capital appreciation. with ZEB. as the values of all the banks are down. This would be aa long term hold. Your thoughts .
Read Answer Asked by David on May 29, 2023
Q: Doing a little research with Google I found that the TSX has had an average annual return of 7.94% over the 50 year period of 1971 to 2021 . { Please confirm or correct that number ? } I know 5I doesn't " like " to give portfolio weightings but I have in the past seen you comfortable up to 15% for some ETF's . Would HMAX be one of them ? It looks to me like I can have my cake and eat it too as it's dividend is superior to that of the average annual return of the TSX . Not quite, but close to double ......

Also I have always wondered just how much difference in performance { percentage } there would be between these three products { ZEB. ZWB out of the money calls, and HMAX in the money calls } . In the case of a 10% correction in the financial sector and also in the case of a 10% rise in the financials. Please speculate on what you would expect the return percentage for each . { you will have to speculate for HMAX because of its short history and supposed lack of volatility due to the use of in the money calls } This will help me grasp what to add or subtract to that 14% dividend for HMAX under the two scenarios ......
Read Answer Asked by Garth on May 03, 2023
Q: I am interested in parking some cash in a dividend producing vehicle. I've come across PIC.A which has posted impressive dividends over the course of many years. Could you explain the mechanism of how they are able to produce such dividends and please give your opinion of their ability to continue such going into the future. Any alternatives that you prefer would certainly be appreciated
Read Answer Asked by Teresa on April 18, 2023
Q: FLI has a good dividend but it is on its declining share value. It is contradictory in its performance as higher interest is supposed lift Life Ins companies earnings. Please advise what is the way to find out how these ETF burning through capital and do you have alternatives for this sector of financial cos.?
Read Answer Asked by Ritwik on March 30, 2023
Q: Thank you for your reply this morning on my question about ZWB and HMAX . In your reply you indicated a preference for ZWB because of the upside potential being greater . Am I right in assuming that if that is the case HMAX would be the less volatile of the two ?

Also in 2018 I asked 5I to crunch the numbers on the big five banks over the 18 years { 2000 to 2018 }... I would assume that is a long enough segment to determine an average annual return of dividend plus capital gain. The answer I got ranged between 11% on the low end { TD } to 14.3% on the high end { RY }...... Please correct my reasoning but to me it looks like HMAX with its' current 15.1% dividend based on today's cost of the ETF is going to slightly beat those numbers annually, have less volatility, and give me diversification as an added bonus ? ..... Please advise if my reasoning is sound .....Thanks Garth .....
Read Answer Asked by Garth on March 29, 2023