Investment Q&A

Q: What insights do you have for the Utility sector in 2025? It was out of favor, caught a bid for a while and now it's falling back again. The yield is obviously nice but do you see the price continuing to decline? Thanks as always, great service.

Q: Planning to consolidate Utility sector in RIF. Current holdings include: ZWU, H, XUT, XLU. Which one would you keep ? Thank you

Q: Would you consider ZWU to be a reasonable replacement for the following equities in a RIF ?
BEP.un, BIPC, BIR, ENB, FTS, TOU
Please give Risk assessment 1 (low) out of 10 (high). Other suggestions/comments appreciated ?

Q: Trying to consolidate utility positions in my RIF. Currently I own small positions in ZWU, H and XUT. Which one would you suggest keeping?

Thank you

Q: portfolio strategy question

I have adopted a dividend investment strategy of investing predominantly in canadian dividend paying equities and as expected am overweight in financials, telecom and utilities, this strategy allows me to sleep well at night, I am looking at enough dividend income from the portfolio to retire on and not have to touch the principle investment.

besides the lack of diversification in geography and sector. can you give me your opinion about concerns you may have with such a strategy and what you would suggest doing otherwise ?

Q: Now that we have had the first reduction in central bank interest rates, do you think there is a good investment opportunity in utilities? Looking mostly for price stability with income and some capital appreciation. Is there an equal weight ETF for utilities?
Thank you for your great service.

Q: My wife has been diagnosed with dementia and on a waiting list for LTC. I'm thinking of setting up her TFSA for monthly income to top up her government pensions.
Thinking of eit.un, zwu, zwe . Harvest and Horizon have higher yields but I am concerned about sustainability. Your thought please.
Thank you for your good works.

Q: Hi, With CDN interest rates maybe coming down I'm wondering if a switch from a covered call utility ETF (ZWU) to an equal weight ETF like ZUT makes sense? ZUT though has a fairly high MER, so is there a better option, or maybe better to just buy individual stocks. Thanks.

Q: Is the main purpose of a covered call ETF to increase income but have a flip side to potentially limit gain?

Q: Hi team. I have ZWU as my main utilities holding @ 11% and I also have positions in BCE and ENB on their own. ZWU has both BCE and ENB in their top 10 holdings. In your opinion am I participating in "di-worsification" by holding BCE and ENB outside of ZWU. Would you sell both BCE and ENB and fold the funds back into ZWU? I'm ok letting ZWU go to +/- 15% of my portfolio. Appreciate your thoughts. Bill.

Q: Can you suggest 10 best (sleep at night) low risk, monthly/quarterly income, tax efficient, Canadian etfs. Monthly preferred but not essential. Held in non registered account.

Q: replace zwu with umax to increase income. does this increase risk? thx james

Q: I've asked quite a few questions on these new Hamilton ETF's and thank you for the explanations you have given me thus far . They have been very informative ..... I'll likely have a few more before I make my final decision on whether to purchase .... I have noticed that though 5i generally gives them a nod of approval you fail to recommend them in questions as a covered call option. For example in a question this morning from KIM looking to replace his 11% yield from EIT.UN you give ZWU as an option instead of UMAX which yields better than KIim's target yield. First question is why ? The fact that you are giving the nod to the BMO product is making me pause in my purchase of the Hamilton product .....
Second question is though UMAX has only been around since June 23 please give the both the return without dividends and the return including dividends for both UMAX and ZWU during the available time period ? Thanks for your terrific service .....

Q: All different holdings, but what would be your order of preference (based on expected total return) with the next 12 months in mind. Thanks as always, great service.

Q: Can you please recommend a few ETFs like ZLU that are traded in Canadian funds that exclude the magnificent seven. I will appreciate it if you can provide a list for both hedged and unhedged ETSs.
Thank you

Q: I am an income investor. I believe that umax and zwu are similar.

Would umax (14% yield) not be preferred to zwu at 8.2%

Same for qmax (11.8%) vs. txf at 8.3%

thank you for your comments

Q: I hold a significant amount of those 3 ETF in my non registered account + RRSP.Assuming that ROC represents a large part of the dividend ( true?),I suppose that we could tolerate a "reasonable or slight" réduction of the NAV ,compensated by the much lower income tax + partial compensation of capital gain if eventually sold .Those advantages are not present in the RRSP , maybe should I reduce the % of covered call ETFs in the RRSP if the NAV is not stabilized... Please comment ( or criticize ! )my observations since I am far from being an expert, regards J-Y

Q: Your thoughts about purchasing the above in my TFSA and/or RRIF accounts . Do you see any major downsides?

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.

Q: From what I understand from 5i - HCAL should move up much faster than HMAX and ZWU should move up faster than UMAX when the market begins its recovery. Is this a correct analogy? Thx James