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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: Retired, dividend-income investor. I own ZWC and ZRE and am thinking of topping them up. Their share prices have obviously taken a hit and buying more at these lower prices with magnified dividend yields "appears" attractive.

What I am wondering is related to the continuation of the dividend. By my numbers, ZRE is yielding 7.4% and ZWC 10.5% (annual dividend divided by current stock price). Am I correct that the yields are supported by not only the underlying security, but the covered call option? What happens if the underlying security reduces their dividend? I guess my real question is...is there a risk of the ETF dividend being cut?

Thanks...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on March 23, 2020
Q: Hi 5iR Team, I'm totally confused by your recent addition of ZRE to the portfolios. It is my thought that REITS will be among the hardest hit of all sectors. Mortgages will not get paid, many small businesses will collapse, rents will not get paid, lack of mall shopping will mean some malls will go under, Sr's who depend on REIT income will be effected, etc., etc.. Why would I invest in ZRE? What numbers am I missing in this equation?
Thanks Team. Cheers, Chris
Read Answer Asked by Chris on March 23, 2020
Q: Just read your March 17 Stock Market Update article regarding "Where is the bottom???" and the bear Market histories. Very enlightening.

I have been almost entirely in cash for over a month now and noted your portfolio changes. You mentioned Adding a new 4% position of BMO Equal Weight REITs ETF (ZRE) in the Income Portfolio. ZRE has been very steady since inception in 2010 gaining almost 40% over that time period until the recent unprecedented and understandable 37% drop since Jan 31.

My question is where should we park our cash while we wait out this terrible situation? Should we just leave it as cash? Is the BMO ETF a suggestion for a short term hold? I did read your Trade Rationale and was a little confused by your comment "remove some of the 'tail risks' that might be seen if there are issues at any individual company." Am I right in thinking this is in reference to ZRE being an ETF? Apologies for my ignorance.

Thanks for all you do

gm
Read Answer Asked by Gord on March 23, 2020
Q: Hello,
Please comment on my logic based on relative beta's :

If I sell my holdings of XTR and buy equal amount of ZRE, in theory, is there more of a chance that in a market recovery, the overall return for ZRE will be higher simply because it fell more and can therefore rise more?

Or is that too simplistic considering there are so many moving parts?

Many thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Arzoo on March 18, 2020
Q: Retired, conservative dividend-income investor with a "buy-and-hold & trim-add around a core position" strategy. At times like these, I take a fresh look at my holdings and ask two key questions. #1 = are there any of my equity holdings that have alarm bells going off? #2 = how safe are the dividends (knowing that no dividend is 100% secure)? The portfolio capital may rise or fall, but it is the continuation of the dividend that is more important.

For asset allocation purposes related to individual stocks (as opposed to sector allocations), I use the following:
5% targets = AQN, BCE, BNS, PBH, RY, TRP, WSP
4% targets = AD, AW, CSH, NWC
2% targets = LNF, MG, NTR
ETF targets = roughly 3-7%

Q#1 = are there any of these equities that you hear alarm bells?
Q#2 = are there any of these equities where you foresee dividend risk?
Q#3 = any thoughts on how I have my asset allocations set up (knowing it is a very personal decision?

Take a bunch of credits. Thanks for your help...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on March 06, 2020
Q: If you were to choose between the 3 above. How would you rank them in terms of security (first and foremost) and total performance for a 3-5 year hold?

Thanks to all for your fantastic service and a very successful year in all your endeavour.
Y
Read Answer Asked by Yves on January 06, 2020
Q: Hi 5i .. i hold these REITs currently: Bpy.un (1.5% of my portfolio), car.un (3%), chp.un (2%), crt.un (1.5%), iip.un (1.7%) ... to simplify things, and diversify further, would it make sense to sell these and just buy an etf like VRE or ZRE? (for a 60 yr old div investor .. which is preferable?) ... or, is the status quo the way to go? thx!
Read Answer Asked by Patrik on September 10, 2019
Q: Good Morning,
Putting some cash to wok in my wife's TFSA, long term (20+) year hold. She is a buy and hold long term investor, looks at her portfolio once or twice a year type. Would you suggest ZRE or would you buy 3-4 REITS? I like the equal weighting of ZRE. It would be approx 10% weighting in her TFSA. Thanks again.
Read Answer Asked by Darby on September 06, 2019
Q: I am a retired conservative dividend income investor. I've held Sentry Global REIT for years (love the 6% distribution) and have been monitoring its performance as compared to ZRE and XRE. I didn't mind paying the 2.4% MER as long as it was outperforming. However, on a total return basis, Sentry has lagged significantly and I have sold it today.

With interest rates appearing to be on the decline and, more importantly, for portfolio asset allocation, I still want to have REIT exposure. I am leaning towards ZRE, due to the equal weight nature (as opposed to XRE).

I am normally a long term buy-and-hold investor. ZRE has had a good run recently, but I think the future still looks good, due to the macro environment. Your thoughts?

My target REIT allocation is 7.5%. I also have a position in CSH.

Thanks for your help...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on August 30, 2019
Q: I'm interested in REITs in general (looking for income as a new retiree), but would rather invest in an ETF than try to pick winners and losers myself. RIT appears to have a good track record and yield of 4.68%, yet net assets are just under $400M. Is this relatively small asset base cause for concern? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Maureen on February 22, 2019
Q: I would like to buy a REIT etf for my TFSA, to capture some tax-free income, and trying to decide among XRE, ZRE and VRE. What would be your recommendation? Or is your choice none of he above but something else?
Read Answer Asked by M on January 21, 2019
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