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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: Are those funds advantageous to hold in a rsp account regarding on the withholding of US dividends? I am never sure if those dividends get charged fo all holders, or just the cash accounts. So if these do not shelter the rsp from the tax, which equivalent would you suggest.?
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by francois on April 01, 2025
Q: Which are presently your top picks for Canadian and US ETF's for each sectors ? Which ones would you consider buying now ? Entry prices ?
Please take as many credits to answer this as required.

Gratefully,

Jacques IDS
Read Answer Asked by Jacques on March 19, 2025
Q: I hold a significant position of ZWU ( less ZUT) for stability of the sector during crisis and stable dividends .ZWU holds around 40% of US stocks .In a non registered account, considering various factors: 1) NAV of ZWU is normally dropping over time 2) dividends are higher 3) no dividend tax credit for the US proportion 4) having a US proportion offers some kind of diversification : Alltogether would you consider one of those ETF a better choice for value + dividends? if not ,any ideal proportion of the 2 ? Many thanks ,JY
Read Answer Asked by Jean-Yves on March 06, 2025
Q: I am looking to offset some equity risk with fixed incomes or proxies of the same that ideally have some capital gains potential. Could you please comment on the risk level of some of these bond proxies, as well as preferred shares, from a risk perspective?
Irrespective of whether we have tariffs coming it is difficult to say that the unpredictability will stop.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on February 26, 2025
Q: Good morning all; I've a two part question for you, First, the listed investments are in a RRIF. The current plan is to extract only dividend income, and have some modest stock growth.

I have funds for one more position and I'd like 3 of your suggestions that would add decent dividend income with modest growth of stock value.

Second question is about XLB. It was originally purchased as a post-inflation investment looking for some appreciation as rates declined. While Canada may get a bit more downward adjustment I believe Trump policy will be inflationary. What would be a sound replacement, meeting the dividend and growth goals for the account?

Thanks as always.

Dave
Read Answer Asked by Dave on January 29, 2025
Q: It is rare that I ask this question coming from an 84 year old senior, but all the above equal weighted ETF's are presently in my TFSA and can't decide how to invest for the 2025 contribution. Which ETF I should I be adding to the above list or should I be adding a new one that is not in the portfolio?
Also are any of those listed that do not belong in a TFSA?
Thanks for your usual great service.
Read Answer Asked by Terry on January 29, 2025
Q: Do you consider that Canadian utilities ETFs (my impression..) ,or even other ETF categories, offer a protection against future potential US taxes on foreign countries ,and in such case, which ETF would you favor ,(or a mix) ?

Read Answer Asked by Jean-Yves on January 22, 2025
Q: Can you give me your top CAD picks in each of the following sectors based on current price and long term worthiness. ETFs are fine as we are looking for steady long-term growth.

consumer defensive
healthcare
utilities

Thanks as always. Kevin
Read Answer Asked by Kevin on January 21, 2025
Q: I have both ZWU and ZUT in an RRSP account. For the next 5+ years, should I continue to hold both, or only one. If one, please supply your reasons. ZWU pays a much higher dividend, and has ZUT as it's largest holding, but over the last 5 years it has underperformed ZUT. Is it a case of deciding whether I want more potential growth or more potential income?
Read Answer Asked by Grant on January 07, 2025
Q: I am a senior citizen now with a lower tolerance for risk and accepting of a lower rate of return on my investments for that. When interest rates increased, I invested in MM funds; now with rates going south, I am looking to get back into some more conservative stocks/ETF/Mutual funds with growth prospects.
Can you provide 5 stocks/ETF's you believe would fill this request. I am looking at Canadian but if there isa US one that makes sense, I would look at it.
As always, thanks for your advise.

Regards

Jim
Read Answer Asked by Jim on December 17, 2024
Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. Sitting on roughly 5-6% cash for topping up existing positions to, over time, hit Asset Allocation targets.

Candidates = BCE, GSY, HHL, HMAX, XST, ZUT. If I was deciding to deploy funds to create the largest total return over the next year or two, from their existing valuation, a) in what order would you deploy the funds and b) a short qualifier for each position?

My view = buy in this order:
ZUT = good momentum, room to run before hitting earlier peak
GSY = good value, $150-155 should be excellent value
XST = graph against 50 and 200mda...very tight chart....could buy anytime
HMAX = good value, banks should run
HHL = healthcare stocks should get over their fear of their new boss in a few months....or not. Give it some time.
BCE = last on the list. Just rebought after cap loss capture. Give it even more time.

Thanks for your help....Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on December 16, 2024
Q: What are your favorite ETFs in Utilities sector? In the US and Canada. Also in Europe.
(I have a small position in VPU. Not sure if it meets your approval)
Want to structure an asymmetric barbell, just in case there's more
than expected pullback!
Many thanks in advance.
Read Answer Asked by Savalai on December 10, 2024
Q: Retired (70 yrs old), dividend-income investor. Been meaning to ask this question for a long time. We run a concentrated portfolio of roughly 10 ETFs and 10 stocks, plus fixed income on top. Our pro-rated MER for the equity ETFs is 0.64 and for the entire portfolio is 0.38.

I use the ETFs above that are sector ETFs (like HHL, NNRG, XIT) as my proxy for the sector and am ok with the trade off of paying fees for a sector ETF instead of having lots of stocks.

I then add my individual stock selections to achieve my targeted Asset Allocation for the entire portfolio (like AD, BCE, FTS, GSY, RY, NWC, PBH, TRP, WSP, etc). I weight each of these relative to my risk tolerance.

Does this make sense to you? Does my "sector ETF" make sense, especially with a potentially large weighting in one ETF. Virtually all of my ETFs are capped at around 7% of the equity portfolio and the stocks are capped at 5% max.

Your thoughts on my strategy and on my MER....thanks...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on December 10, 2024
Q: Can you share your top picks for Canadian and US ETF's that would cover the relevant sectors (e.g. tech, industrials etc.)? Please take as many credits to answer this as required.
Read Answer Asked by Patricia on November 11, 2024
Q: I currently own ZEB, ZUT AND ZDV for income. I'm considering to add one of either XEI or XDIV or sell my holdings and consolidate into one of either XEI or XDIV. Please advise whether adding or consolidating is better and which of XEI and XDIV is the better one. Please take as many credits as required.

Thanks 5i !! Ken
Read Answer Asked by Kenneth on October 07, 2024
Q: Can you please recommend 3 CDN Utility ETFs and 3 US Utility ETFs that will provide in one year 10% yield including both dividends and capital appreciation?
Read Answer Asked by Ron on July 23, 2024