Investment Q&A

Q: I am 72 and retired. I have been building a part of my portfolio (58.4%) for the last three years with ETFs. Current holdings are (% weight of portfolio in brackets): zwh (10.5), zwu (9.1), zwc (8.5), mft (5.9), xtr (5.3), xhy (5.2), zwe (4.7), cdz (3.2), zdh (3.2) & zre (2.9). With 24.2% cash, I plan on slowly adding to these etfs. How would you do this? The remainder of my portfolio is in dividend paying Canadian large caps.
Thanks, Jim

Q: Looking for some guidance on my International equity holdings. All of my Int’l holdings are in the above ETFs and are in my RRSP accounts. The Int’l portion represents 10% of my total investment portfolio. Generally I look for a balance between income and growth with dividends used to supplement my pension income. I have 9 years before I have to RIF.
I have only recently added ZEM for its emerging markets exposure and tax friendly structure. While the other holdings have provided good yield I have not been happy with the lack of growth even before the latest correction. I am generally comparing the lack of growth to the US market which may not be a fair comparison.
Could I have your opinion on my holdings and any suggestions for improvements and why. I am looking for good diversification across the world, ex North America, with a view to a balance between income and growth. Would like to keep my holdings in CAD.

Q: Hello 5i Team,
I am in the process of building an income portfolio and I would like your opinion on the above stocks. Would you start a .5 position in the current market environment? (While the markets are rising) All of the above are for very long term holds.
Do you think KEY's dividend is sustainable and do you think its assets might look attractive to a bigger player like ENB?
I like gold long term and I have .5 positions in AGI and YRI and comfortable with. I currently view Sprott as sort of a mini ETF for junior gold stocks. As in I do not have the expertise or tolerance for individual junior stocks but I would be able to get a diversified portfolio of such stocks run by proven leadership and expertise. Is this a reasonable view to have of SII? Another .5 position would bring my total gold exposure to 10% which is where I would like to keep it. Does adding SII make sense given a higher risk tolerance or does adding to AGI or YRI make more sense.
I currently have no ETF exposure and the yields on ZWC and ZWE are quite attractive and they offer excellent diversification. Are the yields sustainable? I have heard that with covered call funds in general the main drawback is that the upside is limited while the main advantage is that the downside is also limited through yield. Is this correct? Income is the main objective with these holdings but if held for 10+ years or more I would expect some capital gains to be made. Is this reasonable? Do these ETFs ever trade at significant discounts or premium? How is the income classified to tax purposes?

Thank you for the great service!

Q: Hello to the team
How reliable are the divi. on this companies there are an integral part of my retirement,generally they are less 10 years in the market and being clobbered,should' i reduce some of these position and replace them with some exposure to US. like PDI or wait as long that the divi is there,i'm 76.
Thank You

Q: Good morning, Peter/Ryan!
I am interested in finding more detailed info about European and emerging market dividend paying stocks, essentially of the "blue chip" variety. Do you know of any specific resources that provides coverage in that area? As well, would you by chance have any recommendations of specific stocks and/or ETFs along those lines … maybe 4 or 5?
Thanks a lot!
Paul

Q: Hi

Thinking of changing the above mentioned for PHYS.CA in my RRSP accounts for some protection in the virus situation and what is going to occur after.

I do not need the dividends.

Comments please

Thank you

Mike

Q: Hello,
I presently have a LIF and a RRIF majority is invested in zwc and zwu along with some other less then ideal stocks [interpipe,fru,hot,bpy] , have gone from 550k to 350 k in a month, expensive lesson on proper portfolio construction I guess. Would you suggest selling the covered call etfs and buy non covered call versions at this point in time ? Am I correct in thinking If the tsx returns to 17,900 again zwc and zwu will not return to previous nav due to covered call loss ? Thanks very much for Your help, great website.

Q: I have exposure to these etfs in my rrsp. Would you recommend selling zwe and adding zeq? How much overlap is there between xef and zeq?

Q: Should I continue to hold these 3 in both cash and RRSP accounts.
What would be a good replacement
I can use the loss for capital gains in my cash accounts make in January 2020.
Thank you
Sincerely
Mike

Q: I understand that a covered call investment is not the holding to have during a market rebound.

Instead of ZWE, which ETF would be appropriate holding to capitalize on a rebound.

Q: I hear that those who make covered call ETF(s) are having a problem with the level of volatility. Do you understand what that means and whether that could cause some less liquid ones to dissapear, perhaps under a condition in their prospectus? I suppose black swan events like this one can make complicated products even more complicated to manage. Thank you.

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

Q: Could you review the situation with covered call ETFs during this type of market where everything is dropping?
Do you buy covered call ETFs to obtain income?
Do you sell your covered call ETFs?
Do you wait until the market moves upward before buying a covered call ETF?
Do you simply stay away when the market turns and buy the individual security?

Thanks....

Q: A financial adviser told me that dividends from ZWE, ie. a Canadian based cover call ETF, have the same tax advantage as dividends from a Canadian stock like BCE. Do you know if this is the case?
Thanks!

Q: Hello 5i
3 analysis requests per above : can you comment on these ETFs in regards to North American holdings overlap and geography overlap for the international exposure etfs (all are 1/2 to full positions). If you have replacement etf options please feel free to comment. Finally in regards to respective sector identification / allocation what would 5i recommend for the north american focused etfs (source the fund fact disclosure or simply enter as an index?) Thanks for the innovative hi level investment platform & your service.

Q: Good morning 5i
In a recent question asking what regions you might underweight you mentionned that you were agnostic on Europe. I have been concerned about Europe myself. But, i need to increase the foreign content in my portfolio and this is where it is lacking. How would you approach this under current conditions. Thanks fort he great service, as always

Q: Currently my only international exposure is with VEE and ZWE. Can you please recommend 2 international equity ETF's that would compliment these?
Preferably one low cost index and one high yield.

Thanks

Q: Good morning,
I currently hold ZWE in my TFSA and I have two questions as follows:

a. Given that there is a witholding tax on ZWE when held in a TFSA, I was wondering if it would not be better to simply sell ZWE and buy it back in my RSP instead. I note that in one of your responses to a similar question, you recommended that ZWE be held in a Non Registered account. Not sure that I understand the rational for this over holding ZWE in an RRSP. Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.
b. Do you think that it is wise to invest in Europe, UK in particular at this time and if so, would you recommend a change from ZWE to another ETF with a better growth opportunity and if so which one?
Thank you and Merry Christmas to the 5i team.

Q: Hello Crew
I am nearly retired and I like a total growth approach (dividends plus capital appreciation). During a down market however I don't wish to sell my capital appreciation funds for living expenses. Therefore, my question is what ETF's can I pair -dividends vs capital appreciation that that might serve that end. Examples ZLB/ZDV, XMI/VIGI/ZWE, VGG/XMU/ZWH..your suggestions are appreciated
regards gary

Q: Why would you advise holding these five ETF's in a TFSA, given that the foreign withholding tax is unrecoverable?