Investment Q&A

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

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

Q: If I had all of these funds would there be too much overlap? What is your favourite one out of the group?

Q: Do you have any concerns with someone holding these ETF’s for a 3 to 5 year time period?

Q: If one was new to investing, with a $5OK account, interesting in monthly income with some growth would a mix of SPLT and ZLB be good advice i.e. 60% SPLT and 40% ZLB. ZLB to focus on low volitile stocks and SPLT for safe monthly income of 6% with some growth. Any other ideas?

Q: According to my TD research, on a 1, 3, and 5 year basis, ZLB has outperformed ZCN despite ZLB's higher MER and lower dividend. Is that a reasonable apples to apples comparison? I'm wondering if it's worth it to sell my ZLB and buy ZCN or does it all work out to about the same? Thanks. And belated Happy Thanksgiving

Q: Good evening 5i,

I have held ZLB for some time and while happy with the holding as part of my portfolio, I am considering a switch to HDIV. It would continue to be a long term hold.

Based on past perfromance, I don't see that the ZLB provides that much less volatility protection over HDIV to justify the higher fees and lower yield.

I would certainly appreicate your thoughts.

Thanks

Q: I am setting up a TFSA for my wife. I have been managing my own TFSA for 7 years but my wife has maintained her account with a BMO investment advisor. We also both have RIFs managed by the same advisor. My TFSA has far outperformed the accounnts managed by the professional (thanks to your advice) but my wife is very risk adverse. She has about $100 K to invest. We are both in our 70s and don't have pressing needs for the cash. Could you. suggest a basket of Canadian/US stocks/etfs that would provide some low risk growth with a 10 year horizon.

Q: Up to this point I have been a growth investor. Recently retired, I am converting some RRSP into a RIF and want to lower the risk profile. I am 60 y/o.

Kindly advise some ETFs that you would recommend in Canada or US.

Thanks a lot,

Q: My husband mainly holds ETF's in his TFSA - ZLB, VXC, ZNQ, and some BRK. ZNQ accounts for around 5% with the others split about evenly. Which one would you add new cash to today? Another option we have been looking at is adding VUG. I think there is a lot of overlap between VXC, ZNQ, and VUG. Of the three, which one or two do you like best? Thanks!

Q: I'm looking for some options for a low volatility etf. Would you recommend ZLB or is there something else that might be a better choice.

Thank you.

Q: Please suggest some US equivalents to ZLB and your preferred account to hold them in.

Q: I am a senior holding CDZ, ZLB & ZSP plus around 20 individual stocks. I am hoping to streamline my portfolio to 3 ETFs plus a few favourite stocks. I'm ok with CDZ and ZSP, but I wonder if I should switch to ZCN for much of my Canadian portion rather than ZLB. Have you a suggestion as to which would be more appropriate in my late retirement portfolio? I'm not looking for international investment nor for fixed income. Many thanks.

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

What do you think about the Buffer ETFs offered by BMO? Are they suitable for a retired investor who wants some downside protection and is comfortable with limited returns in a strong market scenario? Are their AUMs adequate to consider a purchase? BMO has three such ETFs: ZAPR, ZJAN, and ZOCT. Or are there other 'better' ETFs that have lower MERs, as the three cited have rather hefty MERs?

Thanks as always for your insight.

Q: Hi,
I’m trying to help my friend organize her investments. She has minimal understanding of investments securities and had to move her pension to LIRA and RRSP 15 years and told Canada Life mutual funds that she was conservative profile. Fast forward 15 years her mutual funds have made her minimal money with back ended fees. The funds range in MERS from 1.6% to 2.5%. In looking at her holdings the portfolio make up is approximately
Fixed income - 22%, Balanced income %11, Cnd equity 62%, resources/specialty -2%. Retirement is still 10-15 years away. (Her husband has a pension)What ETF’s would match this asset mix to help get her started independently and move away from the high fees? I was thinking VBAL … But it is conservative. Any suggestions would be great to provide choice on where to invest her money. Please take as many credits as you want.
Thanks so much!
Kerri

Q: In answer to Pat's question on Mar 19 related to CDZ and the % in Financials and % in Telco's.

ZLB = 19% financials and 9% in telcos.

Also....use the 5iR chart and compare CDZ and ZLB. ZLB outperforms CDZ in the 3 yr, 5 yr and 10 yr timeframes by a wide margin and the charts are Total Return!!

I have held both CDZ and ZLB for years as a core conservative part of my portfolio....very little overlap in their holdings and both steady performers (although I admit ZLB is better).

Steve

Q: Hi
i'm invested in zlb. When I look at the report posted on the Globe & Mail by Fund data, it gives my the percentage returns compared to a benchmark. However, the report does not say which benchmark it uses. Which benchmark do you think this is?
CALENDAR RETURN (%)
2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014
FUND 9.39 -0.37 22.88 1.62 21.83 -2.78 11.09 13.04 2.67 28.54
BENCHMARK 11.75 -5.84 25.09 5.60 22.88 -8.89 9.10 21.08 -8.32 10.5
thanks

Q: I manage my daughter and her husband's investments. They currently own the above equities (except XST), plus fixed income. I would define them as conservative investors.

Regarding their asset allocation, I am still in the process of building out their portfolio. They are a little light on Consumer Staples. I was trying to find a suitable ETF and came up with XST.

Q#1 = What are your current thoughts on XST? The constituent holdings actually look pretty good. The various rates of return also look good.

Q#2 = Are there other ETFs that I should consider? I couldn't find a BMO version. I have read the past questions on XST and it appears to me that XST is the front runner (compared to VDC and XLP), when looking at past performance.

Thoughts? Agree?
Thanks for your help...much appreciated...Steve

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. I hold AQN in my RRSP, bought it in 2011 at $5.60 (not a typo) and have trimmed it multiple times due to asset allocation. Not that it matters, but I am still up 15% over my ACB.

Looking forward is what really matters. AQN is up roughly 20% from it's low of around $9/share. Q#1 = Do you think AQN can continue their short term performance?

I hold AQN, FTS, TRP, NNRG, NRGI, and utility-energy stocks held within CDZ, ZLB, ZWC. Q#2 = What conservative utility or infrastructure stocks should I consider that might "fill the gap" in my current holdings? Please list 4-6 stocks for me to do further research on.

Q#3 = Should a component of "renewables" be a consideration? That was one of the reasons for holding AQN. Ideas?

So the bottom line is = what's done is done. AQN appears to be starting to recover and there is always the chance of being bought out.
1. Hold of sell,
2. Replace with what,
3. Include renewables?

Thanks for your help....Steve

Q: I have the above ETF,s in my TFSA in roughly equal weights along with a number of stocks. Is there sugnifcat any over lap here? Where would add first or all equaly? I know your not a fan of covered call ETSs. Any suggested changes or additions?