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: Can I have your thoughts about this ETF for a 3-year hold please?

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: 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: Hi Peter,
Is there any US withholding tax if this ETF is held under a TFSA or FHSA?
Thanks,

Q: Will ZLU have any tax implications if held in a LIRA account?

Q: Which growth US$ ETF's would you recommend that have low dividends, low volatility, and good past performance.

John

Q: In my open (unregistered) account, I currently own VGRO and am looking to invest some funds in ETFs . What is the difference between ZLU and ZLU.U? How would your rate the above ETFs for growth over the next 5 years? Do these ETFs hold similar investments (stocks, bonds, etc)? If I invested in 2 ETFs, which ETFs would be complimentary? Can you suggest similar ETFs with better growth potential in the next 5 years? Thank you

Q: I have been unable to find a comparison between these 2 BMO US ETFs. Would you suggest one over the other for a senior well into retirement? Fixed income taken care of.

Q: Emerging markets are getting some attention lately for reasonable valuations.
India is being mentioned as a strong growth country. Many experts suggest US large corps as a better way to invest rather than the corps of the emerging markets .
What are your thoughts and ideas for investment to take advantage of emerging markets as far as actual emerging market etf or etf of large cap US based major exporters/worldwide etf. ?

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team.

Would you endorse a switch from ZLU to VFV? When I look at the sector breakdown of ZLU, I notice that ZLU is heavy in sectors that probably should currently be under-represented, and very light in sectors that should have higher concentration. And of course, the MER of 0.08% for VFV is better than ZLUs of 0.30%.

ZLU is held in our Margin account, and VFV is already held in our RRIFs.

Thanks as always for the timely advice.

Q: I am looking at investing 2023 contributions (2 x $6500) in stocks and/or ETFs. Please provide 5 stocks and 5 ETFs for long term hold. Rank the stocks and ETFs and comment on why they are being recommended,

Current stock holdings include: BYND, BAM, BN, REGN, TSLA

Current ETFs: QQQ, VGRO, ZEM, SKYY, IHI, XIT and SPY

Thank you

Q: I have US exposure through a company pension that tracks the S&P. It represents about 20% of my overall holdings. I have recently come into enough US cash to add two or three new individual holdings, or perhaps buy an ETF or two that would complement the S&P tracking pension. I would welcome your thoughts and suggestions for individual stocks or ETFs that would be suitable additions.

Q: Hi Peter,
I want to move my investments to a portfolio of ETF's, Please suggest a group of ETF's with strong growth potential for Long term ( 10-15 years).

Q: zlu follow up question, thanks for pointing out that zlu trades in USD as zlu.u
When i compare performance of those 2 ETFs using yahoo finance or questrade edge or the bmo website zlu significantly outperforms zlu.u over any time frame
If the performance was similar i would invest in zlu.u as it is in my rrsp account but in this case given the outperformance i think i will opt for zlu.
I do not understand the performance differential, assume fx must be related but it seems like too much.

Q: Is there an equivalent to ZLU in US Dollars? I would like to invest in ZLU but since it will be in my RRSP i think i should invest in US Dollars if possible. There are many funds that follow the S&P 500 Value Index but ZLU has outperformed those over the last few years.

Q: I am thinking of setting up my portfolio with 25% positions in XIU, ZLB, XSP, ZLU. I am trying to avoid bonds and International stocks as they always seem to be a drag on the portfolio. With this arrangement I feel I have a better chance for returns closer to the market. With the low volatility ETF’s, I am hoping my positions would cause less volatility and would smooth out returns as the holdings in each are well correlated. Would you consider this plan to be too risky or would you have any other commentary or suggestions?

Q: Hi Peter & 5i,
Wishing you and the staff a joyous holiday season!
Would you see any red flags in this portfolio for a conservative investor needing the dividends for cash flow. The portfolio would be 50% equities and 50% fixed income - 5 year laddered GIC's.
Here are the stocks and their proposed weightings:
Financial Royal Bank RY 5.7%
TD Bank TD 3.6%
Sun Life SLF 4.4%
Power Corp POW 4.0%
Utility Fortis FTS 5.7%
Brookfield Renewable BEPC 4.2%
Algonquin Power AQN 2.2%
Comm TELUS T 4.7%
Bell BCE 4.1%
Cons Staple Costco COST 4.3%
Loblaws L 4.0%
Cons Discr. Magna MG 3.8%
Restaurant Brands QSR 2.4%
Industrial CN Rail CNR 5.2%
Savaria SIS 3.6%
Energy Enbridge ENB 4.6%
Suncor SU 2.9%
Materials Nutrien NTR 4.3%
Real Estate BMO-Equal Weight ZRE 4.2%
Tech Thomson Reuters TRI 4.8%
Health Evolve Global Health LIFE 3.8%
ETF BMO-Low Volatility US ZLU 8.7%
iShares-US Equity-Hedge XSP 4.8%
Thanks so much for the fantastic service.

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

We need to increase our US exposure and wish to do this in our non-registered account. We're considering CUD and VGG as we'd rather use ETFs. (Our broker allows us to buy and sell CUD with zero commission, and not so with VGG, but this wouldn't be a 'make or break' reason for choosing one over the other). What would your recommendation be when considering tax efficiency, performance, volatility, and other important metrics? I do like that CUD has a relatively low weight in Technology, as our Canadian holdings like CSU, ENGH, KXS, TOI, etc. have done so well, and we're now overweight in this sector, thanks to 5i. :) Also, if there are any other US ETFs sold on the TSX that you think we should consider, we'd appreciate that info as well.

Thanks in advance for all your assistance and wise counsel.