Investment Q&A

Q: Greetings,

I just sold some mutual funds(finally) in my wife's RRSP account. We are fairly diversified at individual level, majority of our holdings are from your Balanced and some from growth and income portfolios. All our funds are in Canadian and would like to diversify.

Please advise, if this is right time to diversify in to US/World markets. if it is a right time, can you suggest few EFT's for 5+ year hold.

Q: Could I please have 5 recommendations for investment in Canadian stocks and/or Canadian ETF's focused on the US market. I currently have no investments in the US market in my RRIF. Thanks

Q: Ignoring taxes, cash requirements, sector allocation, on a straight-up basis, for a minimum one-year hold, which of the above-listed equities would it be prudent to currently sell,buy, or hold? Thank You

Q: I am looking to add an ETF that tracks the s and p 500 that has to go in my Tfsa. Can you give me some etf recommendations and your rationale? Thank you.

Q: Which Top 3 ETF's do your recommend to track the S&P 500.

Q: ZSP is an unhedged Canadian Dollar ETF. It has not done as well as the US Dollar ETF, symbol IVV.

Why would that be so? Shouldn’t their performance be identical?

Q: I currently own TDB900 and 902. Have now read that TD will be using ETFs to purchase their funds like the ones mentioned. I have held these funds for a long time . So I am wondering if it still ok to hold onto TDB900 and 902 since I am uncertain how this will affect those holdings. Is it time to switch the funds for similar ETFs. Any clarification is appreciated. Thanks Paul.

Q: when I put these three on a chart together (Thompson-Reuters feed on webbroker), for a specified period, hxs shows a much greater return than zsp which shows a much greater return than xsp. Five year chart 93%, 77%, and 45% respectively. This charting service does not show total return so some of the difference between hxs and zsp will be the dividend (included in hxs but not zsp). Some of the difference can be explained by hedging of the currency on xsp but not on hxs or zsp. Given the difference in five year returns there must be something else. Suggestions?

Q: I was reading Norm Rothery's article on the "hot potato" portfolio strategy. As you know it involves investing in one of four etf's based on the previous year's best performance. The asset classes are Canadian Bond Index, S&P/TSX Composite Index, S&P 500 and MSVI EAGE Index. I have to do a little more research on this strategy but should I decide to allocate a small investment here, what 4 specific etf's would you recommend?
Dennis

Q: Would appreciate your view on this etf as a long term hold for some relative safety and income using US dollars. Secondly what would you suggest as a Canadian dollar version of this etf holding a similar array of US large caps with a similar yield and low mer - would you recommend these for purchase or another pair instead - finally would you suggest averaging in for a fairly aggressive portfolio percentage (as high as 20%) or just buy and hold given the holdings -all the best - Ken

Q: Thank you for answering my past questions so clearly.

All the ETF's below mirror the S&P 500.

BMO S&P 500 INDEX CAD UNT ETF Symbol ZSP (not currency-hedged)

VANGUARD S&P 500 Index ETF, Symbol VSP (currency-hedged)

iShares Core S&P 500 Index ETF, Symbol XSP (currency-hedged)

Over the last decade, as expected, XSP and VSP have appreciated as much as the S&P 500 has -- a little over 100%.

ZSP has appreciated about 180%. Likely, that is a function of the currency hedging/not hedging.

Please explain.

In your opinion, will ZSP continue to outperform?

Thank you.

Q: Hi Team,
Would you please recommend 3 to 4 C$ denominated etfs that are focused on us equities (I already own XQQ and ZUB).
Cheers,

Q: I would appreciate your recommendations for the most tax-efficient ETF's for US equities in non-registered , RSP & TFSA accounts .
Thank you.

Q: hi, within a long term focus rip, would you see benefit from holding VGG as well as ZSP ? If not both, which is preferable? Thanks$$

Q: In reading Jason Heath's article in the Moneysaver he comments that there is no US withholding tax on US ETF's held in an RRSP, but there is withholding tax on the Canadian equivalent. I am in the process of rearranging our RRIFS and have been switching to more ETFs, including US based ones. Many ETFs have both a Canadian dollar and a US dollar version of the same fund. For convenience, to avoid opening a US dollar RRIF component, I elected to go with the Canadian equivalent.

Does the withholding tax also apply to RRIFs as well as RRSPs. If so it follows that perhaps I should convert a portion of our RRIF to US dollars and then purchase the US based ETFs in that account. It is not difficult to do, just a bit inconvenient.
Your thoughts please.
Russell

Q: You are recommending etfs based on my analytical profile. What is a US HEDGED ETF.
Does it mean if the Canadian dollar goes up agai st the US dollar I would lose money. I am having a hard time buying the etfs at all time highs with small dividends. The one I want to buy is vun or zsp since they hold a lot of US technology, I think.

Q: looking for an S&P 500 ETF with low fees. do you prefer a hedged or unhedged ETF? i am considering the ZSP and TDB902 or any other you would recommend. 20 year time horizon.

Q: Hi, 60 year old investor. Wanted to get your thoughts on a portfolio consisting of about 11% each of zlb, xiu, wxm, zqq, zsp, zlu and ~ 33% zag. Won’t need the money for about 5 years. Thanks, Mike

Q: Greetings 5i team,

For people who invest in a US market index ETF, are there significant differences between IVV, VOO and SPY ?

Are there any other similar US market index ETFs?

Thank you.

Milan

Q: Recently read John Bogle, "Common Sense Investing"

What are my choices for purchasing the s & p 500 index, please compare MER, do all offer a canadian hedge? and what are the pros and cons of buying it hedged to canadian dollar?

thanks

Ernie