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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: Hello 5i,
I am a value invester with a mix of equities and ETF's. I have done well with VGT and am up $8,000. As I look for dividends I am looking to sell VGT and buy ZWT. Also exchanging XHYy for ZWH, XTR for ZWC and VE for ZWE. Some are underwater but not by much. $75,000 is involved altogether with these exchanges. Do these changes make sense or should I just leave things as they are. The difference in dividends is nice to have (an extra $300 or more a month) but not really needed.
Stanley
Read Answer Asked by STANLEY on April 25, 2022
Q: Could I get your favourite enhanced income etfs for a registered and non registered account
Read Answer Asked by Terry on April 23, 2022
Q: My son has $5k to put into his TFSA. He has CU, BCE, BEP.UN, WCP, ZWH, AC & BB as higher risk plays. For a 5 to 7 year conservative hold after which he will need funds for loan repayments etc (which is why his stock choices are mostly conservative), would you recommend more ZWH or a CAR.UN or... ?
Read Answer Asked by Harry on January 09, 2022
Q: Hi
The question by J Stephen piqued my interest I have been looking for ETFs that spin out dividends for an income stream. The dividend on this is very good which makes me wonder about risks. How would risks on this compare to a covered call ETF like ZWH . Thanks Keith
Read Answer Asked by Keith on July 30, 2021
Q: I'm looking for a ETF holding US stocks that will work well with ZWH.CA
This would be in a RRSP.
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on July 09, 2021
Q: Good morning, i know you are not real keen on income producing funds that sell options to enhance income but if you were buying a few, which ones would you recommend in today's market, thanks?
Read Answer Asked by Pat on May 05, 2021
Q: What are the risks associated with investing in ZPAY? Also are there any similar funds with the same risks and rewards?
Thanks Mike
Read Answer Asked by Michael on April 15, 2021
Q: Hello 5i team, curious to know your thoughts about covered call ETFs, and whether they provide any interesting opportunities for portfolio diversification/hedging. If yes, would appreciate any suggested ETFs for Canadian, US and more international exposure. Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Aaron on March 16, 2021
Q: As I approach retirement I am looking at transitioning more to ETF's (Cdn, US, Europe). Traditionally my comfort level is best when I own good quality divd paying stocks (hard asset to me).
Question: with etf's such as zwh, cdz, zwp (all owned), am I actually owning a basket of stock within those funds? Or do these funds utilize levers such as forward contracts, derivatives, indexes etc (which I have very little knowledge of) to generate their returns.
If not, are their cdn/us/Europe etfs with actual holdings that you can recommend
Read Answer Asked by Harry on February 09, 2021
Q: With BAM's takeover of BPY I will have some cash in my RRSP to invest. I want to add to my position in the US market. I currently hold the above ETFs in my RRSP in fairly equal weightings and represents a total of 20% of my total investible assest. The cash from BPY would represent a half position relative to my other US holdings. I do not need to RRIF for another 8 years.
2 questions:
1. Can you recommend another ETF for the US market in CAD that might supplement my current holdings or simply add proportionally to my existing holdings.
2. I am a bit concerned about the S&P 500 and the recent addition of Tesla which is at a stratospheric valuation in addition to the FANG stocks which are also at high valuations. (I also have a position in FANG with ZQQ). Would a switch to EQL or similar ETF provide a better balance and take advantage of a more broad market recovery in 2021.
Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Bruce on January 07, 2021
Q: I have most of my u.s. in these 2 etf. Given that there might be a shift to value investing,which might indicate $ moving out of information tech,would you change or moderate any thing with regards to this set up? Zuq has a lot of tech holdings and could be a concern. Thanx.
Read Answer Asked by Steve on December 01, 2020
Q: ..likely a dumb question but if a company running an ETF finds itself in trouble for some reason and goes bankrupt, or is put out of business for some other reason, what happens to the unit holders? overall, do you see the ETF space as a safe place to invest in and which management companies would you try and stick with....ishares, BMO, Horizon for example. thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on July 24, 2020
Q: Hi 5i
"Rock Bottom" and "staying lower for longer" are the phrases being assigned to interest rates.
I hold pref shares (min rate reset) that seem to be benefiting from income seeker buying.
I also hold Canadian dividend paying stocks that have not recovered due to fears of more dividend cuts and poor economic performance ahead. (ET, FSZ, BCE, BNS, PPL, IPL, ENB.......)

With increasing emphasis now being put on very low rates, are there advantageous investments today for income with growth as investors realize they need more income and gravitate to income producers? (and high interest accounts continue to pay less and less interest)

Does a diversified Canadian ETF like ZWC (Covered Call Canadian) or ZWH (Covered Call US) make sense going forward?

Thanks
Dave
Read Answer Asked by Dave on July 20, 2020
Q: I'm interested in covered calls and note that ZWU, ZWC and ZWH are all down 15-20% YTD.
For an income portfolio, they look very appealing with their 7% to 9% yield.
Would you recommend to bump up the income?
What % of an income portfolio would you recommend?
Can you rank from most to least favourite?
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on July 07, 2020
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
Read Answer Asked by William James (Jim) on June 16, 2020
Q: Hi General investing question. I have both ETF and actual stocks that are in the ETF. Less than 5 years away from retirement so still looking to build my portfolio. What's your opinion on holding ETF to accumulate income or buy the actual dividend stock and get both income and (hopefully!) growth? Thanks guys
Read Answer Asked by Kenneth on June 15, 2020