Investment Q&A

Q: I am looking for a suggestion for my son's RESP for a reliable 3-4% rate of return as we are starting to withdraw funds.
Thanks very much for all your excellent advice!

Q: A month ago I sold both these bond etf’s to capture the tax loss. I’m now looking to rebuy/reinvest these funds. As part of my fixed income allocation I’m wondering if I should repurchase the same or might you have other suggestions in a rising rate environment?
Thank you

Q: I'm retired and have no fixed income in my portfolio.
I would like to switch about 15% of my investments into fixed income. I have read all the questions regarding MFT but am looking for a few more ideas with as much return as is prudently possible.
I spend time in the U.S., so an idea or two there would be a great help, as well.
Thank you, in advance.

Q: What's your view of continuing to hold VIG in the near to medium term? I'm thinking there could be an increasing amount of pressure on it and its constituent companies as higher bond yields are actually materializing and are making VIG's 1.84% dividend look anemic by comparison. Is there an alternative holding/strategy you might recommend in its place during this period?

Q: ..please correct me if i'm wrong, but Canada seems to be a horrible place to put your money....with safety of principal first in mind, a desired yield of 4%, and an ever increasing risk of a market correction, what would you suggest for the next 6 - 12 months. thanks.

Q: My daughter is 51 years old, and has just sold a rental property for a profit of 240,000. She does not have a pension, though her husband does. She would like to invest the money in a conservative way, so as to not lose sleep, but would like to use this as her own pension in a few years time. How should she proceed?

Q: Recently signed up with 5i and I appreciate the information provided. My first question ... I am reducing the risk in my portfolio in anticipation of a market decline over the next 6 to 18 months. Part of which includes increasing the allotment cash/bonds so that I can reinvest in equities at the appropriate time. Over the summer I've moved into some HFR,XBB, HTB. I would like to get some yield but I do not need the cash flow for years down the road. What are your thoughts on these 3 choices for risk reduction and capital appreciation when the market corrects?

Q: Which of these ETF’s would you consider to be most cash-like?

Q: My father will visit Canada next year to attend my graduation. He just wired me 30K to invest and said this will be his travel expense next year, so he wanted a guaranteed positive return for his money. What are some of the stock/etfs you recommend me to put my money in. I do know we have a income portfolio, so please do not say something like "referring to income portfolio", there are too many names there. Can you just give me some of your favorite names? also, some ETFs are fine too. Thank you in advance. Tony

Q: Greetings to Team 5i:

If I am reading the data correctly these ETFs trade on fairly thin volume? It looks like it would not be unusual for them to trade 5k, 30k, and 20k shares respectively on any given day. I am new to direct/on-line investing and trying to figure out the best strategy to buy ETFs (or any equity) like these if the quantity you want to purchase approaches maybe 1/4 or 1/5 of the total shares typically traded in a day. Obviously I'd prefer not to get into a situation of an order getting filled over two days or only partially filled since the returns are meager enough without incurring two commissions or something. Is there a concern here, or a strategy that should be followed as to the type of order entered? Thanks as always for your guidance because I truly do continue to learn something new every day with 5i.

Q: Good morning,

Looking for your insights on fixed income strategies in this environment of potentially rising rates. I have reviewed a number of etf 's which have shown negative returns over the last couple of years. Are they any etfs, bond funds or strategies ( ladderred gic's?) that you feel are suited to what may be a new era of gradual interest rate creep.

thank you

Q: On Berman's call yesterday he suggested holding Horizons Active Floating Rate Bond ETF (HFR) as an alternative to cash. What would be your take on this, pros and cons?
Thank you for considering my question.

Q: In regards to Floating Rate High Yield ETF products such as ZFH and MFT is there one ETF product in this category that you would consider less risk than the others?

Thanks Ken

Q: To follow-up on Claire's comment, is there an reasoned/optimal % allocation to each FI ETF (i.e. evenly split)? I have: CBO 20%, CPD 12%, HFR 26%, XBB 17%, XHY 12%, LQD 13%. I consider HFR as low-risk cash-like holding.

Thank you again.

Q: Hi 5i. FI = Fixed Income

My (6) FI holdings with rough total returns (including MER & dividends) for period held (average ~ 1.5 years): CBO -1.3%, CPD +15.0%, HFR +1.7%, XBB -2.2%, XHY+5.5%, LQD -0.6%.

NOTE: LQD not selectable, so picked HYG for question above.

Question: I understand the reasoning behind having the above FI holdings in my portfolio, but holding CBO & XBB seems like a sure way to lose money. So why not move CBO & XBB holdings to HFR (and possibly also XHY) which at least returns me ~ +1.7% pretty reliably? Your opinion on my FI mix would also be appreciated.

Thank you for continued solid wise advice.

Q: i'm looking for a fixed income investment that pays around 2%. i don't want to lose any principal. aside from locked-in GIC's, is there such a product? even HFR is slipping lately and etfs like CBO and CLF only go one direction....down. thanks.

Q: Hi Team,
Can you please explain how this ETF works in terms of it's unit price. What might bring the price down, or up. I initially bought in at $10.07, to preserve capital, and now it's at $10.01. Can it lose it's value in any substantial way?

Thanks!

Q: Peter and Team, I raised cash progressively by trimming a few different positions from my stock portfolio (basically mirror of Balanced Equity Model Portfolio) over the last 6 months to reduce risk a bit as I have been and am still concerned about the markets (high debt levels, rising rates, very high P/E's, etc.). I put some of the proceeds in HFR. I currently have approximately 5.7% of my overall portfolio in HFR. I also have approximately 21% of the portfolio in straight cash. I want to put this money to work in something that won't crash with the markets (if they do) and recognize this means low return/low risk. How much should I be comfortable in putting in a single ETF like HFR? I've also been looking at running a small 0 - 90 day fixed income book to generate approximately 1.15% annually or so. Ideally, I'd just drop a bunch of cash on my mortgage but my significant other is concerned about taking that cash for that reason and not keeping it invested for the long term.

I digress. Thoughts on concentration risk with HFR and other low risk, low correlation ideas to make some return on my cash position would be greatly appreciated.

Q: I'm looking for a place to park cash and have iniated a small position in the Horizon ETF. I like the idea of floating rate bonds because interest rates seem to be on the rise. Just wondering if there might be similar products that I could investigate. I know about FLOT but would prefer the investment be in Canadian dollars. Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Q: This is a followup to my question on PSA. For shorter term funds how would you rate the safety/risk between PSA and HFR ? Are there any tax implications in a TFSA for either product .
Also, a suggestion - I notice a number of people are looking for a place to park money with some degree ( including 100% ) of safety but don't necessarily want to get locked into GIC's. Any chance you could do a comparison chart for various alternatives that you feel would be appropriate, including tax impact for TFSA, other registered funds, and non-registered ?
Thanks again.