Investment Q&A

Q: On Jan 21 2025, "IVV" the IShares core S&P 500 etf is up .84%, and yet the "HXS"etf, which is the corporate class etf based on the S&P 500 is down .93%. Could you explain how this can happen?

Q: What's up with the HXS ETF today (Jan 21)? The Canadian dollar is down 0.1%, the S&P is up 0.65%, yet, instead of being 0.75% up, the HXS is down 1.2% at the moment and below yesterday's NAV. The volume is below average, so it doesn't look like any big sellers dumping shares. What can explain almost 2% difference between the expected and observed behaviour of this ETF?

Q: Can you please rank your top 3 Global X
total return funds with no distributions, in order of preference?

Q: Good morning,
I currently own HXS and HXT in most of my RESP/TFSA/RRIF and NON - REGISTERED accounts.
In completing an annual performance review of my family portfolio, I noticed that the difference in calendar year performance between HXS and HXS.U is quite significant. In fact for 2024 the calendar year performance of HXS was 35.04% while the calendar year performance of the HXS.U was 24.48%.
I assume that most of the difference can be attributed to the difference between the Can $ and US $.

Q1. If one believes that the CDN$ will remain depressed compared to the US$ for the foreseeable future, which version of these Global X ETFs, do you recommend holding in RESP/TFSA/RRIF accounts where taxes are not an issue.

Q2. Which type of accounts (RESP/RRIF/TFSA/Non-Registered) stand to benefit the most from holding these Total Return ETFs and in what order?

Thank you and I'll await your response.

Francesco

Q: Is there a total return ETF similar to HXS, but for the total US market? If not, are there any corporate funds you’d recommend to do the same thing?

Thanks.

Q: As a follow up to my question on January 8 regarding ETFs you suggested ZSP to represent S&P 500
Would HXS be a better alternative since there will be no withholding tax in the TFSA as per asked by Danny boy on January 10?

Q: What are some ETFs that do not pay dividends but value is instead increased through its share price? I have HSAV, looking for others. Thanks

Q: I have some fund from RRIF that I would like put into a TFSA and was just reading the latest issue of your ETF & Mutual Fund Update report. I am thinking of the above three ETFs and one stock. What are your thoughts. As a perspective, I would include some i2i fund if it was allowed in a TFSA.

Q: Are there US withholding taxes associated with the ETF's that are offered by Vanguard Canada (or any other Canadian ETF issuer) that pay a USD distribution??
Thanks

Q: Global X total return funds have been your recommendation for taxable accounts for quite a while. However, recently, I have observed an alarming trend with the largest of their ETFs, such as HXS, HXT, and HSAV: the premiums have been shrinking significantly, and HXS now trades below NAV. I have more than half of my investments in these three funds, so I am really concerned about this situation. Do you have any explanation as to why the premiums on total return funds have been shrinking and even turned into discounts?

Q: Hello,
I’m not sure if this question is out of scope. However my daughter and son in law are moving from Switzerland to Canada in the new year. They have some questions regarding their investments so I thought I would see if your team can help with answers.
- We have UCITS Irish domiciled ETFs so that we don’t have to pay US withholding tax - are these available in Canada?
- If not, are there any options to invest in for example an S&P 500 ETF (or other US ETFs) without having to pay withholding tax?
- do you have a brokerage account that you recommend? We currently use CornerTrader/CornerBank but they are not present in Canada so we have to switch

Q: I like what Global X has to offer in their line of ETF's. However, I think I read one of your Q&A responses a couple months ago that their can be a concern with overloading the overall percentage of ones portfolio with a given ETF company. Did I understand that correctly? If so, just wondering what the potential consequences are in doing that, and if you do recommend spreading investments over a number of ETF companies.

Percentages are personal, but perhaps 5i has a ballpark-ish range that they would be comfortable with for a given ETF company (?)

Q: Hi 5i,

For a US ETF in a non-registered account, would it be more tax efficient to hold HXS because it doesn't pay a distribution, versus ZSP which does? Would you recommend ZSP over HXS for any particular reason?

Thanks

Q: Hi 5i
I am a 78 year old senior.

I have a significant portion of my investment wealth in my Non Registered account.
In my TFSA I have picked up several high yielding ETF's from Purpose Investments and other companies.
Each month I transfer out the TFSA Etf monthly distributions to support my income needs.
The following year I transfer into my TFSA the current year contribution plus my prior year income distributions that were withdrawn.
I fund this annual contribution with funds from my Non Registered account managing the capital gains/losses in this process.
I have had significant capital gains in these TFSA Etfs in addition to the significantly higher yields being paid.
I am very careful to ensure that I stay within the requirements around timing of taking out funds from a TFSA and recontributing.
Having followed this plan for a few years now, I am almost meeting my annual income needs with non taxable income from my TFSA and maintaining my original capital invested plus capital gains within my TFSA.
My goal was and continues to be reducing my income for tax purposes and managing to not having my OAS clawed back.

What do you think of this strategy and is there anything you see that I could be overlooking.
Thank you for your feedback.

Q: This is a follow-up question to one I asked a few days ago regarding increasing Int’l exposure to my TFSA. Would the structure of the Global X Corporate class ETFs, eg. HXDM, HXS, HXEM, eliminate the drag of withholding taxes on the portfolio?

Q: I currently have the above in various portfolios. I would like to add an ETF or 2 for the US market in that deals in (CAD) funds. Can you provide a few for ETF's that would complement my current holdings . Thanks David .

Q: Awhile back I asked a question about the Horizon etf's , which pay in capital gains, rather than dividends. You were good enough to supply me with HXS and HXT. The HXS is the S&P 500. But, it is bought in Canadian dollars. I didn't mention it but I was looking for one that could be bought and sold in US dollars. Is there something from Horizon that can do that? Or, from another company?
thanks for the great service

Q: Hello,
Horizons used to have a series of funds, designed for non-reg accounts, that reflected any income as capital gains, as they lowered the cost base with each recognition of 'income.' I believe they changed their name to Global X, but I was hoping you might be able to offer a couple funds for some growth potential. Canadian funds would be preferred, but if U.S. denominated are better, I would appreciate knowing those as well.

Q: Why don't you have a sector breakdown in portfolio tracking and analysis for HXS. It is important to me, I hope you can fix this. I really appreciate all of you at 5i Research and often tell others about you.

Q: In a C$Cash account, Is there an advantage buying HXS or VFV? Which one do you recommend and why?