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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: I manage a portfolio for my mother and I am looking for an investment which will NOT generate any income (Interest or Dividends). This will be about 20% of her portfolio and reside in a non Registered account. I have come up with the two ETF's above to provide diversification in both CA and US. Would there be better alternatives I could consider in individual stocks or other ETF's. All other investment's are in TFSA and RRIF accounts and she will never need the capital. So this is a long term investment.
Read Answer Asked by Terry on February 21, 2019
Q: I would like to set up an simple and safe American portfolio that does not deliver any dividends (no tax consequences). Berkshire Hathaway comes to mind as a diversified holding. Are there any others that you could suggest?
Read Answer Asked by Gary on February 19, 2019
Q: Trying to get a bit more geographic diversification in a TFSA account that is, at present, all Canadian equities. Would you suggest something like HXS for US diversification with the swap arrangement to limit tax implications? Or would something like VGRO make more sense with greater geographic diversification and a little fixed income?

Thanks for the great service,

Doug
Read Answer Asked by Doug on February 13, 2019
Q: Hi 5i team,
I would like to purchase a US equity ETF in C$ fund for my TFSA. For a conservative investor, would a dividend growth ETF be more suitable? What would be your top pick ETF for this purpose, hedged and unhedged? Is the dividend income subject to tax withholding? Or should I be looking at HXS, though the swap fee may cancel out the tax advantage? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Willie on February 04, 2019
Q: What's your opinion on this allocation: 40%HSX, 35% VCN.TO and 25% VRE.TO for a medium risk TFSA portfolio?
Read Answer Asked by Hassan on January 11, 2019
Q: Good day and best wishes to 5i team for 2019! Regarding the swap arrangement for these etfs in lue of dividend distributions. If for example they had a 3% yield.and say I owned 1000 shares at a book value of 10$per.share. would the distribution show up as more shares similar to a mutual fund. So if I then sold after distribution.i would have a capital gain of say 300$and no concerns regarding dividend? And second question do you see some good interest in this as a way to shelter income or would you more lean towards say vcns or vbal? Hope I do not confuse. Tks Larry
Read Answer Asked by Larry on January 08, 2019
Q: Can you please coment on the proposed tax efficientiancy promoted by horizon.ie total return distribution yearly if any.does it mean you only have capital gains to be reported? Great service and tks
Read Answer Asked by Larry on December 13, 2018
Q: Total Return ETFs... Do you have an opinion on this type of vehicle? I am setting aside monies for a niece with special needs> I do not expect to use the funds for many years - it is for her years as an adult. I do not want dividend income.
Read Answer Asked by Anthony on December 12, 2018
Q: I am constructing a new equity portfolio 60% US & 40% CND. On the US equity I am using the following ETF's:
HXS @ 15%
IWO, XMH,XSU @ 10% total
VGG @ 20%
HXQ @ 15%
I also want to limit taxes, dividends and any US reporting on form 1135.
Could you comment on this set up. Thank you for your service
Read Answer Asked by Ozzie on December 06, 2018
Q: Hi, I have my portfolio distribution
10% in a short term bond (RRSP)
50% in XUS (Registered)
25% in HXS (TFSA)
15% in my Non Registered Account (HXT).

Is it time to move to a more definsive strategy. I am thinking of shiftin about 30 % in the likes of BCE and another 20% to short term bonds. Would you be ok with this?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Abhishek on December 04, 2018
Q: I am considering holding VFV and XQQ in my personal unregistered accounts because they produce dividends. I could borrow money to invest in them and write off the interest. On the other hand, would it make sense to put HXS and HXQ in my passive corporation (no active income) as these two produce only capital gains and no distributions? Is there a big difference in dividends earned in a passive corp vs
personally? Also all of these will not count towards the T1135 limit. Any thoughts?
Read Answer Asked by Terry on October 15, 2018
Q: Does Horizons or similar company have a tax deferred ETF that would be similar to VGG. I understand HXS does for US exposure, though I am interested in one that focuses on dividends which are only taxed as capital gains once the stock is sold. Thank you for your service.
Read Answer Asked by Ozzie on October 12, 2018
Q: These ETF's are TRI or Total Return Index ETF's. They pay out no distributions of dividends and no ROC. I'm guessing that they reinvest all the payouts and subtract the fees. Since they do this would you expect that there is no CRA paperwork to complete unless you sell units which would trigger capital gains. What is your opinion of holding these in a passive corp as I think Canadian dividends would be taxed higher in the passive corp and these only produce capital gains? I am looking at the HXQ (Nasdaq 100) so I do not have to complete the T1135 paperwork and stay in CDN $.
Read Answer Asked by Terry on October 01, 2018
Q: What are you thoughts on swap or synthetic etfs? I have a basic understanding of how they work, and they seem like a good thing to pop in a non-registered account after RRSPs and TFSAs are maxed out. What do you guys think?
Read Answer Asked by Danielle on September 04, 2018
Q: I'm looking for some US exposure. Is this ETF suitable for a RRSP account. Other US ETF's suggestions ? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by David on July 26, 2018
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