Investment Q&A

Q: Which is better in terms of cost, diversification, performance, risk: MD Bond Fund or XBB.TO?

Q: 2 questions - please deduct as many points as needed.
Q1 - according to Portfolio Analytics, I need to increase my fixed income allocation by $90k. I own 4% positions in XBB, ZIC & PMO005 and 2.6% in CPD. Would you recommend adding to one of these or would you suggest adding another ETF?
Q2 - I need to add $125k to International exposure. Current international holdings include XAW, XMI & XEC at just over 2%. Should i add to anyone of these or add something else?

Q: Hi 5i.

I have transitioned from 55 stocks to 25 hybrid (ETF (16) & keeper stocks (9)) 3 months ago, based on 5i Stock & ETF Growth/Balanced portfolios. Sleep better.

Question: Given 'Ya can't time the market', can one successfully/intelligently tweak holdings a bit based on current economic conditions?

Example: Given USA-China trade war risk, move 20% (VEE, VTI, VVL, XEF, AYX) to (ZAG, XBB, CLF, HFR, ENB). If market goes down -2%, swap half back. Another -2%, swap back remaining half; otherwise, do nothing. Do this at most say 3 or 4 times a year.

Am I just kidding myself that ETFs can be used differently than individual stocks?
I did buy more (VVL, VEE) with available cash when they went down -3% (last week) from when I bought them, with little emotion. Just felt 'smart'. Or am I deluding myself?

Thank you for your continued wise advise for 6+ years.

Q: Good Morning, I have been watching ZAG and XBB in order to deploy cash. Not sure when is a good entry point? I know we cannot time the market but what would you suggest I should look for (e.g.. off it's 52 wk high, net asset value etc). Which one would you prefer ZAG or XBB. Thank you. Heather

Q: Hi Team,

Question about income etf's, i have roughly 225k invested. I am 50 years old and have always been an aggressive investor. Usually an 80%equity to 20%income. In which etf or etf's would you allocated the 20%

Thanks

Q: For the above I have the following percentages:
VSC - 2.5%
XBB - 3.3%
XHY - 2.0%
CPD - 1.0%

Next year I must convert to a RIF and was going to work toward lessening my equity portion and increase the portion paying reliable dividends.

What would you increase these holdings up to? Are there others I should consider? I currently have 24% in utilities and a small position of 2.8% in CDZ.

Thank you

Q: looking ahead the next 6 to 12 months and with safety of principal in mind, how would you rank these fixed income etf's? thanks.

Q: As suggested in Portfolio Analytics I need to add Fixed Income to family portfolio. It suggested ZAG or XBB; Defensive CBO or FLOT, Aggressive CPD or ZPR. Which of the three would you suggest to invest in? Also researching them they refer to Dividend Yield. Is it actually dividend yield or interest income? The reason I am asking should the fixed income be in RRSP (I know it is preferable for US$) or would a non-registered corporation account be fine also?
Heather

Q: Thank you for your answer regarding the Can $ interest payment of ZAG. I would appreciate it if you could also please respond to the last part of my question, re XBB or ZAG purchase decision. (which I am copying below). The amount of purchase being suggested by the Portfolio Analytics is a significant (to me) value of $240,000, so I would like to get it right.
"Are there other pros/cons I should be considering ? Also, any thoughts on purchase timing of these bond etfs - or would you recommend a gradual entry over the next 6 months or so?

Q: Your Portfolio Analytics recommendations was a good reminder that I really should increase the Fixed Income component in our RIFS by a fair amount. There were 3 categories each with two suggestions: 1) "Regular" Fixed Income 2) Fixed Income Defensive Diversifier 3) Fixed Income Aggressive Diversifier. In the 1st category - what I call "Regular fixed income, Two suggestions were given : ZAG and XBB. I was going to select ZAG as it has a better yield (3.86 vs 2.83 %) and a lower MER (.10 vs .19), however, I also notice that the distribution for ZAG is paid in US $. We do not have a significant need for US $ and do not have an active US account . Will the cost of conversion from US to Canadian $'s offset the better yield offered by ZAG ? Are there other pros/cons I should be considering ? Also, any thoughts on purchase timing of these bond etfs - or would you recommend a gradual entry over the next 6 months or so?
Many thanks as always.

Q: I have a well diversified RRSP which has me set. However, I would like to make more that 1.6% interest in my non-registered account. Can you recommend 2 ETFs for my non-registered account to make some travel/leisure money over 1 year?

Q: We have a diversified RIF and are now in our 70s . We have 6 ETFs and have $20,000.00 invested in VE. We have equities invested across all sectors some sectors a higher percentage than others. Do you feel it is necessary to have monies invested in Europe when we could obtain better income investing in possibly Bonds or preferred shares. Safety and Income are important now to us . Any recommendations.

Q: A lot of research and writing has addressed the reality that it is *very* hard for an active fund manager/stock picker to beat the indices on an after-fee basis.

But what about the bond market? Does 5i know of a body of research/evidence that explores whether or not over time, an active bond trader/manager could beat a passive bond index fund such as XBB/VAB/ZAG? Should I go passive or active with my fixed income allocation? Which actively managed fixed income ETFs do you like, if any?

Thank you.

Q: Should I buy a 2 year GIC at 2.8% or a bond fund say XBB.?
Can you also explain your reasoning.

Q: ..given growing expectations of a Canadian recession, i'm thinking of moving away from utilities into fixed income. how do you expect XBB, XSB and HFR to perform in comparison to ZWU if a recession occurs. thanks, great service.

Q: Hi 5I,

Could you please rate the following bond ETFs.
VAB, ZAG, XBB.
I'm thinking about XBB because I can trade it for free on my itrade account.

Thanks.
Steve

Q: I already have XBB, TIPS, HFR , would TLT be that much different from XBB other than having the currency exposure. Was thinking of buying TLT for more protection against poor markets or if interests rates stop going up. Could I just add to my XBB position to achieve same results.

Q: I have redeployed some cash when the market was down but I still have a 12 per cent weight in cash. The cash is in TFSA's, RRSPs, and an unregistered account. While that money is set aside in case the market takes another hit, what can I do to get a least 1.5 to 2 per cent return (to stay even with inflation)? Or should I just go back in the market and maintain only a 2 or 3 per cent of cash? I don't plan to need any of these funds for at least a couple of years.

Q: With the prospect of rising rates should an investor sell their bonds or bond ETF's. and if so, is their a better place to park money? Thanks, Bill

Q: Good morning. I would like to increase my fixed income allocations and would like suggestions on where best to invest additional cash. I already have enough in GIC’s and our pref shares have been suffering of late but we are below our target in the fixed side. Thank you.