Investment Q&A

Q: A friend is several years from retirement and is in this (quite good) finanical situation: a teacher who will get an Ontario Teachers' indexed DB pension, CPP and OAS. Owns a modest home in Toronto with no mortgage. No dependents. No debt. Can supplement income after retirement by continuing to teach at about a 20% course load. These income sources would more than cover her living expenses.
She also has an RSP that is currently managed by a financial advisor and holds mutual funds. Friend is asking if she should leave the advisor due to fees and his very conservative management. The RSP has underperformed the markets for an extended period. He sold her holdings at COVID bottom "to avoid further losses" and has said that "at her age" (about 60) she should stay away from equities and hold money market funds or bonds. Since my friend is not financially sophisticated, but is interested in learning, I am thinking a self-directed RSP holding several ETFs might be an alternative for her. Could you suggest three to five ETFs that would provide more growth potential in the 8 to 10 years before mandatory RIF conversion.

Q: For long term investment what would be a neutral proportion of bonds in terms of distribution among these 4 or are there better options? Currently sitting on 17% cash which I intend to redeploy in stocks when we have better clarity, 36% XBB, 26% XLB, 12% XHY and 9$ XSB for 100% of my bond/cash portfolio.
Thank you.
Yves

Q: Hello,
I have a question about adding fixed income to a portfolio.
My registered portfolio is all equities, mostly large cap dividend payers and some growthier names thanks to 5i, reasonably well diversified, a little heavy on financials.
I am happy with the results and will be relying on it as my main source of retirement income in about 5 years.
I am thinking it is time to gradually add some fixed income, to decrease volatility somewhat and increase predictability, targeting a 70/30 equity/fixed income split over time.
Would like to keep it simple with ideally 2 ETFs, was thinking XBB or ZAG plus something else.
I see that the Canadian Money Saver portfolio uses XBB, CBO, CPD and XHY for fixed income.
What would you pair with XBB/ZAG in this scenario?
Is a US fixed income component a good idea?
What do you think of combining a passive bond universe ETF with an actively managed ETF/fund?

Thanks as always.

Q: I am looking to offset some equity risk with fixed incomes or proxies of the same that ideally have some capital gains potential. Could you please comment on the risk level of some of these bond proxies, as well as preferred shares, from a risk perspective?
Irrespective of whether we have tariffs coming it is difficult to say that the unpredictability will stop.

Q: I am seeing higher yields on HISA ETFs vs bond ETFs. Is this right? If so--it seems like unless you want to bet on bonds going up, HISAs are the better option right now for conservative money. What do you think?

Q: Generally speaking what would your percent allocation of the above ETF's be in ones bond portfolio?

Q: It is rare that I ask this question coming from an 84 year old senior, but all the above equal weighted ETF's are presently in my TFSA and can't decide how to invest for the 2025 contribution. Which ETF I should I be adding to the above list or should I be adding a new one that is not in the portfolio?
Also are any of those listed that do not belong in a TFSA?
Thanks for your usual great service.

Q: Hello,

Considering selling a combination of XBB, XLB, and ZMP and purchasing some CAP REIT. Would you see this as a good move? Or hold the bond ETFs? Looking for a longer term hold.

Thanks!

Q: Hi 5i,

Currently have a large portion of my investments in equities and I am looking to invest in Bonds for the sake of diversification.

Could you provide your best ideas for Bond ETFs or any similar investment products that I should consider? This is for non-registered account.

Thank you.

Greg C.

Q: Greetings!

What ETFs would you recommend to make up someone's entire investment portfolio with the intentions to add to them monthly?

Thank you very much.

Q: Could you suggest some ETFs in a non registered account ($100k) and in TFSA ($60k) for a retired person who would not need those funds for the next 10 years?

Q: Good day and happy New Year to all the 5i staff. This is my first, and hopefully last multi stock question.

I am really beginning to take Trump seriously about tariffs. His reasons don’t hold up, but I believe he has unstated reasons of his own for wanting to do so. I don’t usually jump quickly but I have a bad feeling and am thinking of selling some Canadian holdings and buying US. I am wondering what you would think of this?

Even if my fear is justified, though, some of the stocks I am considering may do well under Trump’s regime, anyway. The above stocks are the ones i am considering and i would appreciate your views on whether they might do alright under Tariffs? Any other Canadian stocks you might think will react particularly badly?
Thanks for your great service

Q: I have a seven year old grandson with a disability that qualifies him for an RDSP. So I am looking for a long term investment strategy. Would you recommend ETFs? If so could you please suggest 3 ETFs. If not, ETFs what would you recommend?

Q: My wife has some money should would like to invest in eft. Which ones would you recommend.

Q: Is there any advantage of buying US bonds like AGG over XBB? I notice the MER of 0.03% is a bit cheaper.

Thanks

Q: Hello, last question on bond ETFs: for diversification purposes, having in my RSP individual canadian bonds, it might be interesting to invest in VGAB or VBU for additional money in fixed income products. For a long term investment, which ETF is preferable for the next few years: VGAB or VBU (given the interest rate context, etc.)? Thanks.

Q: I currently own HXY in my RRIF account and have been in a lost position for quite some time. It is a 8% holding in my RRIF. If I decide to sell what would you replace this ETF with?

Q: Hello, I plan to rebalance my portfolio in the new year, increasing my bond component in my reg accounts. I already have Canadian individual bonds in my RSP, so I was looking at VGAB for diversification, but when I compare it to XBB, it underperformed XBB for every period in the last 5 years. What do you think of VGAB and should I just keep it simple and use XBB instead? Thanks

Q: Hello, regarding HBB, is its performance over the years comparable to XBB, for example? Would you recommend HBB for a taxable account? Thanks.

Q: Good afternoon 5i staff
Just a brief addendum to my previous question regarding short or long term bond etf’s are best for today. Many say that Canada’s inflation rate is already rising and that Trump’s policies will push inflation. What I was interested in is why you don’t believe the narrative that we will be facing an inflationary environment.
Thanks