Investment Q&A

Q: I am a new retiree and interested in income, with some growth. What ETF or ETFs would you recommend for a non-registered account? Thank you.

Q: Good morning,
I'm 70 years old and with yet a new year upon us and a review of the holdings in my non reg equity portfolio, I'm concerned that my $650K non reg equity portfolio has slowly grown into a "hodge podge" of miscellaneous holdings that need to be trimmed, better concentrated (minimum 5% per holding) along with the addition of a few additional names in sectors that are not currently represented. My current holdings are as follows:
AQN (3.3%),BCE (11.6%)BAM.A(3.8%),CU (4.5%),DIV(2.8%),EMA (2.4%),KEY(2.2%),XIU(5.2%),XIC (33.2%),XDV(18.4%),SLF(3.6%),T(2.9%),T(2.9%),MAW120(3.1%)MAW102(3%).
I would very much appreciate your suggestions on how to best to adjust my current non reg equity portfolio to make it easier to manage and follow. I'm open to adding an appropriate mix of ETFs or Mawer equity funds as need be. My RRSP and TFSA are pretty much all populated with a mix of relatively low MER Mawer equity funds which have performed well over the years. I thank you in advance and look forward to hearing your sage advice and recommendations.
Francesco

Q: Two questions on Canadian equity/dividend ETFs:

1) The holdings in DGRC are selected based on market cap, expected earnings growth, return on equity, and return on assets. How is it that none of the Big 5 Canadian banks qualify for inclusion in their portfolio? This is puzzling to me. What is your opinion of this ETF for the core Canadian equity component of one's portfolio, for a longterm hold?

2) You continue to recommend XIC despite reminding members, many a time, of how the TSX index is heavily concentrated in financials and energy. Why? It is a cheap ETF, but other CDN equity ETFs (like DGRC) are modestly more expensive but I can't help but think that the few extra basis points in cost are worth it if it allows for a more balanced sector allocation overall. You continue to recommend CDZ even though it is very expensive, with a MER of 0.66. Why? I know it is analogous to VGG/VIG, which you (and I) love, but I don't think they're comparable, since VGG/VIG contains many companies with a much longer history of dividend increases (including many so-called 'Dividend Aristocrats' and 'Dividend Kings' whereas inclusion in CDZ only requires that a company has a history of increasing its dividend in at least four of the last five years. It almost seems like the continued recommendation of XIC and CDZ is due more to historical reasons rather than their merits as of right now, relative to other ETFs that may not have been available when XIC and CDZ were first made available.

Q: From your answer on November 23rd:
No, an individual would still need to hold global exposure to the US, europe and emerging markets as well as fixed income. In terms of Canadian exposure, we would be pretty comfortable with the portfolio as a more growth-tilted proxy to Canada but an investor may want to overlay one Canadian broad ETF just to smooth out the volatility a little, depending on portfolio size. This, or adding a selection of larger company stocks, would help overall diversification.

Can you suggest % or guidelines on each type of exposure to have a well-diversified portfolio? (US, Europe, emerging markets, fixed income, Beport, one Canadian broad ETF or larger company stocks).
Thank you

Q: Which etf's or index funds would you use today to allocate $100k in a Canadian registered acct. for a longer term hold and in what proportion?
Thanks.

Q: I'm a new DIY investor who is 15 yrs from retirement with a full DB pension.
I will be transferring my big bank mutual funds into an online brokerage and borrowing a lump sum to invest within TFSA and non-registered accounts.
Currently, I'm considering XIC, XAW, and QQQ with, say, a 30/50/10 allocation. The remaining 10% would be for 'conviction' stocks.
Is this a reasonable approach? How would you improve on it?
Thanks!

Q: What stocks and sectors(weighting’s) would you add to balance XIC?

Q: XIC/SPI were 2 suggested ETF funds for a beginner. I'd like your opinion on XSP vs SPY because it is traded in Canadian funds vs U.S. funds. It was suggested that as a beginner I should study the market more and not plunge into U.S. dollar funds a this time. Opinion?

Q: Hello - I am very new to this web site and investing with minimal knowledge. I have investments with TD Waterhouse and set up all my accounts to self invest. It was suggested I start with ETF's. From there I don't know where to go or what to do. Can someone guide me?
Thank you

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: HI Team
After 2-3 years in the making (getting a root canal would have been more pleasant), I finally convinced my daughters to start contributing to
their RRSP and TFSA accounts held at RBC Direct Investing. Aged 23 and 25 they really don't have much., just around 10 000 in RRSP. I was thinking equally splitting the money into XIC and VFV or VUN. RBC has started their own Robo Adviser service.Would that be a good idea for them since they can contribute monthly to those plans and have a more diversified portfolio? Do i stick to the original plan with the above mentioned ETFs and repurchase yearly to keep costs down? Thank you in advance. Sam

Q: A friend father age 82 recently sold his residence and is looking to invest. Wants to be in the market. Can you suggest 3 to 5 ETF's for him to invest. Thinking Canadian and Us market , as well as a Bond ETF. Has a small registered fund & TFSA.

Q: As between the two Canadian Equity ETFs - XIC and VCE - which one would be your choice?

Q: 5-I,
I am looking at a managed portfolio of a friend who deals at Wood Gundy. They are comparing the performance of the portfolio to the "Value Balanced Index". It says it is a blended benchmark comprised of 40% DEX Universe, 20% S&P/TSX composite and 40% MSCI World. What would be the closest ETF to this index that I could follow on an exchange ?

Thanks

Paul

Q: Good Evening Folks,

I'm looking for a good US/International mutual fund to balance out a portfolio of mine. I'm looking at Edgepoint Global and PH&N Global. what are your thoughts on these funds? Could you suggest any others that I should consider? Are there any ETF's that are comparable?

And one more question. I've held two Canadian mutual funds with blue chip holdings for years - Mawer Canadian Equity and TD Dividend Growth. Performance has been OK but not great. Can you suggest better replacement funds or ETF's?

As always, thanks for your advice.

Dennis

Q: Hi there, I am looking to own a broad market index canadian ETF and I am wondering what the best one to hold is between the companies I listen above (or if there is one that you would recommend that are different than these companies). I am holding this ETF inside a TFSA and I was hoping you could firstly, suggest a good index ETF to hold and for what reasons is is a good one. Thanks in Advanced! XIU,XIC,VCN ZCN

Q: Which ETF best mirrors the Tangerine Equity Growth Portfolio, Fund Code: INI240? I'm happy with the performance but thought I may be able to reduce the MER with the same product in an ETF.
Thanks

Q: Hi 5i,

I have 10k in my TFSA that I'd like to allocate to ETF's. I'm still in school so I won't have as much money coming in to diversify through stocks.

I was wondering what would be the best way to allocate (how many, what percentage)? I was thinking along the lines of XIC, SPY, and VIG.

Also, what do you think about investing purely in ETF's?

Thanks in advance,

Jon

Q: A guest on BNN said he hedged his equity positions by index hedges.What are they and could you give me an example. thanks James

Q: My question is regarding someone with a substantial US portfolio who wants to invest in some Canadian companies. He is thinking of investing in a few Canadian growth Tech companies and a couple of blue chip ETF's. Can I please have your thoughts on this and some recommendations? Thank you.