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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: Hello 5i,
I’m helping a conservative investor with a tfsa. Vbal makes up half of the account.
In trying to boost monthly income I’ve come up with the above etfs.
Based on 2020 distributions,how would each of the above etfs be taxed if held in a tfsa?
Also, can you please verify the sector exposure of zup (similar to pff - usd) I thought the financial % was underweight.
Read Answer Asked by Kat on November 04, 2021
Q: I am looking to finally replace the following mutual funds held in a self admin RSP account, to equivalent ETFs.
FID269 - Fid Monthly Inc;
FID5973 - Fid Global Innovation;
FID207 - Fid Global Concentrated Equity;
RBC460 - Sel Bal Ptf
TDB2760 - Td Retirement Balance
TDB652 - Td Global Entertainment & communication
TDB976 - Td Health Science
TDB2580 Td Tactical Monthly Inc
My goal is to replace these mutual funds with long term, high yielding where possible, low MER, CDN or US $ equivalent ETFs. Please provide 2 or 3 suggestions for each. Please deduct as many credit s as need.
Thank you for all the invaluable investment help you provide.


Read Answer Asked by Mark on October 15, 2021
Q: As retirees we hold XEI and XTR for the Cdn income generation portion of our portfolio . Recently I discovered that there is also XDIV which has a much lower MER. Would you endorse moving completely out of XEI and XTR to XDIV instead?
Read Answer Asked by M on October 06, 2021
Q: I had a portfolio review many years ago when you did them individually, personally by human! At the time your suggestions were right on and cleaned up my ETF's. Now I have over ten and according to your metrics it should not be so. Given those above, is there anything that is not required? I am up 25%- 150% on all of them. I am happy with all of them. I have a balanced portfolio in all 11 sectors with 44 stocks all doing quite nicely thank you. Following the income portfolio with some of my own additions from 15 years ago. I do not see any major conflicts.I am s a buy and hold dividend investor with some growth ( lightspeed, Leon's).
Thank you for your million dollar service!
Stanley
Read Answer Asked by STANLEY on April 26, 2021
Q: Please list the above in order of preference. Would all three, equally weighted, be sufficient for a conservative portfolio? Two of three?
Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Paul W on February 11, 2021
Q: Hi, I currently have a BMO monthly income Mutual fund. I wish to replace it with an etf to reduce the fees. I am looking for an etf that pays monthly income, has the potential for some growth and a low mer. You have been a proponent of XTR before but would like to see if there are any others you think might be worth while. Maybe zmi. If you can suggest a canadian etf and an international etf that has some good diversification in different sectors.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by pietro on February 05, 2021
Q: Hi 5i,

XTR's January distribution looks like its gone down to $0.04/unit rather than $0.05. I can't find any info on it, wondering if any of your tools allow you to see - did they reduce the distributions permanently going forward or was Jan a 1-off?

If permanent, that would bring yield down to approx. 4.5%. I've got a sizable position in this for my retired mother, who lives off dividends and interest. Can you suggest a comparable ETF with slightly better yield? I've liked XTR in general as its pretty diversified, lots of bonds, has held very steady over time (yes I know a lot of return of capital too)...its been good for a retiree portfolio to pay groceries and property tax...

Thanks!
Ryan
Read Answer Asked by Ryan on February 01, 2021
Q: I have transferred my RRIF account from a broker and I plan to self-mange that account. The cash balance as of today is $290,000. I'm 88 years old so I need strong cash flow and/or capital gains to meet the required annual distribution. Please provide a list of stocks and ETFs that 5i would recommend for that purpose. Thanks for your valued assistance.
Read Answer Asked by George on January 28, 2021
Q: Hi guys!

Can you please recommend some alternatives/additionas to XTR? I'm looking for high dividend with also an (as high as possible) degree of diversification. Essentially, a couple choice income picks if I were to only choose 1-3 ETF for an entire dividend-based portfolio. This is in relation to my previous question where I was looking to do something relatively safe with ~60k over 2-3 yrs. Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on January 18, 2021
Q: I have a fairly large holding of FIE. I like the large dividend and considering adding more to my position. What is your opinion about the sustainability of dividends for this ETF? Do you have any other high dividend stock/ETF you can suggest? This is for my TFSA.
Read Answer Asked by Bhaskar on January 07, 2021
Q: Hi guys! Asking for my parents, hope that's okay, your service has been very beneficial for me. They are currently living off their pension and have $60k in a TFSA that they would like to do something with for the next two-three years. Both roughly 65yrs old. They are looking for both a very safe, and also relatively safe recommendation please. Ideally, they are looking for a fairly hands off approach, where the risk of coming out at the end of it with less than they have is low. They are open to equity investing through a low fee brokerage, or looking at a service like one of the roboinvestor platforms, or anything else you'd recommend. Thanks I really appreciate it!
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on January 06, 2021
Q: Two questions however no need to answer until new year but first, before I forget, where do I find current year information on ROC for this ETF? I have checked i-share web site, fund prospectus , fact sheet but cannot find the info. Seems I only learn about the current ROC payout in the following year when I receive the tax statements from TD Direct Investing. Finally, where is XTR best held by a retiree with a DB pension: TFSA or non-registered account?
Read Answer Asked by William Ross on December 30, 2020
Q: Good day and thank you for all your valuable information. In looking to consolidate some income positions in my portfolio I would like to bring one of these two high income earners toward a fuller position of 4-5% in my portfolio (currently ZWC at 1.1% and MFT at 1.98%). Portfolio is aimed at getting 80-20 split equity-fixed income. Can I have your thoughts on these two and any suggestion toward any other I should be considering instead. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Roger on November 23, 2020
Q: Hey there,
All of these etfs pay good dividends for a retiree. Can you compare/contrast the risks associated with each and in particular, and is there any compelling reason to switch to VRIF?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by kelly on November 17, 2020
Q: My wife has 75% of her portfolio in laddered GICs and I am looking for a one-stop solution for the remaining 25%. Would XTR be a reasonable substitute for any of the major balanced ETFs such as VBAL, XBAL, ZBAL, or HBAL or would you recommend one of the latter? XTR pays a significantly higher dividend and appears to possess a similar structure, although not quite as globally diversified on the equity side. Your opinion please. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Paul W on November 13, 2020
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