Investment Q&A

Q: Recently sold a rental house and am looking for investment in low risk but monthly payment in a non registered account. I’m not comfortable with bonds and so far have come up with either laddered GICs ( paid out every 6 months) or combination of PFL, XFR, and ZMMK. Do you have any thoughts on any of this. Which would have a the best tax rate implications? And would you have any other suggestions that would work best in the current reduced rate environment we are heading in the next few years.
Thanks

Q: Have losses on ZAG in a cash account. In your opinion, would selling ZAG and buying XFR (suggest a better one?) be a good move right now and pass the superficial loss test?
Many thanks.

Q: Hi 5i team,

If you were to do a bond ETF portfolio to complement equity and other holdings, what (Cdn-listed) ETFs would you choose for balanced exposure to a range of market environments? Long-term registered account. I am thinking:

XBB--Canadian universe
VGAB--Global universe
XSTP--Short term US inflation-linked government

Thanks.

Q: Many months ago, everybody and their brother was predicting interest rate increases, so I sold the bond funds in my RRSP (primarily ZAG) and bought short term bond funds like ZST and XFR. And for some fun /an experiment, I bought some TBF. I try not to time the equity market (as per your sage advice), but I could not resist with bonds (because it seemed like everyone was convinced about the interest rate direction). Good news is that TBF is up 22% YTD; and ZAG is down 13% YTD, but I do not understand why I do not hear anyone promoting TBF as a solution for this rising rate environment. What am I missing? Is there a liquidity risk for sellers when the rates start to flatten out; or is there a significant and quick price plunge risk; or...??? Thanks in advance for your comments.

Q: Hello Team.. As interest rates climb my strategy is to slowly buy into bond funds (now in cash).. maybe ZAG or XSH. For example at 3.48 % for ZAG, that's a reasonable dividend and the rate hikes have barely begun. My question is -although the unit price of the fund will decrease "is the payout stable or increasing" as maturing bonds are replaced at higher yields.Steady buying at lower unit prices (and higher dividend)could help kill the pain of the early buying-what do you think.( 71 year old income investor soon to be starting RIF withdrawals) Thank you yet again..best regards Gary

Q: I have about half of my balanced income portfolio in equities and the remainder in cash. Although my stocks are balanced, I still hold no fixed income investments. I like the sleep at night cash but feel it is too big of a chunk to just let sit in cash., Can you please suggest an approach to fixed income and recommend a few possibilities to consider. As always, thanks for your help

Q: Hi 5i team,

As many do, I currently hold part of my portfolio in fixed income (bond etfs). I am wondering if you can recommend any fixed income or "fixed income like" investments that might hold up best in the current rising rate environment that seems to have a long way to run. I had held ZAG but have switched to VSB with rates rising. Currently even cash is doing better than these however. Thanks!

Q: What would your bond ETF pick be for a 2 year holding period? I have been using XSB and CLF.

Q: Hello 5i
We're curious about FLX (formerly FLOT)

Held since 2018Dec it was up ~2.85% including Interest pmts at 2021Dec31
Since then it has further dropped and we are now down ~2.0% (including interest pmts)
Would appreciate your opinion whether this is due to the change in its
investment objective introduced in December, or is it more related to the market
scenario since then.

Would you recommend holding or exchange for some safer bond ETF ?
If the latter could you please provide a couple of examples

Thanks for your guidance.
Terrance

Q: With rising interest rates predicted would it be a good time to include xfr.to as part of a broad spectrum portfilio?
Thanks.

Q: Can you give me your top 2-3 ETFs for floating rate versions both CAD and US?

Many thanks.

Q: With interest rates probably going up in the next year or two, what ETF bond funds do you suggest would be suitable investment for this type of environment? Thank's.
Ronald

Q: If interest rates were to start creeping-up slowly in the next year or two , which bond ETFs would you suggest?
Thank's
Ronald

Q: Your opinion on using FSB ETF to park cash. Looks to have better returns than any high interest savings or GIC with minimal risk.

Any better ideas for returns from cash are appreciated.

Q: Good morning, Why such a big difference between the yields in these two funds, are they that much different, and which fund would be safer, thanks?

Q: What Canadian bond fund would you suggest if as the fed states they are not even thinking about raising rates for two years? What bond fund would you suggest when rates do start to increase? If I bought XBB , which bond fund would best act like a hedge to it? The idea is to collect a small yield and preserve capital.

Q: I’m going defensive in my portfolio. What is your opinion of these 3 possibilities?

Q: Hi Peter and Ryan,
We received the last portion of our funds in cash from Sun Life today. We are a little hesitant to open new equity positions or foray into bonds. The stock analysis highlights that we need to add REITS but that sector seems to be under pressure this week. The risk and payback seems unbalanced everywhere we look today.
As we are into our early 60's we have given thought to placing 40% of our portfolio that arrived as cash into a temporary safe place. If you were to choose today which ETF's are recommended out of CMR, XFR, HFR to place funds for deployment at a later date.
Cheers
Jerry and Debbie

Q: I'm trimming some positions to hold cash while interest rates continue to rise. Do you think XFR is a suitable place to park cash? Than you.

Q: I'm looking for a place to park cash and have iniated a small position in the Horizon ETF. I like the idea of floating rate bonds because interest rates seem to be on the rise. Just wondering if there might be similar products that I could investigate. I know about FLOT but would prefer the investment be in Canadian dollars. Thanks in advance for your guidance.