Investment Q&A

Q: In reply to my recent question about my mutual funds - TD US Mid-Cap growth, TD US Blue Chip and Fidelity Global Innovators, you advised that they could be replaced with lower-cost ETFs. Please advise which ETFs you would recommend as replacements.

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan and team,
Could you provide me with your top 3 ETF's for the US, listed in Canada as well as the US for an RRSP & LIRA accounts as well as 3 International/World ETF's for the same accounts, taking into consideration any withholding taxes that may apply or not.
Thanks as always for your great service, much appreciated
Ivan

Q: I would like some recommendations on some companies or ETF's that you like now and going forward. I'm looking for growth as I have a 20year+ time frame and low aversion to risk. I currently hold in my TFSA: CJR.B (down about 5%, should I hold or sell some/all off? -heaviest weighting of portfolio currently), GS, BNS, CPH, CR, KXS, NIF, SIS. Would like to add more companies to TFSA for some more sector diversification and can add to RRSP as well - possibly a growth ETF with US/International exposure? Would appreciate your input, thanks very much.

Q: What Canadian listed ETFs that are invested more so in growth stocks would be suitable for a TFSA with a mid to long term horizon? I wish to have geographic diversification through one or more ETFs and one or more ETFs investing in small to mid-cap stocks. If there are mutual funds that have better performance, after fees, please list as well.

Q: please provide mi with best options of Canadian ETFs to mirror above US ETFs :QQQ, SPY, SSO ,that I can put them into my Canadian TFSA .
Thanks for great service
Andrew

Q: I hold both ZWH and TXF - both "covered calls". I would like to switch out of "covered call". Do you know the equivalent ETF for these two that have no "covered call"?

Carl

Q: If you were going to buy a basket of low cost etfs for long term (20-30 years) to hold in an rrsp what would they be? What weightings would you reccomend? Im looking to take advantage of the 8%+ annual market return for the long haul. Or would you use one of the one stop shop Vanguard ones? Could you also explain any reasoning?
thanks

Q: I just transferred 100,000 from an investment company to Questrade because i'm fed up with the high management fees. I was thinking of splitting it between Index Funds and ETF's. I'm 59 and this money is in an RRSP acct. Where would you recommend I invest this money.
Thanks

Brian

Q: Thinking of selling a portion of holdings the above to buy XQQ.
Some are in my cash accounts and the in my RRSP.
The tax loss and gain is zero in my cash accounts.
Gain a bit of D/E and get US exposure.
Thoughts

Thank you

Mike

Q: What are your favorite europe ETF , would probably split 5% of the portfolio (150 000$ total portfolio in RRSP) between 2-3 to get better exposure (euro zone vs euro+uk)(large vs total market)
No hedge etf. 7-10 year horizon

Also, with 30% us , 5% china, 3 % india, 5 europe, 3% XAW, 40% canada, where would you suggest to invest the remaining 14%?

I was thinking 5% japan etf, 3 % frontier etf, 6% basket of EM (to cover taiwan, south korea with minimal china, russia, turkey and brazil allocation)

I have plenty time to manage, so not an issue, but would probably only rebalance occasionally (if worth the fees)

Q: I am considering holding VFV and XQQ in my personal unregistered accounts because they produce dividends. I could borrow money to invest in them and write off the interest. On the other hand, would it make sense to put HXS and HXQ in my passive corporation (no active income) as these two produce only capital gains and no distributions? Is there a big difference in dividends earned in a passive corp vs
personally? Also all of these will not count towards the T1135 limit. Any thoughts?

Q: I am considering adding these two to my non-registered account. This would be in CDN $ and no tax T1135 forms. My question is what year end tax paperwork do these products have? such as ROC, T3, T5. I'm guessing they have T5's which is fine, but I sold my REITS in my non-registered accounts due to the late paperwork. I do not want to repeat this mess.

Q: Hi,

I've got about 6k in my kids' RESP and would like to take advantage of the current market conditions to deploy the cash.

The RESP currently holds BAM (@13%), Sentry US Growth Mutual fund (@ 38%), Invesco Global fund (@30%) with cash making up the difference (@ 20%).

I'd like to add a tech position and would like your opinion on whether to buy a hedged ETF or un-hedged - specifically XQQ or QQQ, or other? This account is a buy and hold with a long term (10 yr +) horizon.

Thx.

Q: Hi,

Best ETF in Canadian $ for an RRSP to cover:

1. Nasdaq 100
2. S&P 500

There are numerous products, why do you like your picks over the rest?

Q: hefllo 5i,
this is just a clarification about a question asked this morrning regarding tech etf. you mentionned the cad hedged XQQ. but, what would the unhedged version be that you preferred. i imagine it would be QQQ, no?
thanks

Q: For the technology portion of one of my portfolios I've held 75% XLK and 25% FDN. Since XLK will be reconfigured this month, what ETFs do you think would best represent the technology sector moving forward? Also what about timing with the changes being made to XLK?

Thanks!

Q: My portfolio lacks a serious commitment to technology although it is reasonably well balanced across the remaining sectors emphasizing a conservative income approach. To address the tech sector, I thought I would start easy, as it were, by investing in either ZQQ or XQQ. For an investor in his mid seventies, with a low comfort level in most things tech, that would appear to me to be the way to go. Appreciate your view.
Thank you.
Geoff

Q: Hi,
Is there an ETF that holds only a higher concentration of the FAANG stocks? I looked at the FNG but it does not seem to hold FB (could only find top 10 holdings). I’d like exposure to these growth names and maybe now good time to start a position with the declines in Netflix, and FB.
Thanks,
K.

Q: Good Afternoon
Can you recommend any Canadian ETFs that cover the US and Global Technology besides QQQ, hedged and unhedged and preferrably being actively managed with low fees?
Thanks
Ron

Q: I very much appreciate 5i along with your ETF site. From your ETF site, I have been playing with the ETF sector balancer and have found it quite useful to see the % of the sectors my postions occupy .
My questions
1. I am considering a 1/2 position of XHC, XGI, and XCD and a 1/4 postion of VUN and XQQ. Is now the time to buy these or should I sit on my cash for a while or should I be considering some alternatives to these within their sectors?
2. If I execute #1 above, my overall holdings will be 57% CDA, 29% USA, 14% INTL and my portfolio will consist of 2% materials, 13% consumer cyclical, 5% financial, 3% communication, 10% energy, 10% industrials, 6% technology, 17% consumer defensive, 13% healthcare and 18% utilities.
I would very much appreciate your critique and observations.

John