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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: Tony Dwyer from Cannacord likes to refer to "banks and tanks" as good areas to be in when the economy eventually turns positive. I believe he's referring to the more cyclicals. Can you suggest both Cdn and US ETF's that would fit the bill. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Darcy on June 22, 2020
Q: In your portfolio analytics, you used to have A list of suggested etfs for each sector. I cannot find this list anymore. Has it been removed? Could you please provide a list of recommended etfs for each sector. Thank you
Read Answer Asked by satish on May 15, 2020
Q: Hi There

I'm needing to add some international exposure (outside NA) to my portfolio and am also under weighted on Financials, Healthcare and Industrials. I'm 38 so growth is the focus in portfolio. Can you recommend 5 top options to fit this mix - ETFs or individual stocks. Some will live in RRSP, some unregistered if that makes a difference in suggestions.
Read Answer Asked by Ryan on January 22, 2020
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
Read Answer Asked by John on June 18, 2018
Q: Hi 5i. Trying to improve sector allocations. Currently we have only 3.5% in Industrials.
I am looking at XGI - iShares S&P Global Industrials (CA$ hedged). This ETF has only 1 holding which is EXI - iShares Global Industrials US$ ETF. We are looking at investing CA$ funds and don't wish to convert. Questions :
- Do you think that XGI has sufficient size (current net assets ~$40M) for an investment ?
- Do you know if there is an "un-hedged" version of XGI ?
- Do you think that somewhere between 10 and 15% should be allocated to Industrials ?
- Any other thoughts on a Global Industrials ETF ?

As always, thanks for your help. Much apreciated. T
Read Answer Asked by Terrance on May 26, 2017
Q: I would like to increase my exposure (at the understood risk of return chasing) to US industrials and defence companies that seem set to rally under the new regime in the White House. I would like to do this without paying the punitive buy/sell exchange rates offered by my bank. Does the above mentioned ETF look ok to you? Any others that you would recommend? I would be interested in ones with some exposure to steel/base metals/US financials too.
Read Answer Asked by Patrick on November 25, 2016
Q: I read with interest your recent article in the Post and was intrigued by the comment that research shows 90% of portfolio returns come from sector allocation - if a person wanted to take advantage of that, in a simple, easy to manage and inexpensive way (ignoring taxes for the moment) what would be your view be on an approach where one's equity component of their portfolio consisted entirely of a number of ETF's with each one of the ETF's focused on a particular sector, with a periodic (say quarterly) rebalancing? What specific ETF's would you suggest for such a portfolio? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by RICHARD on May 20, 2016
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