Investment Q&A

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor with a well diversified portfolio (in my opinion anyway). My proxy for the technology sector is XIT and it has performed very well over the long time period I have held it. I like using your charting ability to compare XIT to QQQ or other related tech companies or ETFs....great feature!


Question #1 = With all of the "AI" interest right now, I wonder how much exposure does XIT have to the AI theme? Which of the embedded companies within XIT have AI exposure?

Question # 2 = Is there is an ETF that focuses on AI-related companies or is there an ETF that focuses on AI-generated stock picks (in any sector) and what your thoughts are?

Thanks....Steve

Q: Can you recommend five CAD-denominated, growth-oriented ETF’s trading on the TSX for a three-year hold? This could include sector-specific (eg cybersecurity, AI, dividend-growth, etc), theme-based (eg momentum) and/or general/broad index suggestions (eg TSX, S&P500, NASDAQ100, etc). Thanks.

Q: I like OTEX as a long-term holding, but am in a loss situation; for tax reasons, it would be worthwhile to realize this loss, and rebuy the security in >30 days. In the meantime, I am thinking of investing the proceeds temporarily in CGI Group (GIBa). I note that today OTEX "popped" by ~10% because of a good earnings report. Here are my questions:
1. Is this a good time to sell OTEX (with plan to rebuy a few weeks from now) or should I wait a bit, since the stock could be in a bit of an uptrend over the next few weeks?
2. Is CGI Group a good proxy for holding the proceeds of OTEX disposition for the next several weeks (or would you suggest another proxy)?
3. In general, what do you think of these two holdings-- CGI Group and OTEX-- as long-term holds? If YOUR portfolio included both companies, would you favor one over the other (i.e., greater weighting within the portfolio), and if so which one (based on long-term prospects and current valuations)?

Ted

Q: Hi Gang
What are your top 4 tech ETFs

Thanks Mike B

Q: Seeking 5i advice regarding investing approx. $600,000 into Canadian ETFS for income and balanced approach. Considering TD Canadian Equity Index, for perhaps $100,000..
Could I please have your recommendation for the remaining amount.
Thanks in advance for your help
Rick

Q: Could you please provide your top 5 Canadian ETFS and top 3 dividend Canadian ETFs.  Rank the ETFs as well

Q: Greetings 5i team,
I hold the securities listed above, as well as a couple of more stable ETFs and some cash in my TFSA. I am aware that things are going to be volatile at least for the near future but am wondering in what order an investor might deploy cash to any of these securities given the correction we are experiencing.
Thank you
Steve P

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor, with mostly a blue chip, buy-and-hold-strategy and trims-adds when dictated by asset allocation.

Technology has been taking it on the chin, to say the least. My proxy for this sector is XIT. When the dust settles, I'd like to top up my tech sector by adding to XIT.

My 2 options are:
#1 = sell NTR in my RRSP and direct the proceeds to XIT.
#2 = trim NNRG in my TFSA and direct proceeds to XIT.

So, the question is....which do you think has more upside over the next period of time....NTR or XIT or NNRG? Please rank these 3 for upside.

My current thinking is to go with Option #1.

Thanks for your help....Steve

Q: Which are presently your top picks for Canadian and US ETF's for each sectors ? Which ones would you consider buying now ? Entry prices ?
Please take as many credits to answer this as required.

Gratefully,

Jacques IDS

Q: Is XIT worth holding? Or would one be better off just buying the top 3 holdings in equal weightings. For CDN tech, what would be the best buys today for the long term?

Q: My mortgage is coming due at a much higher rate than it has been for the past 5 years, so given the current economic uncertainty, I’ve decided to sell half of my unregistered portfolio to pay it off. I understand this will incur tax, and I’m prepared for that. Here are my holdings—please advise on the optimal order of selling to ensure the remaining portfolio is defensive, particularly against tariffs and economic uncertainty. I'm open to the cheese slicer method across some or all stocks. Please deduct credits as you see fit. Thank you!

Q: Besides IGV (US) and XIT (CA), can you recommend any other software ETFs ? Any that focus on small to mid cap software ? Thank you .

Q: Hello Peter,
I tried to balance growth and income as well as dividends (no with holding tax in RRSP for US stocks but there is in TFSA), and hence, can you let me know if these make sense for a mid 20s person starting off to have a more growth in TFSA and more income in RRSP.
TFSA: veqt, vgg, and xfn and maybe xic ( veqt has cdn exposure so thought i would exclude xic )
RRSP: vbal, zuq, xic, and xuu all of these trade on tsx. Much appreciated.

Q: Your best 3 choices for both Cdn.$ Tech ETF and US$ Tech ETF.

Q: I have these five ETFs in RESPs for my grandchildren: VCN, VFV, VMO, XAW, XIT.
This seems excessive, so I would like to consolidate: can you tell where there is overlap, and which three I should focus on for the future. Or should I sell 3 and add a new one? Or should I just keep all 5 and top up one of them? They have all done fairly well, but I feel more of a US focus going forward might be appropriate. If I'm gong to have a technology ETF, it should probably be USA? Thank you very much for all you have done for me over the years, much appreciated, and Happy 2025 to all at 5i.

Q: Hi Peter and all at 5i. Wishing you the best of the season!

Peter, first of all, I really enjoyed your last article in the National Post. Your financial stories were highly entertaining.

I manage a RRSP for my daughter-in-law. She has approximately 24K in cash due to a GIC that recently matured. (She got 5.16% interest).

She has these commission-free ETFs: CEW, QQC.F, XHC, XIT, and XST. She would have to pay a $10 commission on the following stocks and ETFs: BCE, BNS, FTS, PBH, SLF, WSP, ZIN, and ZRE.

Question 1. In what order would you suggest she uses the cash to purchase more of the commission-free ETFs?

Question 2. If there are compelling reasons to do so, in what order would you suggest she uses the cash to purchase more of the stocks and ETFs where there is a $10 commission?

I’m hoping that this question can be answered before Christmas if possible. Please use as many question credits as you see fit to provide a comprehensive reply.

Thanks as always for your valuable insight.

Q: Retired (70 yrs old), dividend-income investor. Been meaning to ask this question for a long time. We run a concentrated portfolio of roughly 10 ETFs and 10 stocks, plus fixed income on top. Our pro-rated MER for the equity ETFs is 0.64 and for the entire portfolio is 0.38.

I use the ETFs above that are sector ETFs (like HHL, NNRG, XIT) as my proxy for the sector and am ok with the trade off of paying fees for a sector ETF instead of having lots of stocks.

I then add my individual stock selections to achieve my targeted Asset Allocation for the entire portfolio (like AD, BCE, FTS, GSY, RY, NWC, PBH, TRP, WSP, etc). I weight each of these relative to my risk tolerance.

Does this make sense to you? Does my "sector ETF" make sense, especially with a potentially large weighting in one ETF. Virtually all of my ETFs are capped at around 7% of the equity portfolio and the stocks are capped at 5% max.

Your thoughts on my strategy and on my MER....thanks...Steve

Q: Can you share your top picks for Canadian and US ETF's that would cover the relevant sectors (e.g. tech, industrials etc.)? Please take as many credits to answer this as required.

Q: What 5 market industry sectors do you recommend for investing in now, ranked in descending order, in the USA, for ETFs that will yield 10% per year including both dividends and capital appreciation please? Same question for ETFs in Canada please?

Q: Hi team,

Could you suggest a growth portfolio of EFTs for a TFSA, with an indication as to the degree of risk for each ?

Is it a good idea to have a TFSA all in ETFs ? Or what kind of mix (ETFs and stocks) would you suggest ?

Gratefully,

Jacques IDS