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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: Hi I have this etf in my account . Should i sell some and buy stocks or add some i am looking for dividend income.

Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Francis on July 12, 2021
Q: I am looking for retirement monthly cash flow to supplement retirement. Can you please recommend some etfs and dividend aristocrats. About $400,000.
thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Pradip on July 09, 2021
Q: Hi folks, I am expecting an inheritance of about $50-70,000. I currently have what I would consider a med-high risk portfolio for retirement. I'm 46 so I am a ways from retiring but would rather put that $50-70,000 in a small number of low-med risk equities or an ETF with a good dividend and just let it grow slowly but surely. Can you provide any recommendations?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Brad on June 25, 2021
Q: I currently have all 4 of these etf's in my tfsa. Would you think that some of these etf's are holding the same companies, if so which one would you suggest i keep and which ones would you say i sell. And if there any other ones would you suggest i replace them with. THANKS GUYS
Read Answer Asked by wilson on June 10, 2021
Q: I’m 71 years old. As I get older I’ve tried to simplify my portfolio, going from about 50 stocks years ago, to my current portfolio of about 16 stocks, 3 ETFs and 15% cash.
I am a subscriber to your Portfolio Tracking and Analysis service and I’m told I need to make changes to reach a suggested asset allocation and portfolio diversification. Right now I’m tech, utilities and financial services heavy.

Here’s what I’d like to do:
The following set up gives me an allocation of 70% equities, 20 % bonds and 7% cash. I’m comfortable with this and have gone through many 20 and 30% corrections in the past 30 years without too much despair.

In my Canadian cash account I’d have CDZ, FTS, AQN.
Locked in RSP (LIRA) I would have AAPL, ZSP, ZEM.
Unlocked RIF I ‘d have CLF, ZAG.
TFSA would have QQQ, ZEM, ZDI, CSU, TOI, SIS.
I’d like cash around 8% of portfolio.

I’m wondering if I have my portfolio diversification covered and if the right stocks or ETFs are in the appropriate accounts for best tax efficiencies?
Your input would really be helpful.
Thanks
Frank
Read Answer Asked by Frank on June 10, 2021
Q: As an older senior, I own CDZ for dividends. Would ZWC be a better option?
thanks
Read Answer Asked by M.S. on May 28, 2021
Q: Can you suggest a few good ETF’s which should form the basis of one’s portfolio.

Also please suggest ETF’s for specific applications like..... high risk/ growth, dividend, US equities, Canadian equities, dividend stocks, tech stocks, emerging markets ..... and your choice of basket of ETF’s which a person could use to build a portfolio ( with % allocations)
Read Answer Asked by HARRY on May 10, 2021
Q: Hi gang, have $200,000.00 canadian to invest for 2-3 years. Just want to invest 50-50 Canada-USA. Would like to be as safe as possible. Some stocks and some ETF. If possible dividend paying one. Thanks
Alnoor.
Read Answer Asked by Alnoor on April 28, 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: Hello,
Can you recommend high or dividend oriented etfs that fall under the following category:
1) From at least more than one ETF company
2) Focuses on dividend payers and moderate growth
3) Covers CDN,US and the rest of the world (not necessarily in one ETF)

I like to pick and chose and change as needed. Not a huge fan of asset allocation ETFs at this point.
Read Answer Asked by Robbie on March 25, 2021
Q: I plan to retire in the next few years and have in mind to replace employment income with dividends. I have moderate to high risk tolerance. What dividend generating index funds or ETFs do you recommend to be in each of the following. My funds are split as noted below.
RRSP: 70%
TFSA: 10%
Cash account: 20%
Read Answer Asked by Michelle on March 24, 2021
Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. A question earlier today has motivated me to finally ask this question....been thinking of it for quite a while. It had to do with potential rising interest rates and your response was that dividend investors should be prepared for a bumpy ride in the short term (my paraphrase of your answer).

I own the above securities and for the most part trim-add around core positions that I hold for the long term. Is it possible to divide the above securities into two camps....one that would be "ok" in a rising interest rate environment and the other that I should consider trimming a bit or maybe selling? I am ok riding things out for the long term and do not normally react to short term volatility.

Thanks for your help....Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on March 20, 2021
Q: Dear 5i
I currently don't own any individual bank stocks as i have achieved this exposure via the ETF`s CDZ and ZLB . I'm beginning to think though in the current climate that adding individual bank stocks might not be a bad idea in all 3 of our RRSP accounts , as opposed to adding more to the above noted ETF`s . I'm also planning on adding SLF and GSY .
So do you recommend sticking to the original plan and just add to the ETF`s or start accumulating individual bank related stocks for each of the accounts to add a bit more banking punch?
Thanks
Bill C
Ps Retired
Read Answer Asked by Bill on March 13, 2021
Q: Of the above Canadian dividend ETFs, which one do you think has the best diversity and investment strategy for a very long-term hold? CDZ seems to have the highest 3-year return, followed closely by VDY, but the latter ETF seems high on the financial services at 59%; not sure how VDY determines their allocations.
Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Grant on March 11, 2021
Q: I am looking for a good Canadian high dividend ETF. VDY seems to have the best performance following the FTSE Canada High Dividend Yield Index. Can you tell me a bit more about the latter index and stocks are selected. I know the CDZ, also has some set criteria for selecting stocks based on dividend payment history. Thank you in advance for your comments!
Read Answer Asked by Grant on February 25, 2021
Q: Thanks for your previous response confirming these etfs cover major asset classes and geographies for an RSP with 5 years to retirement. Could you please suggest a couple of etf alternatives that could be added to provide a little more torque with a 5 year timeframe. A brief explanation for each would be appreciated. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Warren on February 16, 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: First a big thank you for the terrific returns we received in 2020 thanks to your stellar guidance (our largest holdings we first discovered through 5i -hello LSPD,XBC and WELL!). We gifted our kids memberships in December and praise your service to everyone. This is truly an invaluable service.
Now to the question, my brother is tired of paying high fees for his CIBC pension holdings. When I looked into this for him last year, some pools had MER in the 2% range! He’s moved the following into cash and is looking for lower fee/higher return alternatives in the following areas of his pension account:
-Imperial Canadian Dividend Income Pool
-Imperial Canadian Equity High Income Pool
-Imperial US Equity Pool
-Imperial International Equity Pool
-Imperial Short Term Bond Pool
-Imperial Long Term Bond Pool
Please charge as many questions as required.
Read Answer Asked by Warren on January 21, 2021
Q: I think I understand (mostly?) how the overall choice of holdings in this ETF are determined .
But how is the weighting of any individual holding in this fund determined? E.g. current holdings in the utilities sector include RNW (with a current 4.32% yield) at the top of the list at 3.08%, INE (2.4% yield) at 2.59%, CPX (5.44% yield) at 2.17%, ACO.X (4.51% yield) at 0.92%. Are Blackrock including some assessment of the other metrics of the companies in question (perhaps explaining the comparatively high 0.66 MER)?
Why would e.g. LNF, which would seem to otherwise qualify (2.58% yield with a 17-year streak of increasing dividends) be excluded?
Read Answer Asked by Lotar on January 21, 2021