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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: As a follow-up to my question last week on interest rates up/down, please also advise which funds/ETFs perform best when interest rates move in either direction.

Thanks again.
Read Answer Asked by Arthur on March 08, 2021
Q: I am not familiar with fixed income investments. I am looking at investing 30k in fixed income . Your portfolios show investments in CVD, CPB, and XHY. Looking for best optimization of rising rate environment and falling bond prices in the future. Just going through your question answer background material , I find VGRO, ICVT, and CSU.DB, very interesting. What would be the best combination in addition to any suggestions you may have. Thank you for your valuable guidance and a great job 5i is doing.
Read Answer Asked by Vinod on March 05, 2021
Q: I've been working with your Portfolio Tracking tool, which is absolutely great, and it's telling me I should hold more bonds. Okay, that's clear enough, but what I'm unclear about is the number of Bonds (ETFs) I should hold. I know it's not really your thing, but is there a recommended bond portfolio you would recommend (for someone about to retire)? Also how important is it to hold international bonds VS only Canadian ETFs? Any advice is truly appreciated. Thanks as always for all your great work!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on February 19, 2021
Q: I need some fixed income suggestions for my RRSP. Anything you particularly like at this time? I know its fixed income but I do have some risk tolerance and a 17 year investment horizon so open to something that pays more than .0000012% interest. Appreciate your thoughts :)

As always.. amazing job team!
Read Answer Asked by Don on February 10, 2021
Q: Could you suggest 3 ETFs for the fixed income component of a portfolio of recently retired individual.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Francisco on January 26, 2021
Q: For the fixed income portion of the portfolio, do you have any recommendations / suggestions (ETF, private fund, mutual fund, specific bonds). Realistically, hoping for a return between 3 and 6%. I am ok to take some risk. Looking for a decent risk/reward investment. Long term hold.
Read Answer Asked by Pierre on January 18, 2021
Q: With a Democrat Senate, higher government spending, rising inflation and an expanding 10 yr yield, what would be your fixed income allocation for the next five years? Do any of the above choices make sense? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on January 08, 2021
Q: You continue to hold XHY and CPD in the income portfolio. My understanding when purchasing these was that they would perform well in a low interest rate environment. That has not been the case. I am about breakeven on them over the past 3 years with dividends included. What is the investment thesis for holding them now that interest rates are already so low. Is it time to move on?
Read Answer Asked by justin on December 09, 2020
Q: I am planning to allocate ~4% of my total investment portfolio (16% of my total fixed income allocation) to a high-yield bond ETF (within an RRSP) with a long time frame. Please comment on more mainstream selections like ZHY and HYG vs something like ANGL.
Read Answer Asked by David on December 02, 2020
Q: I intend to increase the "very safe part" of my portfolios with fixed income ETFs, is a mix of corporate and government bond ETF a good choice with this objective or any other suggestion ? I suppose that longer term bond ETF would be more risky if rates do increase ?
Read Answer Asked by Jean-Yves on November 27, 2020
Q: For a balanced portfolio with the next 3-5 years in mind, what are your suggested weightings in preferreds, utilities and high yield bonds. Given low interest rates preferreds in particular seem like a place investors will go to seek higher yields with some opportunity for growth.
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on October 15, 2020
Q: Hello 5i,
I have the above ETF's in my TFSA as I believed the distribution is interest. I read in reports that distribution is dividend or "dividend interest") All quite confusing. In the TFSA's are also a GIC 5 year ladder, growth stocks (LSPD, LNF) and some high dividend paying equities. Should I journal the above ETF's to a non-registered account and refill the TFSA come January with more growth and GIC's or leave everything alone? I am 73 with a defined pension and 60/40 fixed / equity
Stanley
Read Answer Asked by STANLEY on September 21, 2020
Q: Good morning 5i. I am considering "parking" about 10% of my portfolio in "cash equivalents". Are CVD and CPD your preferences in this case as I see they pay out roughly 5% which seems a reasonable risk/reward scenario? Are there other options or recommendations that you might consider? Thank you in advance.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on August 25, 2020
Q: I would like to park some cash, with the eventual purchase of a residence and am interested in more than GIC's and I understand that this will entail more risk, though less than equity risk. What do you think of MFT, XHY, PYF, PSA, HFR and PMIF and would you split them in equal percentages?
Thanks for your service
Read Answer Asked by Ozzie on August 21, 2020
Q: I have no exposure to fixed income and wanted to know if there are any other that you were preferred over this list? I am looking at buying all of these names each for a 5 % weight.

Thanks
Read Answer Asked on July 23, 2020
Q: I have managed to recover my portfolio to my December balance and have decided to move to a more conservative position while these unprecedented times continue. I hold the above stocks at approximately 2.5% each and would like to move to a 20% total. Would you recommend adding to these positions, selling some and adding something different, or just adding new. I have a well balanced portfolio and am retired without a pension so secure income is preferred.
Read Answer Asked by Lyle on July 14, 2020
Q: I am 72 and retired. I have been building a part of my portfolio (58.4%) for the last three years with ETFs. Current holdings are (% weight of portfolio in brackets): zwh (10.5), zwu (9.1), zwc (8.5), mft (5.9), xtr (5.3), xhy (5.2), zwe (4.7), cdz (3.2), zdh (3.2) & zre (2.9). With 24.2% cash, I plan on slowly adding to these etfs. How would you do this? The remainder of my portfolio is in dividend paying Canadian large caps.
Thanks, Jim
Read Answer Asked by William James (Jim) on June 16, 2020