Investment Q&A

Q: What are the best cash proxy ETFs in your opinion?

Q: Hello 5i,

We have decided to trim equity positions by 15%-20% and replace those stocks with less risky investments. This move is to retain capital investments for the near term due to leveraged market evaluations and the Narcissist who is making a serious attempt to change the US from a democracy to a Totalitarian state.

Can you please provide a list of safe havens to shelter against some of the potential risks?

Thank you
D&J

Q: I currently have 25% of my unregistered investment portfolio in PSA and HSAV. While the rest of my portfolio is well-diversified, I've noticed that the returns / interest from PSA and HSAV, (after accounting for taxes,) aren't keeping pace with inflation. I'm looking for strategies or alternative investment ideas to address this and improve my portfolio's ability to beat inflation.
The money in these funds are not needed in the foreseeable future but serves as sleep at night factor.
(TSFA's and RRSP's are fully funded)
Any ETF ideas would be much appreciated

Q: Hi Team:
I have some cash sitting in RIF acct. Presently in RBF2010 paying 2.3% interest, with unlimited charge for buy or sells..
Would I be better to spent the $9.95 and buy into something like CASH or PSA? Then I would also have to pay $9.95 to get out.
As a follow-up to that question how about if this was in an 'open account' , Where the interest is taxed at 100% income whereas CASH or PSA would act like a dividend income and therefore taxed at roughly 66% income.
OR do you have a better suggestion for larger amounts of $$
Thank you. :-)

Q: Hi, new hear and would like to know the best place to park some money for each account type. Money will be needed between 3 to 12 months. Also if selling in which order would you sell the following ZWK, ZPW, UMAX, ENCC, TD, NA, FC, SLF.
Thank you

Q: HI there,

I have a bit of cash sitting on the sidelines right now and would like to place it in a cash alternative ETF so that I am not losing money while I wait to invest it within the next few months. Are there any high interest savings ETFs you would recommend? Thank you.

Q: Is TDB8160 as good as these others? What is the advantage or disadvantage to the others, and is one more liquid/safer than the other? Thank you!

Q: I submit this question again since it did not seem to go through, sorry if is doubled .I intend to invest cash very progressively in 2025 ,since I consider as ''not totally impossible'' that (among other world factors ), the economic situation in Japan could lead to a sell-off of their US bonds , and have an impact on word economy and eventually on interest rates. On Yahoo finance website : YTD daily total return indicates : 0,97% for CASH,1,08% for PSA,and 0,77% for HSAV ! Does this means that lower NAVs counterbalance the yields after one year ? (but NAV looked relatively stable..).Once I can finally understand those numbers, I wish to choose the most efficient ETF in a non registered account if you could suggest one of the 3 ,considering all factors , as capital gain fiscal advantage of HSAV, VS total Yields and NAVs tendencies. Many thanks for your always very useful clarifications

Q: I am 25 years old and have my TFSA and FHSA maxed out. I will likely buy a house in 1-3 years. Should I start contributing (and investing) any additional money in my RRSP or in a cash investment account? Which ETF should I invest in? Thanks!

Q: Hi 5i, in mid-December 2024 I trimmed my overweight Mag 7 holdings and put the cash into a US high interest savings account. I am now concerned about a decline in the US$. My question: should I be and if so, can you suggest some alternative holding/investment suggestions? Thanks!

Q: Best vehicle to park a bunch of cash in a brokerage account till the noise stops?

Q: Hi there,

I'm evaluating the fixed income portion of my portfolio and am debating between a ladder GIC vs a HISA ETF. I understand GICs are locked in rates and HISA etfs are floating, but can you provide any insight as to the general historical differences in performance over historical time? In other words, say 100k split into 5 rungs of 20k vs 100k in a floating rate HISA etf - is there any difference in performance historically?

Thank you!

Q: Just a comment with regard to RoC paid by ETFs...if there is a large inflow of new funds between the payment declaration day and the date of record that can result in RoC. For example, an ETF such as PSA declares a 9 cent interest payment with the date of record 2 weeks in the future. If the 9 cents is 100% of the interest earned but a large inflow occurs before the record date, the ETF would likely have to pay out the extra interest as RoC. I imagine this can be minimized by holding back some of the interest earned in case that happens.

Q: Hi,

I was surprised to learn yesterday that a T3 form was provided to me from by bank for holding Purpose High Interest Savings Fund (PSA). It says there is a minuscule return of capital. I thought PSA would only provide interest as reported on a T5.

I went to the PSA website and sure enough, there is a ROC and has been since 2013. Do you know if this is typical of these high interest savings account ETFs and if there is another fund that is similar to PSA without the ROC component?

Thank you.
Michael

Q: Can you discuss the differences between dlr.i.ca, dlr.ca, hbil.ca , pas.ca , csav.ca in regards to safety of capital to park cash. There is a significant difference in return 4%-10%. Some are high interest savings accounts and others US dollar accounts. Are the US dollar accounts too risky?
Thanks.

Q: Would it be more prudent to switch CSAV and PSA to TBIL and CBIL?

Q: Dear 5i
If it's not too much to ask could you give me the most accurate yield that you possibly can on the above stated ETF's . It's very frustrating obtaining this information acurrately as different web sites give different numbers . If you were to rely on just one non prescription website what would that website be to obtain reasonably accurate yield information ? I'm sure you get tired of being asked this question on a fairly regular basis .
If you have other suggestion on similar like ETF's i would be all ears .
I also assume that all these ETF's are quite safe and that no more than 100K should be put into any one of them .
Thanks greatly
Bill C

Q: I am looking to invest in these 4 names for my father after he sold his house. He is 92 so I would like something as 'risk-free' as possible, just income needed. Thinking 100k for each, just wondering about any risks involved aside from interest rate risk and inflation risk.
Thanks!
Scott

Q: How does an ETF like PSA pay 4.3% yield when interest rates are so low?

Q: Hi group want to park some $ in high interest saving account I have 2 question's )

- How is the return calculated ( as an example PSA pays out dividend monthly monthly does that mean if i cash out in the middle of the month that i do not get a pro rated amount based on my balance. Could you explain how that works. is it a daily calculation payable at the end of the month or what.

- if i buy a US high interest account would that be a benefit for a higher return compared to buying a high interest Cad saving acct.

- could you provide some actual comparisons using real returns and currency numbers


thanks for your help with this.