Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5i,
I have $70,000 CAD to invest for 3-5 years and tax is not an issue. I am thinking of ETFs : 40% Canadian Stocks, 32% American stocks, 8% Global and 20% Bond.
Would you please advise what to buy? or if you have better combination.
Thank you.

Q: This is a follow up to my question about EM ETFs.

The way I see it, XEC holds only IEMG, but in Canadian funds. With XEC, there are 2 layers of foreign withholding taxes, one from the EM countries, and one from the US, neither of which are recoverable. This amounts to up to 27.75% (15% + 15% of the remaining 85%) withholding taxes on dividends, none of which are not recoverable.

With IEMG, the US withholding taxes are recoverable, so the total withholding taxes are up to 15%. That is a significant difference.

The same holds for VEE (holds only VWO).

ZEM looks like it holds about 15% US based ETFs, and the rest are direct holdings. That means that the withholding taxes are mostly recoverable (4.16% are non recoverable (from 15% of the holding times 27.75% from the above calculation), but the rest may be, depending on the treaties Canada has with each EM country).

Is this correct reasoning?

If it is correct, are there any other EM ETFs that have mostly direct holdings in addition to ZEM? Also, why would you recommend XEC over IEMG and VEE over VWO, especially considering the lower MER for IEMG and VWO?

If my reasoning is not correct, why, and which ETFs would be best from a taxation perspective?

Thanks, and I hope my question is clear,

Fed

Q: I am planning on adding emerging markets to my portfolio via an ETF. Which one do you recommend for lowest withholding tax, lowest MER, and best stability? Are there any that are Canadian ETFs owning EM stocks directly? And which account would these ETFs be best placed in (taxable, corporate, RRSP, TFSA)?

Thanks again,

Fed

Q: I'm looking for an Emerging Market ETF I can add to my Canadian Open Account. Which emerging market countries are in the best shape debt-wise? I would be interested in an ETF that is over-weighted in these particular countries if possible.

Does the recommended ETF pay a dividend in CAD?

Thanks.
Jim

Q: I am looking for ideas for 3 ETFs (to complement an existing portfolio):
(a) small cap equities (preferably, global; if not, then US-focused);
(b) global equities, ex-U.S.
(c) emerging markets.
This is for a LIRA account. I'd like all 3 ETFs to be non-hedged, in Canadian dollars, to be Canadian situs (ideally), and not to have 15% withholding on distributions. I think "VEE" might meet all of these criteria for an emerging markets fund (am not sure).
Ted

Q: My current portfolio is 85% Canadian and replicates your BE portfolio with ETFs for the foreign content. I am considering bringing the Canadian content back to 60%. For the foreign content, I am considering DXU (20% of total), DXG (15% of total) and VEE (5%). DXU and DXG have but 2 years history but have performed extremely well in that time. I am an old guy, not afraid of equities but wish to reduce the draw-down potential (note I said reduce; eliminate, I am aware, is impossible).
Would you agree with my thinking and if so, my choices of ETFs? And would you recommend further diversification in the foreign content ETFs?

Q: For a ten year investment, what would you recommend as your top three ETFs for international equities (i.e. non-US and non-Cdn equities) from a risk-reward standpoint? Does your recommendation change if the ETFs are to go in a registered or non-registered account? Dividends are not necessarily an objective. The ETFs can be from a Canadian or a US firm (i.e. Vanguard, iShares, BMO, etc.).

Thank you for this great service!

Q: I own these 2 ETF in non-registered accounts. Are their dividends subjected to a withholding tax?

Q: I am wondering if any of the following do not hold all their international stocks directly (ie if they are an ETF of ETFs). I am pretty sure that XEF, IEFA, and IEMG do own all stocks directly, and I think VEE does not, but please correct me if I am wrong. I cannot seem to find information about the rest.

IEMG XEF VEE XEC IEFA VGK SPDW VWO

Thanks again,

Fed

Q: What would be 5I's recommendation for investing in emerging markets? Thanks, Bill

Q: Can you recommend an etf or mutal fund with a low mer that tracks emerging markets that you can put 100 dollars at a time. What is the minimum that you can put into VEE. Thanks

Q: Do you like VA or better to invest in a different ETF? I own only this ETF and AFG Global Dividend Fund. The VA ETF has not performed that well and wonder if I should invest a better overall global ETF? If so what would be your recommendation?

Thanks

Q: We have( for me) a quite large sum of money invested in managed products. Any new money is going into Canadian equities ( 30%) following your portfolios and a mix of ETF roughly
30% USA at 10% SPY, 10% VIG, 10%IWO
30% International currently VE
10% emerging currently VEE
( I know "where is your fixed income" you ask, my spouse has a federal government pension which I count as our fixed income)
To date these sums are relatively small. As I start to shift large sums from our managed products to my self managed portfolio ( following the above ratios) I am ok with the mix in the USA spread to 3 etfs run by 3 different companies. With the international and emerging I am a bit concerned about putting all that cash with one fund (and company). Is this concern silly or should I have some diversification within my ETF holdings ( both in terms of funds and companies). For example instead of having 30% of my holdings in VE I would split it 15% VE and 15% XEF. So I guess the short questions are:

1. What is the max an investor should have in any one ETF( %)
2. What is the max an investor should have with any one company ( $ or %)

Q: Hello, what is the difference between a FTSE Emerging Markets ETF and a MSCI Emerging Markets ETF? The focus of my question is on the letters FTSE and MSCI. What difference does that make in terms of quality and stocks selection? Thanks, Gervais

Q: I'd like to get your comment which of the above ETF is your choice for emerging market , and why.
Thanks as always!
lil

Q: According to my portfolio analytics, I am woefully short on foreign content. Please give me 3 or 4 ETF names that you consider would best fill this need.
I would also like the names of 3 U.S. Stocks you consider top picks (non tech).
Thanks once again for keeping me on track.
Audrey

Q: Hi...In your opinion where is the best region in the world to invest right now with a 5 year outlook? Could you recommend a couple of ETF’s? Thanks

Q: Hi 5i.

I have transitioned from 55 stocks to 25 hybrid (ETF (16) & keeper stocks (9)) 3 months ago, based on 5i Stock & ETF Growth/Balanced portfolios. Sleep better.

Question: Given 'Ya can't time the market', can one successfully/intelligently tweak holdings a bit based on current economic conditions?

Example: Given USA-China trade war risk, move 20% (VEE, VTI, VVL, XEF, AYX) to (ZAG, XBB, CLF, HFR, ENB). If market goes down -2%, swap half back. Another -2%, swap back remaining half; otherwise, do nothing. Do this at most say 3 or 4 times a year.

Am I just kidding myself that ETFs can be used differently than individual stocks?
I did buy more (VVL, VEE) with available cash when they went down -3% (last week) from when I bought them, with little emotion. Just felt 'smart'. Or am I deluding myself?

Thank you for your continued wise advise for 6+ years.

Q: I own vee in my rasp and am considering adding a small position. Size aside, is there enough diversification in geographical countries to warrant this purchase? Thanx.

Q: What are your thoughts on emerging markets. In the last two weeks I’ve read: Money Sense (John De Goey) that investors should own 10-15% of their portfolio in emerging markets; and Morningstar (John Rekenthaler) that emerging markets are a bust and not worth diversification. Why such opposing views? Are they biased opinions?