Investment Q&A

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)

Q: "President Biden's plan is expected to call for a 39.6% top tax rate on long-term capital gains, up from the current 20%. The tax would apply to returns on assets held more than a year and to taxpayers with more than $1 million in income." If this proposal becomes reality, do you expect an impact on stock markets?

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.

Q: I recently borrowed from my HELOC to top up our TFSAs. I'm thinking of potentially keeping it simple and going TEC + XAW (40/60 split). This would give me quite a bit of US exposure but thought of bumping up US exposure. Would it make sense to instead buy VUN + VIU + VEE in a 70/23/7 split instead of XAW which has a lower US allocation? Do you think US equities will continue to outperform world over 10+ year horizon?

Also thinking instead of the 40% allocation in TEC, should I take a small position in ARKK or other ARK funds? Maybe 30% TEC, 10% ARKK? I feel like many of the names in ARKK fund are priced to perfection. Thanks

Q: What do you think about replacing standard global equity etfs with similar etfs that are ESG screened? Obviously values are personal but any other considerations. Are there good options for this in Canada?

Q: Which one of the two would you pick at this time going forward?

Q: Whats are your thoughts on the following sets of ETFs ?

Set -1

iShares Core S&P U.S. Total Market Index ETF (XUU)
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM)
Invesco QQQ (QQQ)

set-2

XEC, XEF, XIC, VUN

Q: Hi,
I hold ETFs (VRE XEC XEF XIC VUN) in my TFSA and RRSP. follwoing questions
1) Are there tax considerations /US-dividend withholding for any one of those?
2) Also, any specific considerations to use TFSA vs RRSP to invest in these ETFs? for example VUN should be used in RRSP.
3) are they good ETFs to investing in long term (8 to 12 years) for growth and income?

Thanks..

Q: Good Morning,
Looking for top suggestions for US based ETF's that are either total US market or Global markets that pay little or no dividends. I understand that saving the 15% withholding is not a big consideration, but, looking for something to buy and leave untouched for a long term hold within my USD$ TFSA and would rather see the growth done automatically then me reinvesting dividends/distributions.
Thanks so much!

Q: After scanning 5I questions for the best fit for my daughters LIRA which she will not need for 20 years and will not be contributing to it, we settled on VFV,VEE,and VUN. That leaves room for a tech ETF for the remaining. Considering:
XIT.TO but the MER is high at 0.61% vs. TEC.TO which is a TD ETF
product with an MER 0.35%. Are there any others to consider or which
would you choose and why?

Q: Hello 5i Team
I am comparing two ETF from Vanguard Canada and from Vanguard USA.
Vanguard Canada – US Total Market ETF (CA:VUN), trades in Canadian dollars on Canadian exchange, tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index. The MER is equal to 0.16 %. The 2019 distribution was composed of $0.99538 foreign income, $0.00076 ROC and $0.1593 foreign withholding tax (approximately 16 % of the total distribution, applied by Vanguard).
Vanguard USA – Total Stock Market ETF (US:VTI), trades in US dollar on US exchange, tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index. The MER is equal to 0.03 %. The 2019 distribution was US$2.8747 with no withholding tax applied by Vanguard.
Questions are:
1 – Are these two ETF essentially the same (one trades in C$ on Canadian Market, the other trades in US$ on the US Market) as they both appear to track the CRSP US Total Market Index?
2 – If I hold CA:VUN in a non-registered account, will there be withholding tax applied by my broker to the distribution?
3 – If I hold US:VTI in a non-registered account, will there be withholding tax applied by my broker to the distribution?
4 – Is the difference in the MER (0.16 % vs 0.03 %) essentially the 15 % withholding tax applied to US dividends?
5 – Which is the better ETF to hold in a non-registered account, ignoring the cost of currency conversion to purchase US dollars in order to buy US:VTI?
Thank you

Q: Currently have 25% of my portfolio in XUU. I am interested in increasing my US exposure up to 30% though. My question is do you have any problem with 30% XUU or would you possibly split it in to two? Eg ZSP and something else? Note - I would prefer a Canadian listed ETF but if you think there is a better American option I'm willing to listen.....

Q: Some recent news about the concentration of top five companies holdings on the S&P500. I hold VSP looking for inexpensive, easy, and broad diversification. I've looked at VUN in the past for same and not a big difference in relative concentration. Do you have any particular concerns in general for the concentration and secondly, any thoughts on VUN vs VSP over a 10+ year horizon. Welcome your thoughts on any alternatives that might come to mind as well. Thank you.

Q: Hi all, I'm concerned about some of my holdings based on the rising US Covid19 cases. As such would like to raise my cash position for the eventual pullback in USA market. Please select from my list the first to last to sell or reduce in order. Thanks for all you do.

Q: Hi,

Do you have a preference between VUN and VFV?

Thanks
Robert

Q: Regarding VFV and SPY, yesterday there was a large disparity between these two around 1%. Today VFV is -0.31% and SPY is +0.30%. I know there is currency involved, but this seems like quite a difference on a higher volume ETF. Any thoughts?

Also, VUN seems to outperform VFV over the longer term. It is not much more in MER - would you choose VUN over VFV for a 10 year hold?

Q: Hi, I am looking to invest a new half position in SLF or add to a half position in PBH. Would you favour one over the other today? I don’t mind risk, I favour growth, but am slightly light weight in financials.

Also, I currently hold VUN in my RRSP. After reading the ETF fund update, would you recommend switching to ZSP or ZUQ? I recognize the withholding tax advantage of the other two over VUN. Is that alone worth the switch?

Thank you.

Q: Hope everyone is doing okay at 5i.
I am looking to build a new RESP portfolio for my young granddaughters (ages 3 and 7). I would like to build it with a mix of equities plus a few ETF's to help balance and diversify. Thinking of 10 holdings of equities and ETF's. I would really appreciate your recommendations for a mix of equities and ETF's for this RESP.
Thank you,
PD

Q: Good Day Team,
Looking for a good solid opportunity to invest in and thought about HBF and possibly HGR. Would you advise me to go this route or are the better routes to take.
I am retired and 70 years of age.
Thank you,
John G.

Q: HI, I just recently made the switch from mutual funds to ETF’s and a DIY strategy and am looking to lock down 4 low cost ETF’s that I will invest in for the long term (30 + years) and leaning more toward the aggressive side for these. I am looking to take advantage of some dollar cost averaging to enter the ETF market for some broad market index ETF’s in my TFSA and was looking for you opinion of some that I am trying to choose between.
Canadian Market – I am trying to choose between XIC, VCN & ZCN. They all have significant overlap and same MER so I don’t see a whole lot of difference between the three, although I am leaning towards XIU, thoughts on which one you would choose for your portfolio?
US Market – I am trying to decide between VUN & VFV. The VFV has lower MER than VUN and has outperformed VUN as of late. Smaller and mid-cap companies historically had higher volatility than the large-cap companies found in the S&P 500, and so the trade-off is potentially higher growth, for potentially more volatility if you go with a total market index like what is found in VUN. The S&P 500 has outperformed the total market index as of late so I guess the question is will this continue, I am leaning towards VFV, thoughts on which one you would choose for your portfolio?
International Developed – I am trying to decide between XEF & VIU, both have similar MER, thoughts on which one you would choose for your portfolio?
Emerging Markets – I am trying to decide between XEC & VEE for a small percentage of my portfolio, thoughts on which one you would choose for your portfolio?
These are some ETFs’ I have come across from doing build wealth Canada course and reading other materials and listening to podcasts that seem to fit my long-term outlook. I am by no means experienced in this matter and just looking to hit the ground running so If you have better suggestions for certain markets that I may have missed feel free to outline them.

Thanks
Sean