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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: I'm looking for tax-loss harvesting guidance with some ETFs. Can you provide alternatives to hold for XEF, XEC, and VUN that would likely be accepted by the CRA as non-wash? Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on March 23, 2020
Q: 25 per cent of my portfolio includes the above ETF’s. Are there other ETF’s that I should consider to replace any of these. The returns have not been exactly stellar compared to many of the individual stocks that you have recommended. Thanks
Dennis
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on February 20, 2020
Q: Dear 5i,

XUU has a reported MER of 0.07% and consists of 4 underlying US ETF holdings.
Is an investor paying two layers of MER's when owning XUU?
Vanguard has a competitive ETF called VUN which has a surprising higher MER
of 0.16%. Which ETF would you recommend and why?

thanks
Read Answer Asked by Ian on November 19, 2019
Q: My grandson is 21, he has just opened a TD trading account. He will have $12000 to invest now . And he expects to contribute about Seven to two thousand this year. Can you recommend two or three investments to start with. Thank you . Chuck
Read Answer Asked by charles on November 11, 2019
Q: Hi there, is the John Bogle Vanguard approach to investing a good one? I believe Buffett has a similar approach. Is a 2 US ETF equity portfolio good enough to get growth and global exposure, since many US companies operate on a global scale? Would a 50/50 split between ZQQ and VUN or a split between ZQQ and VFV be better? Can I go 100% into VUN/VFV? Are there better ETFs or is there a better approach to this? Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on November 07, 2019
Q: My ETF portfolio is 30% SPY, 20% VIG, 10 IWO ( 50% USA exposure), 20 VE and 20% VEE. You seem to have switched to recommending VSP and VUN as your USA ETF. What are the advantages of VSP/VUN over SPY. VSP and SPY have similar mers, VUN is a bit higher at 0,16. I assume I started buying SPY on 5i recommendation at some point in the past... Balanced portfolio follower, nearing retirement so shifting more towards income/div aristocrats over pure growth plays.
Read Answer Asked by Tom on October 18, 2019
Q: A family member (41) has roughy $15000. to invest
Currently has $2000 in XIC and the balance of $13000. in cash in a TFGS.
I was thinking VGT, XLI but would like your suggestions please
The goal is to be able to add a similar amound every year for a while.
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Maureen on September 23, 2019
Q: Follow your balanced portfolio and hold the above etfs for american exposure.. Vgg has performed better over the last 18 months. Thinking of selling vun, vfv and buying vgg. What do you think? T steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on August 29, 2019
Q: Greetings,
I currently own ZWH, XQQ, and VUN as part of my US focus in my portfolio. I am looking to add another name or two. Time frame 5+ years. I prefer to remain with Canadian ETFs investing in the US. First of all, do you see too much overlap here? I have room to add to all 3. Can you provide 3 stable dividend ETFs you might suggest to add and a couple of growth ETFs that might complement my current holdings? Thanks in advance. KEN
Read Answer Asked by KEN on August 28, 2019
Q: I would appreciate your recommendations for the most tax-efficient ETF's for US equities in non-registered , RSP & TFSA accounts .
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by David on August 02, 2019
Q: As per Steve's July 10 question on income portfolio cash position, I would like to deploy my 12% cash to increase my dividend flow. I am light on fixed income and US exposure. Please comment on buying DYN1567 or Dynamic global div. Fund for dividends and switching my VUN holding to dynamic power American growth fund. Mid 70s couple on rrifs and lower risk.
Thanks in advance,
Read Answer Asked by Peter on July 11, 2019
Q: Have all of these and so far all performing fairly well---they all around 2%
Want to top 2 of them up to 5%----or maybe you have a better choice.
Please advise your thoughts
Peter
Read Answer Asked by peter on July 10, 2019
Q: Hi
I am increasing US exposure by 15-20% to a total of 35-40% from cash into ETFs. Portfolio Analytics suggests VUN for this exposure. I am thinking of using a more factored ETF, IWO or VGG. The US exposure would be the similar, the latter two have a lower financials weight (helpful for sector balancing also needed at this time), and possible relative out performance with small cap or dividend growth. Do you think 1, or a combination of 2-3 is better than the other? Any suggestion on weight (1/3 each)? Do not want to overlap too much nor one factor negate the other.

Any suggestions for adding some torque to passive component of US exposure welcome.

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by John on June 07, 2019
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