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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: Are there US withholding taxes associated with the ETF's that are offered by Vanguard Canada (or any other Canadian ETF issuer) that pay a USD distribution??
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Gary on December 16, 2024
Q: The existing investments for my other grandson are shown above. Please rank his investments for long term growth. Best wishes for the Holiday Season.
Read Answer Asked by Don on December 16, 2024
Q: I am looking at hedged ETF's and specifically VSP. I was interested to see how well the ETF tracked the index and found that over a 5 year time frame - it underperformed by about 11%. (Total return for VSP is 81.0% and SPX is 93.33% - The Vanguard US ETF - VOO tracks SPX almost exactly.)

I am assuming that this underperformance is because the hedging strategy is not perfect?? .......or does the 11% difference represent the cost of hedging?? Also - would other hedged ETF's have similar comparisons??
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Gary on December 05, 2024
Q: Could you please provide a list of top US ETF’s that can be bought (low cost with great management)
a) using a US dollar acct
b) using a CDN dollar acct
3-5 for each.

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Darryl on November 26, 2024
Q: I bought Hershey in my RRSP in mid-2024. While mostly known for chocolate, the company has been diversifying into non-chocolatey snacks. However, the stock price remains down due to high cocoa prices. Would you be content to hold Hershey and collect the dividend until cocoa prices drop? Would you have some other suggestions? I tend to go for boring US dividend payers that also have some growth potential in my RRSP. My top holdings right now are MSFT, COST, MA, BIP.UN, ENB, and O. I also hold VOO as an underlying holding. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Kim on November 20, 2024
Q: I am still toying with RRSP strategies - I have about 50% of my RRSP in US funds and 50% in Canadian funds. I plan on starting to draw my RRSP down in January and need about an 8% annual return, including dividends and growth for the next 10 years. I have slowly been rolling my Canadian side toward your income portfolio, and am about half-way there. On the US side, I hold the above positions. What are your thoughts on the following - mirroring your income portfolio with the Canadian side, and on the US side hold a combination of ETF's/Equities, or just ETF's. I have been actively growing my RRSP (with success thanks!) But hope to be able to spend less time on it once I retire. The above idea means, for the Cdn side, I can continue to follow your moves on the income portfolio. For the US side, I will continue to monitor/rebalance, but I don’t want it to be a daily task - please suggest a tactic, including whether to mix equities/ETF's, or just go to one or a few ETF's, and please suggest holdings in either tactic. Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Kim on November 07, 2024
Q: What US equity ETF do you suggest for a very long time horizon (I’m in my 20s so likely will keep investing for decades)?

Earlier this year I had been adding to RSP since most of the gains were concentrated in the Mag 7. With the market having broadened out a bit, I’m not sure if I should keep adding to RSP or if I’m better off investing new money in VOO (or VTI).

Which of the 3 ETFs (RSP, VOO, VTI) would you expect to have the best long-term total return?
Read Answer Asked by Patrick on September 07, 2024
Q: What do you think of Blackrock’s new Long-Term US Equity ETF (BELT)? It is actively managed so a higher fee but maybe a nice way to diversify the growth portion of one’s portfolio? Or would you recommend sticking with VOO and QQQ? I notice you have also recommended VUG lately. Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Kim on July 11, 2024
Q: Looking at ETF SPYG for my $US Acct. Holdings are sub-set (about 228) of S&P 500 said to have better growth. MER=0.04%.

Appears similar to VOO, VUG, MER also similar. Looking for growth, not income. For 3-5 year hold, Please comment on SPYG and compare to the two Vanguard ETFs.

Thank you,
IslandJohn
Read Answer Asked by John on July 04, 2024
Q: Crystal ball question: Would you buy XUS now or wait a little? Any other ETF or stocks you would suggest for US exposure in RIF? Much Thanks for your comments.
Read Answer Asked by Hali on June 24, 2024