Investment Q&A

Q: Mr Warren Buffet has recently sold his entire positions in SPY and VOO.. Can you explain or help rationalize this move?

I currently hold VOO. Would you consider these ETFs a BUY/HOLD/SELL?

Thank you for your time. Cheers

Q: What is your opinion of this ETF? The performance history is really good beating the S&P and others over the last 10 years. They have had a couple of splits in the past and hold about 235 stocks in total. I looked at the top holdings and they are almost the same as the VOO /VFV. Would this be a good sub for the VFV or VOO? The price per unit is low

Q: Hello Peter and 5i Team! it is an RESP account.

A new granddaughter born this year has a tiny new RESP in her name. It started with 3 shared of IUSG, and then, realizing that commissions were a large percentage of such small purchases, we added 2 shares of ZUQ, which has no commission.

For future small contributions, I am looking at these 4 ETFs, based on 3-year average annual return. I am specifically wondering about MER vs Tax efficiency:

ZUQ: +13.44%/yr, MER=0.33%, yield=0.60%, holds US stocks directly
VFV: +13.36%/yr, MER=0.09%, yield=0.99%, holds US stocks indirectly through VOO
XUS: +13.36%/yr, MER=0.09%, yield=1.03%, holds US stocks indirectly through IVV
ZSP: +13.30%/yr, MER=0.09%, yield=0.94%, holds US stocks directly
(as far as I know, none of these are hedged)

Generally I gravitate to low MERs, so perhaps ZUQ is not the best choice.

I recall a comment on 5i that the indirect holding of US stocks means that the withholding tax is withheld when the underlying US ETF pays dividends to the Canadian holding ETF (e.g. VFV get the dividend from VOO, less 15%). So holding in a TFSA won't avoid it, whereas it would be avoided with, say, ZSP in a TFSA.

So, my question is: do the 3-yr performance numbers take all of this into account? I am guessing not... withholding tax efficiency depends on the holders nationality, sheltered status, etc.

Bottom line - which of these ETFs would you recommend for a grandchild with a time horizon of many decades, for optimal performance?

Thanks for your excellent insights and wisdom!

Q: I have a significant amount of my USD portfolio in VOO, I won’t need the money for 20 years. I’m trying to decide where to invest new USD with current stock market valuation. With a long term horizon any reason I can’t keep buying VOO?

Q: Greetings!

What ETFs would you recommend to make up someone's entire investment portfolio with the intentions to add to them monthly?

Thank you very much.

Q: Good Morning. I have US dollars that I want to invest for my recently born grandchildren so there is a 15-20 year timeframe. Please advise 5 ideas, US $ stocks or etfs, and rank in order from low risk to high. I will likely purchase a mix and compare how they perform over time. Thank you.

Q: I submitted this question on Sunday, so now re-submitting...

Asking this question for a friend who is relatively new to investing (and may be a future 5i client:-)

She has $200k in a non-registered account and is contemplating a balance of 75% US ETFs and 25% US equities, any sector. The account is growth-focused, moderate to medium risk; no funds will be withdrawn for 3-5 years. Given these parameters, please suggest 4 ETFs and 4 stocks she should consider. Thank you.

Q: could you pls suggest a couple of US denominated etfs that track the sp500 - preferably equally weighted. Thanks

Q: I currently own a full weigh of the above listed ETFs and in light of President Trump's economic policies that are likely to benefit the financial sector, I'm looking at possibly adding XLF: US ETF to my US$ Non Registered account.


Q1. What would be your best idea for US$ ETF to add to a US$ Non Registered account at this time along with your rational for this choice?

Q2.What are your thoughts on XLF:US in terms of potential return for 2025 and the remainder of the Trump presidency?

Thank you and I look forward to your response.
Francesco

Q: Can you please recommend an equivalent ETF to VOO or MGK that is denominated in Cdn dollars. Thank you.

Q: Is there a "Best" S&P500 Index ETF, or are all the same? Which has performed the best last year?

Thanks!

Q: Recently you answered my question regarding US dividend WHT on Canadian domiciled ETF issues (Vanguard Canada, RBC Ishares etc) and noted that withholding taxes are owing on distributions since the Canadian ETF is simply holding the US ETF and the taxes would be levied when distributions are paid by the US ETF to the Canadian ETF.

Some follow up questions:
- I am assuming that the WHT would apply even if the Canadian ETF is held within a registered account?
- Does the WHT explain part of the difference in yield when comparing the US ETF and the Canadian ETF? For example - VIG yields 1.69% while VGG yields 1.17%. Assuming also that the higher MER on VGG also explains part of the yield difference??
- Given these factors - the WHT and higher MER - why would anyone choose the Canadian version of the same ETF. Further to this - In another question posed by Jacques - you point out that the Canadian ETF ZSP would be preferable to VFV since it holds the stocks directly and not thru the US ETF VOO....thereby avoiding WHT's for registered accounts. However - when you look at VOO - the yield is about 26 bp's higher than either VFV and ZSP....again why would you not just buy VOO.

Many thanks

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

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.

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

Q: good morning - I have done well adding to VOO over the past two years. I recently took a position in IWO, anticipating a broader economic increase. What do you think about pruning VOO and adding to IWO? Or adding to a different US ETF?

thanks

Q: If I am wanting to move money into an index fund next year, what are your thoughts on RSP versus VOO? I see they have more of a weighting in Financials and Industrials. Thanks.

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

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.

Q: I have very little faith in the go forward value of the Canadian dollar versus the US dollar.Whats are good equity ways to access exposure in a broad sense to the US$?