Investment Q&A

Q: Can you please suggest a few ETF's for a young investor who has recently opened a brokerage account.
My 30 y/o son will be transferring funds currently held at his bank. (TSFA , RESP, RRSP accounts) He is looking for long term investments options.

We as grand parents have started a RESP for each of the grandchildren. Looking after their first year RESP contributions. Currently invested in HXS and a small VFV position.
Can you please give some options for :
RRSP
RESP
TSFA
Thank you
Gord

Q: There are a number of Canadian based NASDAQ100 and S&P500 ETF's. Which NASDAQ100 and S&P500 ETF would you prefer, or would be "best", for a TFSA account, and why? Would investing within an RRSP or in a non-registered account alter your selections and if so, why would that be? Thanks.

Q: Further to my question regarding my 22 year old son. Do you think the approach to buy just the SPY is ok or would you recommend a diverse group of ETF's and maybe a few stocks? If so which ones?

Q: My 22 year old son received a $100,000 gift from his grandfather on his birthday. His TFSA and FHSA are fully funded so this money will go to funding his first unregistered account. The S&P 500 has shown an average annual return in excess of 13% over the past 15 years and over 20% in 2023. As such, it is tempting to just put the full amount in an S&P ETF, but having come off a 20% year gives one pause. What is your recommendation in this case?

Q: Hi Folks,
I am looking suggestions for my non reg account,
I currently have 7% weighting in HHL and 7% in ZWE. I am close to retirement age.
Also is there a website that indicates whether the income from etfs/ stocks are dividends or interest.
Cheers

Cheers

Q: Hi 5i team,

My daughter and her partner are investing in their RRSPs through a work plan. They are in a number of Mutual funds, some with quite high MERs range about 1.5 to 2.5%. Also high redemption rates (some up to 5% in first year or two). I have tried to find the mutual funds from their statements, but mostly listed without codes so difficult to be certain of all data.

They have :
20% Balanced funds
47% Canadian Equity
13% Global Fixed income
20% Foreign Equity.

Amount invested is significant but not really high - includes 3 years of contributions/investment. I think they would be best to withdraw the money now and invest in ETFs. I don't think they need to similarly replicate the funds above in ETFs.

2 questions:

A. Any suggestions as to most efficient way to withdraw from these funds? Are there questions to ask that might help reduce redemption bite or should they just make the switch.
B. They are late 30's and 40 yo, so time horizon of approx. 20 years or more before needing money. They are interested in investing but are very early in this. Wondering what you would suggest for starter ETFs right now with bias towards growth. Perhaps you could suggest 4-6 ETFs that would give them age and time horizon appropriate investments.

Please use as many questions as needed.
Thank you in advance for your usual great service and the very helpful advice.

Q: Hi Guys

It seems during the last year that the Mag7 have really had their time in the sun. I am wondering if there might be some rotation out of these names. Wondering where you thought the best returns would be over the next few years in a S&P 500 type ETF:

1) XSP - iShares Core S&P 500 Index ETF
2) An Equal Weight S&P 500 Index like Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Index ETF, 3) or or something like the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF.

What ETF would you think would do the best

Thanks

Stuart

Q: Hi, I’m retired and have a $75,000 rrsp that I’m looking to invest. Would like two ETF’s one Canadian one U.S that complement one another, or four to five stocks.
Would like the suggestions to be fairly conservative with possibly 3-4% dividend. ( don’t really need the money). I’m slightly favouring the etf’s as I want a buy and hold portfolio with a sleep at night possibility. I do have lots of financial and energy stocks already, ( fyi) I know there is always risk that I’m willing to accept.
Thanks for your suggestion

Q: Is there an ETF that tracks the s&p but excludes the mag 7 ?

Q: My daughter is just getting her start investing after setting up a TFSA. What is recommended for the initial $7000? ETF’s? Stocks like CSU, BRK.B?

Q: HERE is the DEAL, My wife and i are going to live off grid for 3 years, no internet, no phone, no visitors, oh YEAH, the dogs want to come, we grow are food, hunt and fish, we have a 1 million to invest, we own no other stocks. So could you rate the following stocks for safety and % rating.


APPL
MSFT
AMZN
GOOG
NVDA
BERK/B
LLY
META
SPY
COST
VGT
TSLA
SMH

13 stocks are LUCKY #,
We will prepay for our 5i sub. so we can look back. and not have worry again if a stock goes down 1% in a day.

SO THIS WAS JUST FUN,

Thanks Again

Q: Can you recommend 3 US ETFs for a long-term hold.

Thanks as always.

Q: Hi,
I am under weight in both international and fixed income.
I have US$ cash in both my RSRP and TFSA that I'd like to invest in these areas.
Can you recommend some US$ ETF's.
Much appreciated.

Q: why do 4 different S&P 500 index funds all have different dividend yields?
SPY 1.413
VFV 1.183 (Canadian listed but still)
VOO 1.452
IVV 1.442

Q: should i buy VFV or SPY? Long term buy in RRSP account, should i accept the FX fee and buy SPY or just buy VFV?

Q: I have a grandson who has just graduated from university in the United States. He is serious about investing and wants to know whether the best way to get started for long-term wealth accumulation is starting a high-yield savings account or an IRA?
Or, is there something else you would suggest.

Q: Your thoughts on the S&P 500 over the next few quarters? Is the risk/reward in favor of stepping into both spy:us and spgp:us in equal proportion's. Or continue to collect 5% from money markets for a couple of quarters. Is the P/E for the spy and sogp all ready pricing in the profits for the year? Would you prefer spgp over spy or would you have other considerations? It looks like spgp has been outperforming spy.

Thanks
Brian

Q: We have a self-directed RDSP set up for my son (age 21, qualified for the RDSP 12 years ago). Up until now we've invested his funds in 5 different equities (4 CDN dividend paying - ARE, AQN, SU, TCL.A and 1 US - DXCM) and the overall performance has unfortunately been abysmal (I'm just getting the opportunity to be more actively involved in managing my son's RDSP). Because my son has a relatively long investment horizon for his RDSP (to age 49), what are your recommendations to optimize this much-needed benefit for his later years? Are ETFs a preferred option over equities?

Q: Hi Peter,

From a risk-return perspective over the next five years, which is the better investment option? Purchasing an equal weighted investment in the magnificent seven, SPY, or QQQ? Please explain your rationale.

Thanks George

Q: Just for the fun of it, can you trace the predictions of the so-called analysts from the big banks for year end 2023 for S&P 500 .

Than let's take a good laugh!

Thank you for delivering the best advise I have received in my 40 years plus of investing.

Yves