Investment Q&A

Q: Looking to overweight tech a bit in my portfolio using QQQ. Should I put it in my TFSA or RSP?

Q: Hi 5i Research Team -
I've done very well on SHOP & TSLA. Mr. Buffett said buy low and sell high. Would you recommend that as well and transfer those savings to ETF's to protect investments against a possible melt down? If so could you please recommend some ETF's or other transfers.
Thankyou!!! Frank

Q: Hi 5i team,

I recently opened an RESP DI account with Questrade for my 1 year old son. Could you please give me couple suggestion to invest on at current level? I am okay with either EFT or single stock and I have long term time horizon 10+ years.

Thanks,
Irene

Q: What 4 dividend stocks or ETFs would you suggest for a long term hold to see the power of compounding

Q: FTEC now makes up almost 12% of my portfolio and wondering if you would recommend trimming a bit and investing in an ETF like ARKK? I also hold ZSP which is about 10% of my portfolio now and maybe there is a bit of overlap between the two ETFs? Looking for growth in my RRSP, 10+ years and I don't need any dividends.

Do you think there is still some upside left to an industrial ETF like VIS? And do you have any other sector ETF recommendations that will complement FTEC and ZSP?

Thanks in advance. Please deduct credits as required.
KD

Q: What are your top 10 ETF’s to hold forever?
Would you buy them on the US or Canadian markets if available. I know some of the US listed ETF’s are more liquid. Thanks

Q: What are the Can ETFs that cover the main US ETFs, like SPY? And what are their mers?

What are the advantages of using these Canadian versions?

Do you still require W-BEN forms if you buy these?

Thanks for all your help.

Q: I have the time and interest to invest in individual stocks and have benefited greatly from your advice, My 28 year old son is looking to me for investment advice and I was hoping that you could help me. He is young with a long investment horizon so he is not interested in any bond or fixed income components and is comfortable with a portfolio holding a diversified mix of 100% stocks in various geographies. He wants to control his own portfolio but does not have the time to research and stay on top of individual stocks and is leaning towards an ETF portfolio. I am not well versed in this area and was hoping you could provide some guidance.

He is looking at XEQT and VEQT as possible one stop solutions. There are some minor differences between the two, but overall they appear very similar. XEQT has a MER of 0.2% and VEQT has a MER of 0.25%, VEQT holds more stocks than XEQT and XEQT is weighted a bit more towards US stocks and a bit less towards CAD stocks compared to VEQT. Would you recommend one over the other, or hold both?

Instead of buying one of these he is also considering holding a two (or more) ETF portfolio using VCN and XAW ETFs. VCN tracks the Canadian market, XAW tracks the global market excluding Canada. A portfolio of 25% VCN and 75% XAW would replicate XEQT/VEQT very closely, but would have a weighted average MER of about .18%. The trade off is that this one would need to be rebalanced, whereas with XEQT/VEQT all rebalancing is done automatically. Would a 25%VCN/75% XAW be preferable to XEQT/VEQT?

If it was you at 28, would you do either of the above or would you prefer a portfolio of other ETFs and if so, what would those be?

Many thanks

Scott

Q: My grandson has been financially responsible and soon to be mortgage free. He has made some investments with with a financial advisor who has him in high MER mutual funds. He doesn't feel competent to have a self-directed stock account but he would like to invest using ETFs. Can you recommend where I might start in searching for an advisor who would be willing to invest in ETFs for a relatively small ($40,000) account to start. My grandson lives in Greater Vancouver.
With appreciation,
Ed

Q: Can you recommend a sort of Rip van Winkle portfolio for an 84 year old lady who just sold her house? We're talking in the neighbourhood of $400,000. She has little need for the money right now and is not worried much about volatility. She has an pension which helps too cover the need for bonds.

Q: I am looking to finally replace the following mutual funds held in a self admin RSP account, to equivalent ETFs.
FID269 - Fid Monthly Inc;
FID5973 - Fid Global Innovation;
FID207 - Fid Global Concentrated Equity;
RBC460 - Sel Bal Ptf
TDB2760 - Td Retirement Balance
TDB652 - Td Global Entertainment & communication
TDB976 - Td Health Science
TDB2580 Td Tactical Monthly Inc
My goal is to replace these mutual funds with long term, high yielding where possible, low MER, CDN or US $ equivalent ETFs. Please provide 2 or 3 suggestions for each. Please deduct as many credit s as need.
Thank you for all the invaluable investment help you provide.

Q: If you owned Dynamic American 041 would you be inclined to replace it with the ETF equivalent… We understand that Mr Fingold manages an ETF but can’t find an exact proxy …
What do you think of DXF or
DXG

Q: Is there any difference in performance between between a US listed ETF and the equivalent Canadian TSX listed ETF? Is it best to keep it in Canadian currency?
For example: VOO// VFV/ VSP or QQQ// QQC.F/ QQC
Also what would you recommend for hedged vs non-hedged and also market weight vs equal weight?
Thanks

Q: Can you recommend your top-5 ETFs ? I am looking for medium-to-high risk/growth positions.

Thanks!

Q: I have an ETF portfolio and a portfolio of CDN and U.S. stocks.

I am building my ETF portfolio and plan to take my gains from my individual stocks and add to my ETF portfolio during market downturns. I don't plan on making any sales from my ETF portfolio and I expect that portfolio to provide my funds for retirement.

The ETF portfolio is divided globally and I was wondering if which order you would add since I am building my portfolio. The ETFs I have selected on XIC (30%), XEF (15%), XEC (10%), IVV (15%), XJH (5%), XJR (5%), QQQ (5%), XLF (5%) and 10% fixed income. I have already established my 5% positions in XJH, XJR, QQQ and XLF over the summer.

My questions are:

1 - I know weighting is personal, but do you have any glaring concerns with my weightings?

2 - In which order would you add to XIC, XEF, XEC and IVV?

Thanks for your help,
Jason

Q: If you had to pick only ten stocks or ETF's to hold forever which would they be?
Thanks

Q: Hi 5i Team

When investing monies into a diversified ETF, such as SPY or QQQ, which investment approach provides the best risk-return profile? More specifically, how would you rank the following investment approaches: lump-sum, dollar cost averaging, (DCA) and augmented DCA?

Augmented DCA is a modified version of DCA where the investment strategy is more aggressive if the economy is expanding and more conservative if the economy is contracting. Macroeconomic factors are employed to determine if the economy is expanding or contracting (e.g., market volatility, unemployment rate, and capacity utilization).

If an investor chooses DCA or augmented DCA, over what investment period would be reasonable? Is it 6 months? 9 months? 12 months? 15 months?

Thanks

George

Q: I would like to hold a NASDAQ 100 ETF long term in a non registered account.

1. is there a tax / bookkeeping advantage for holding one of the above over the other? (some websites imply that you have to keep records closely for American dollar ETFs, I believe they are referencing adjusted cost base at time of future sell.)

2. Is there an alternative to HXQ.CA that you would recommend? Or do. you think this is the best one at the present time?

3. Do any of your answers change if held in a TFSA?
4.Do any of your answers change if held in a RRSP?

Thanks
Ernie

Q: Hi 5iTeam,

I wish to setup a long-term equity portfolio for my child consisting of the following:

QQQ - 30%
SPY - 30%
XIC - 10%
VEA - 30%

Rebalancing will be done annually.

Do you have any suggestions on how to improve the risk-return profile of this portfolio? For example, should additional ETFs be added to incorporate "value", "small-cap", "emerging markets" and "frontier markets"?

Your comments are most appreciated.

George

Q: I bought this late 2018 when working with a Nesbitt Burns advisor. I have been very happy with the 2019 and 2020 results (gains of 44.68% and 92% respectively in those years). Fund focus and holdings seems to have changed this year and I am not impressed. Gain of 0.53% year to date. MER is high. Is it time to sell this one in 2 accounts and move on? One is held in RESP with a short horizon now. One is in a non registered account. Do you have replacement suggestions for growth, either equities or ETF.