Investment Q&A

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.

Q: Good morning,

I recently started selling puts and put credit spreads in SPY, QQQ, IWM and AAPL, these being among the most liquid underlyings with very tight bid-ask spreads. Things have worked out well, so far, as the market has been moving higher and higher.

I'm told that my positions are highly correlated and should consider underlyings that are not as correlated to the broad markets. Could you suggest some underlyings that I can consider? I prefer liquid underlyings so that I can exit them quickly in the event the trade goes against me.

Thank you

Q: I would like to start a Growth portfolio, with 60% US and 40% Canadian stocks. I have approximately $300,000 for this account and a long term view. Would appreciate some suggestions. thanks

Q: What technology stocks or ETF would you suggest for a TFSA? It can be either Canadian or USA.
Thank you.

Q: I am looking to invest in an ETF for a period of 5 to 10 years and have a medium to high risk tolerance. Can you suggest 5 to 10 ETFs that should be considered? Thank you very much

Q: My question has to do with technical indicators that may signal bearishness. In particular, I'm looking at the "unusual short interest" in the mentioned ETFs. Some popular "influencers" indicate they hedge when a market turns downwards by shorting these ETFs. This, the logic goes, is a way to protect the downside without liquidating high growth holdings.

Right now, my intution is that there is a "de-risking" going on in the markets (away from high growth and speculative cyclicals to blue chips and large cap tech).

My questions: Do you see unusual short activity going on in these ETFs, is it a fair indicator of broader bearishness, and do you think the strategy of hedging by temporarily shorting these ETFs is sound?

Q: I do not have technology shares in my RRSP. I'm well covered in energy, financials, utilities, transportation, tel coms and an ETF US equities. There are quite a few techno companies out there. For a long term investment, any suggestions and why.

Q: I'm looking for a ETF holding US stocks that will work well with ZWH.CA
This would be in a RRSP.

Q: Hi 5i, These are my RRSP stocks, etf:
LSPD, WELL, GOOGL, NVDA, SHOP, AAPL, CSU
VOX, BAM.A, QQQ, XIC, VMO, BEP.UN. In around 18 months I will be retired, and would appreciate your comments on my holdings. I'm happy with all of them now, Can you provide any suggestion (goal) to capital preservation, dividends, would you get rid of any?
Thanks