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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: Hi there. In August I became nervous about managing the amount of money I had been and got an investment advisor from the Royal Bank. I then invested half of my savings into their mutual funds. A large chunk of it is in the RBC Select Balanced Portfolio. As this is a mutual fund there is a mer of 1.94%. So question # 1 is: is this a reasonable mer?
I have noticed now that this mutual fund invests in 10 other (mostly RBC) mutual funds. So my second question is: how does this work for the other mers? Who is paying these mers? Am I paying 1.94% plus other hidden fees for the mutual funds within the first mutual fund?

Thanks,
Sue
Read Answer Asked by Susan on April 16, 2019
Q: Hello 5i

I am a retired cautious investor who is slowly moving from individual stocks in both my registered and non-registered accounts to Mawer 105.

I do, however, believe in diversification. As I slowly unwind my accounts with their individual diversified holdings would it be wiser to spread my future investments between such products as Mawer 105 and VBal or simply go “all in” with one or the other ... or any other product you would suggest?

Thank you

Peter
Read Answer Asked by Peter on April 15, 2019
Q: We have about $150k in a Family RESP invested in the Fidelity Clearpath 2025 Portfolio Series B ISC target date fund. On the Fidelity fact sheet it says "Series B has the highest combined management and administration fees among the series in the Program". We were put into the fund by our previous financial advisor. Funny how that worked. The current MER is 2.17%. Could you recommend two or three alternative ETF's or funds with more reasonable MER's or even possibly a handful of suitable stocks? The funds won't be needed for another five years. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Bruce on April 11, 2019
Q: If you followed the Balanced Equity Portfolio and the Balanced ETF would you be fairly well represented in each TSX sector based on previous 5i answers and would you also be well represented geographically ie Canada/US/International ...40% ,35% and 25%. If not what would you suggest to come close to these percentages and TSX sector allocations?
Read Answer Asked by Paul on April 04, 2019
Q: Hi guys
As you know Elderly Care is expensive..roughly 6 grand a month. Sold the house 5 years ago (big mistake) put the money in a split between GICs & BNS430 . 60% GICS 40% BNS430. This isn't enough Income to stop the Capital Drain. Myself, Im not impressed with the MER or the returns from the Scotia Innova Income Portfolio Series T. Was thinking of switching out of GIC or BNS430 to the MAW105. Would you have any other ideas?. Im a little scared of the Dividend ETFs, BMO dividend ETF got Hammered 30% in 2008....Yikes
thanks Gord ( take a many credits as you like)
Read Answer Asked by Gordon on March 06, 2019
Q: Hi Peter & Ryan,
Would appreciate your opinion on simplifying my mother's portfolio. The portfolio is worth 600K and I currently hold the following ETF's. VCN, VFV, XSP, VBAL, VGRO, VVL, XIN, VEE, XWD. I definately have duplication and believe I can downsize to 3 ETF's VBAL, VGRO and I like XWD for their global allocation and sector weighting.
Thoughts? And would you put 200K in each one?
Thanks,
Steve
Read Answer Asked by Steve on February 12, 2019
Q: I currently have an RESP invested in the Mawer Balanced Fund (MAW104) which I've been pleased with performance (we'll be needing it in about 6-7 years). Considering switching this to either XBAL or VBAL to lower fees and hopefully improve returns accordingly.

I've read some of your answers to Mawer Balanced vs. the XBAL and VBAL ETF's. Would like your opinion on XBAL vs. VBAL for this account. The new XBAL mandate is pretty much the same as VBAL, but it's MER is slightly lower at 0.18% vs. 0.22%. XBAL is much smaller than VBAL currently, but I expect will catch up quickly, and they'll probably match MER's over time.

Do you recommend either of XBAL or VBAL over each other, and suggest even bothering switching from Mawer Balanced Fund in the first place? They all seem like good options!
Read Answer Asked by Alan on February 12, 2019
Q: TD Mgd Idx Bal Growth Port - e (TDB852). Would you consider this fund a good choice for a child's RESP, the Child would not need the money for 15 plus years. I lean towards more growth but family would prefer something more balanced. This is close to the"couch potato" method. MER is 1.27%. There are no fees to purchase this e-series fund with TD and no fees to sell after 2 months (not that it would be sold for a long time). It is a mix of their 4 e series funds (40% Canadian bond index, 23 % us index, 20% canadian index and 76 percent international index). Would you recommend something else?
Read Answer Asked by Michael on January 21, 2019
Q: Following up on Maureen's question about regional allocation - if you looked at Canada 40% US 35% Europe 15% and Emerging Markets 10% could you give me some suggestions as to which ETF's you might suggest I look at to achieve such a distribution.
Thanks,Terry
Read Answer Asked by Terry on January 18, 2019
Q: Good morning,

All four of our family TFSAs and RESP are invested in a mix of Mawer equity and balanced funds.

I'm reading a number of very favourable articles on the benefits of holding a one etf solution for a well diversified portfolio and was wondering if I should consider:
a. keeping the Mawer funds in our TFSAs and RESP but purchasing either VBAL or CBD.A for new TFSA and RESP contributions;
b. Sell all of our MAWER funds and buy either VBAL, CBD.A and perehaps some VGRO for the RESP given that our grandchildren are only 7 years old.

Your thoughts and adjustment suggestion to our TFSA and RESP holdings would be appreciated. Thank you.

Franco
Read Answer Asked by Francesco on January 09, 2019
Q: Good morning,
Both of our family TFSA accounts are currently invested in their entirety with a variety of Mawer Mutual funds (100% Equity). At 70 years old, I would like to reduce the risk profile of our TFSA accounts from 100% Equity to a more classic 60% (equity)/40% (fixed income) balanced portfolio.
Of the five investment options for our two family TFSA accounts which are used as an estate planning tool with the intention of never withdrawing any funds and leaving the proceeds to our grandchildren, which of the following options would you recommend, in what order and why?
Option 1: Staus Quo.
Option 2: Invest all TFSA funds in the Mawer Balanced or Mawer Global Balanced Fund.
Option 3: Invest all of the TFSA funds through a Discretionary Money Manager that currently manages our family RRSP and Non Registered accounts with total management costs of 1.30% (Money management fee, Sub Advisor fees, Custody fee, Transaction fee plus HST). The average long term target rate of return being 4.5% after fees for this balanced portfolio of which 25% of the portfolio is invested in alternative investments to supposedly further reduce volatility.
Option 4: In an effort to further simplify, reduce fees and perhaps improve long term performance of our TFSAs, invest all the TFSA funds directly in the Vanguard Balanced ETF portfolio (VBAL) through our discount brokerage account.
Option 5: Invest all the funds directly through our discount brokerage account in a combination of ETFs that covers 20% Bonds/32% Canada/32% USA/16%Global and if so what would be your preferred ETF recommendation.
I thank you in advance and look forward to hearing your response and recommendations.
Francesco
Read Answer Asked by Francesco on November 26, 2018
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