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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 Peter & 5i staff,
I think my last question got lost in the shuffle, so here goes. My Son has a couple of accounts, an RRSP and a LIRA, each with $135 Thousand. Very little time to manage these accounts so I am doing it for him. Is it advisable to go with all in one ETF's like VGRO, XGRO or ZGRO as the funds are not required for at least 15 years. Any suggestions and advice would be much appreciated. Thanks as always. Ivan
Read Answer Asked by Ivan on April 16, 2019
Q: Hello 5i,
I am not very bullish on the Canadian economy considering the provincial and federal politics and lack of leadership in regards to the Energy and now Agricultural Industry.
So I am thinking of splitting my portfolio up into 3 categories, Growth Stocks, Dividend Paying Stocks and ETF's for global and sector diversification. ZLU & ZWH for US low volatility and Dividend, CDZ for Canadian Dividend and VGRO & XWD for global diversification and growth. Your thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks,
SF
Read Answer Asked by Steve on March 27, 2019
Q: These all in ones are marketed as simple, low cost, well diversified ETF’s. There are no historical performance results to consider however. I’m considering for very long term hold in pension accounts.
Your thoughts on these products and type of investing strategy they best fit.
Appreciate your feedback.
Read Answer Asked by Larry on March 09, 2019
Q: Hi 5i team,
With reference to your response on Feb 26 to my question on VGRO for TFSA, you stated “The tax efficiency referred to is usually regarding taxes on dividends received. Some Canadian ETFs are not considered as tax-efficient because they may gain international exposure through a US-listed ETF which can cause an extra layer of taxes on dividend. However, we do not see that to be an issue with VGRO, as it holds most securities directly.” I am confused. VGRO does not hold any stocks directly but indirectly through other Vanguard ETFs. Please clarify and its suitability for TFSA. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Willie on February 27, 2019
Q: Trying to get a bit more geographic diversification in a TFSA account that is, at present, all Canadian equities. Would you suggest something like HXS for US diversification with the swap arrangement to limit tax implications? Or would something like VGRO make more sense with greater geographic diversification and a little fixed income?

Thanks for the great service,

Doug
Read Answer Asked by Doug on February 13, 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: 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: Does the following make sense, or is there a flaw I'm missing? For a beginning RRSP with 35 yrs to retirement: 50% VGRO and 50% equal amts TD, EMA, PBH, BEP.UN? ( to increase Cdn exposure and to make a little more conservative)
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by M.S. on January 14, 2019
Q: I am a new retiree and interested in income, with some growth. What ETF or ETFs would you recommend for a non-registered account? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Maureen on January 11, 2019
Q: Hello,
I am thinking about buying VGRO for my RRSP account and have a question about management fees. According to Vanguard Canada website the management fee for this fund is 0.22%. However, the only holdings for VGRO are seven other Vanguard ETFs... will I be paying these 0.22% on top of management fees for these seven ETFs or this number is a weighted average of management fees for holdings?
In other words, if I buy a Vanguard ETF that holds other ETFs, will I be paying just the management fee for main ETF or I will indirectly pay management fees for both main ETF and "nested" ETFs?
Read Answer Asked by Angie on January 09, 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: Hello: I am in the process of setting up a TFSA for my 25 years old daughter with ETFs where she can contribute whenever she has money. My questions are: 1) Is the ETF portfolio a simple way to invest? 2) What do you think about portfolio with just one ETF - VGRO? 3) Since it will be a DIY portfolio, is there any advantage in opening the account with Questrade/Wealthsimple in comparison to with TDwaterhouse? 4) if I don’t go with VGRO only, what ratios of XWD, VFV, VGG, HXQ, XSU +/- any other ETF do you recommend while keeping costs/MERs very low?
Read Answer Asked by Dev on January 07, 2019
Q: In addition to some individual stocks, I'm invested in the above ETFs in a (hopefully not foolish) attempt to diversify my portfolio but also increase my exposure to the US tech market; in particular tech companies involved in cloud computing. Generally, I've been splitting my funds about equally between these four ETFs. Can you give me your thoughts on this strategy and in particular, the weighting of these ETFs (investing roughly equally between these 4 ETFs)?
Read Answer Asked by Michael on November 06, 2018
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