Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5i,

I have GIC's maturing end of this month and I am not looking to reinvest the funds in another set of GIC's.

Financial advisor at the bank is recommending I put the funds into ZBAL ETF. But this ETF has MER of 1.72% which I am not a fan of.

Would appreciate your thoughts on this ETF and potential alternatives that you could suggest with lower MER.

I have been investing in stocks for the past five years and I am still relatively young so I am ok with risk.

Thanks in advance.

Greg C.

Q: Good Afternoon,

When using the 60/40 etfs (VBAL, XBAL, ZBAL) in an RRSP, what would you consider to be the most prudent way of splitting up +$100,000 for a long term hold (30-40 years)?

Ie:
100% in one etf?
50/50 split between two etfs?
3 way split between three etfs?

And in general, at what dollar value in a single 60/40 etf do YOU start to feel uncomfortable?

Thank you!

Q: Hi 5iResearch

These two names seem to be different series for the the same etf, right?

If I am right, why do they have different prices per unit and how could their dist, be different while both are having the same underlying securities?

Could you please advise if there are differences in risk?

Do VBAL and XBAL also have different series?

Please as many credit as the question requires.

Thank you

Q: I currently hold investments in Fidelity Balanced Income Private Pool and Franklin Quotential Diversified Income. I will be transferring the funds from these mutual funds to ETFs with lower management fees. Please provide a list of 5 suitable ETFs and rank them from 1 to 5. Thank you.

Q: As a 50 year old with a defined benefits pension, to kick in when I retire in about 5 years, would ZGRO be ok, switching to ZBAL over the years?

Is the only difference between ZGRO and ZBAL the allocation between equities and bonds?

Thanks,
Robert

Q: Hi 5i, I can see all these institutions have a all-in-one ETFs, for an RRSP account, is it the way to go for someone who is looking for stability.
Place 45% BAL, 45% GRO, and 10% Stocks (LSPD, SHOP, GOOGL, AMZN, etc).
Thank you!

Q: Please give an updated opinion on these four balanced ETFs for a retired, conservative investor and indicate order of preference for income and safety. Thanks!

Q: Hi,
Thank you for your straight forward answer to Paul's question to-day. (September 01) I presume that even though you mentioned XBAL as your pick, you wouldn't mind including VBAL/ZBAL in that space. Very similar aren't they?
IF one wants to augment this, to get steady stream of dividend income, should one add higher dividend paying ETFs like DGRC or VDY or XDV etc., More to keen to know your thoughts about enhanced indexing. How should one go about it?
Thanks.

Q: Good morning,
I own a small house in Ottawa that is free and clear with a current market value of approximately $350,000.
A recent discussion with my trusted mortgage broker confirmed that a 5 year term (Closed & Fixed) term mortgage can be obtained at a rate of 2.29%. This mortgage is said to be:
a. insured through CMHC,
b. portable, and
c. transferable.
At that rate of 2.29% and given that the interest paid would be tax deductible if I use the funds for investment purposes, I'm seriously considering borrowing around $200,000 and investing this amount for an initial 5 year period with an expected net rate of return on investment of 4.5% .
Q1. With $200,000, what are your thoughts of splitting this amount in 5 different chunks of $40K in the following instruments:
a. Mawer Tax Effective Balanced Fund,
b. Mawer Global Balanced ETF Fund,
c. Vanguard Balanced ETF Portfolio,
d. IShares Core Balanced ETF Portfolio, and
e. BMO Balanced ETF

Q2. As an alternative to the above and given the 5 year time frame, would your preference be to invest the $200,000 in a selection of best in class individual stocks split between different sectors and if so, would you be so kind as to provide me with ya listing of your best ideas at this time.

I thank you and look forward to hearing your thoughts on both of these investment strategies.
Francesco

Q: Fund of funds.

as a follow up to my ZBAL question, when a fund is composed of the families funds (in this case BMO) , js the indicated MER the total Mer. Or are you paying the MER of all the funds, but the only one indicated is the one of the master fund, in this case .018

Q: How would you rate this mutual fund has a retirement income producer?