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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: I keep hearing the equity market will move down when the Fed begins to indicate rate increases are on the way, when that occurs where would one go as Bonds will also fall when rates rise? I'm just looking for safety with a modest yield, say 4%.
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on February 08, 2021
Q: Hello. Could you please provide a brief explanation of convertible bonds. Is icvt or fcvt a fund that should be in a portfolio? What is the risk-reward on owning convertibles?
Thanks, Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on February 08, 2021
Q: I have WELL thanks to 5I bringing it to my attention but
there is one thing I really do not understand.
WELL has payed a premium of over 80% for CRH.

For many years, CRH has been struggling not been doing well (no pun intended).
5I Research has said in every commentary that it would SELL CRH and "not need to own"!
For WELL to buy a struggling company at an 80% premium, how can this
be a good deal?

Thanks and I am very interested to your response.
Read Answer Asked by Herm on February 08, 2021
Q: I bought ZEC, ZEM & XSU Dec. 24 . They have all done very well & amount to about 7.5% of my portfolio. I wanted to add XAW &/or XMC. Should I replace XSU with XMC or keep both? Will there be too much duplication with these ETF funds? I'd appreciate your comments on these changes.Thanks ,as always. Really enjoyed your "battle of the ETF funds".
Dave
Read Answer Asked by Dave on February 08, 2021
Q: Several Canadian tech firms are intending to IPO this year including a couple from the 5i backyard in Waterloo, hoping to replicate the success of Dye and Durham and Shopify. Names such as Auvik Networks and Magnet Forensics have been mentioned in a G&M article with other names such as Thinkific and Vendasta. Do you have any insight into which might be the most interesting of these or any others?
Read Answer Asked by Jeff on February 08, 2021
Q: Hi guys, appreciate all you do.
My wife and I have a mutual fund though our bank and we want to pull it out (about $20,000) to invest it in some ETFs then continue to invest in them monthly as our main retirement savings. Our timeframe is 20-25 years. Which ones do you recommend, and how many, for max growth/good diversification?

Second part- if we don't have the credits feel free to leave this question out.
We are new to this world of investing but over the last few months we have noticed 2 distinct "camps". What is your opinion on this?
Camp 1: Investing in high quality, undervalued, dividend paying stocks is better than ETFs because you won't be inadvertently buying stocks that are overvalued or buying some losers
Camp 2: Don't bother trying to pick stocks at all because you can never beat the index. Investing in EFTs/index funds is less risky and will yield greater returns over time.
Read Answer Asked by Nick on February 08, 2021
Q: On 01 Feb. 2021 Dow Jones Indices made changes to the S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index. CHP.UN. OR, and RNW were dropped from that index.
I own CHP.UN and RNW. Will being dropped from the index likely have any material effect on those holdings going forward?

Thank you,
IslandJohn
Read Answer Asked by John on February 08, 2021
Q: A few questions re best index ETFs for safety, total return and tax efficiency:
(1) S&P/TSX 60 (unregistered account): Is XIU, XIC or another ETF better?
(2) S&P 500 (RRSP/TFSA): What CAN listed ETF is best for long hold: ZSP, XSP or other ETF? If held in an RRSP (ie US dividend tax except), can you recommend the best US listed ETF for the S&P 500?
(3) NASDAQ 100 (RRSP/TFSA): What CAN listed ETF is best: ZNQ, ZQQ or another ETF? Is QQQ the best US listed?
(4) Ex-North America index (RRSP): Can you list the best CAN listed ETF index fund? Would you stick with large caps or all? XEF? VIU?
(5) Emerging market index ETFs (RRSP): ZEM, VEE or other?
(6) MISC: Has HXT, HXS and HXQ permanently resolved gov't issues and are these ETFs safe for long term hold?
Thank you!!



Read Answer Asked by Grant on February 08, 2021
Q: Guests on BNN's Market Call often tell a good story but I wonder exactly how well they perform overall. They use different metrics to evaluate companies and I am curious to know which systems work better. Is there a website that reports the actual results of the various investment firms?
Thanks for the great service.
Ian
Read Answer Asked by Ian on February 08, 2021
Q: My RSP is comprised of VFV, VIU, CLF but I like the concept of the auto rebalancing of VGRO. However the longer duration bonds in VGRO are concerning. Would you make the switch. Conventional wisdom says bonds are going to be destroyed going forward, when monetary tightening eventually happens.
And by the way my 2020 5i account return was 16%. You guys Rock!!
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Brad on February 08, 2021
Q: Thanks for all your good advice.
I have set up In Trust Accounts for my grandchildren invested equally in HXS and HXT - to avoid tax implications to me. However, due to the swap change introduced Nov 2019 and effective in 2020 - I have been issued T5008 slips seemingly indicating capital gains as a result of the swaps. Is this just for record purposes or is there a need to account for this at tax time?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on February 08, 2021
Q: 5i has stated in the past that the above companies have no debt (LNF "very little debt") - is that still the case? If possible, can you please name 5 additional good CAN and 5 US companies that have no debt or very little?
Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Grant on February 08, 2021