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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: We have( for me) a quite large sum of money invested in managed products. Any new money is going into Canadian equities ( 30%) following your portfolios and a mix of ETF roughly
30% USA at 10% SPY, 10% VIG, 10%IWO
30% International currently VE
10% emerging currently VEE
( I know "where is your fixed income" you ask, my spouse has a federal government pension which I count as our fixed income)
To date these sums are relatively small. As I start to shift large sums from our managed products to my self managed portfolio ( following the above ratios) I am ok with the mix in the USA spread to 3 etfs run by 3 different companies. With the international and emerging I am a bit concerned about putting all that cash with one fund (and company). Is this concern silly or should I have some diversification within my ETF holdings ( both in terms of funds and companies). For example instead of having 30% of my holdings in VE I would split it 15% VE and 15% XEF. So I guess the short questions are:

1. What is the max an investor should have in any one ETF( %)
2. What is the max an investor should have with any one company ( $ or %)
Read Answer Asked by Tom on June 12, 2019
Q: Gentlemen, Good Morning,
HMOP, actively managed ETF that seeks federal tax-exempt income by investing in municipal securities with 2.9% distribution and 0.29% fees. Is it good for income on a taxable account ?
Other alternative ?
Thanks Regards

Read Answer Asked by Djamel on June 12, 2019
Q: A year ago a member asked about BL.UN. You had suggested RBOT ETF. They both have a MER of 0.9%. I think BL.UN is a CEF. They have quite different holdings. I am looking for a Canadian Fund or ETF with Hi TEch holdings in my RRIF. The top holding of BL.UN seemed to fit. I appreciate your view on this.
Read Answer Asked by Ford on June 12, 2019
Q: It has been a while since GSB has been discussed in the 5i question forum and a lot has changed at this company since. Although the stock has pulled back a bit recently, it has shown good momentum the last few months. Add in the special $.50 dividend paid last month and the stock does look interesting. Your thoughts? Does this company have legs and further upside in your opinion?
Read Answer Asked by WAYNE on June 12, 2019
Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

In the SYZ website, they list their various software solutions, and I notice that a lot are geared towards the public sector. With many governments adopting a "cutback" stance, both in Canada and the US, could this be one factor that's causing a drag on their share price? Unfortunately, our 0.8% weighting in SYZ was purchased close to its peak (at 13.49) and it's now trading at 11.10. Given my concerns about its product lineup, is it worth holding (in a TFSA) or is it time to move on? If a move is suggested, please list some possible alternatives in the same sector, both "aggressive", and "conservative". We already own these stocks in our combined portfolio, followed by their weightings:
CSU - 5.6%
ENGH - 2.6%
KXS - 1.1%
OTEX - 4.3%
XIT - 0.8% (we use XIT since it's commission-free with iTrade).

Thanks in advance for your valued advice.
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on June 12, 2019
Q: I have an elderly parent who owns shares purchased a long time ago. The company it appears still exists, although may have reorganized. How would I find out who holds the shares so that they could be sold. Would the company have a record? I have the notice of annual meeting from computershare but nothing on there about the holder of the shares. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Terry on June 12, 2019