STOCKCHASE

0.020

How would you structure the fixed income component of an RRSP portfolio? Depends on your risk tolerance. If you are close to retirement, do you have enough money salted away that you can withstand financial fluctuation.

2012-05-01

Comment

0.020

US stock market has outperformed Canadian. Would you take money out of the US market and put it into Canadian? He would from both the timeframe and rebalancing aspects.

2012-05-01

Comment

0.020

Save on tax by using RRSP’s but how can we offset the high taxes when we take our money out? A wife and husband can split income and when you convert to a RRIF, pension income can be split up to 50/50.

2012-05-01

Comment

0.020

Would you have an ETF in a TFSA account? He would recommend this. Since you are putting in $5000 a year, it wouldn't hurt to put them into a different ETF.

2012-05-01

Comment

0.020

What kind of investment for a new grandchild? You should be investing in stocks and be broadly diversified. He would recommend the iShares MSCI World Index Fund (XWD-T) consisting of global stocks. This gives you global exposure in the RESP

2012-05-01

Comment

iShares S&P/TSX Capped Comp. ETF

0.020

Reverse mortgages? This is just like a mortgage, but in reverse. You sign your home over and instead of having 20 years of you making payments, the institution makes regular monthly payments to you. At the end of the 20 years, you have to go because they take over the ownership of the residence.

2012-05-01

PAST TOP PICK

iShares BRIC ETF

CBQ-T

26.250

(A Top Pick Sept 1/11. Down 4.68%.)

2012-05-01

Comment

XIC-T

19.460

2012-05-01

PAST TOP PICK

iShares Russell 2000(CAD-Hedged)

XSU-T

17.570

(A Top Pick Sept 1/11. Up 15.83%.) Given the choice, you should always tilt towards small cap in value. There aren't a lot of value-based ETF's but there are a lot more in the US. Currency hedged.

2012-05-01

PAST TOP PICK

BMO International Equity ETF

ZDM-T

13.640

(A Top Pick Sept 1/11. Up 8.31%.) Currency hedged.

2012-05-01

TOP PICK

28.150

The cheapest US equity ETF in Canada. Currency hedged. In effect, you are holding literally hundreds of stocks with very little turnover so you have eliminated essentially company or sector risk.

2012-05-01

TOP PICK

BMO Canadian Dividend ETF

25.920

Europe, Asia, far East equity ETF. Pretty cheap. Broadly diversified.

2012-05-01

BUY

ZDV-T

16.270

This is the dividend ETF that he prefers the most. Tends to pay a bit more than others, more diversified than others and costs a bit less.

2012-05-01

TOP PICK

Vanguard MSCI Canada Index ETF

VCE-T

25.430

This is brand-new. Diversified. Ridiculously cheap. Costs 1 basis point more but lower tracking error and a more stable structure than with Horizon’s similar product. Industry leader.

2012-05-01

TOP PICK

iUnits S&P/TSX Capped Energy ETF

XEG-T

16.700

This is the senior oils. He is an advocate that the world is getting smaller and we're running out of oil and the price will continue to go up.

2012-04-02

Comment

0.020

3 Books recommended. “Hot Commodities” by Jim Rogers. “The Quest for Alpha” by Larry E Swedroe. (Alpha is the attempt to try to beat the market.) “The Elements of Investing” by Charles D. Ellis.

2012-04-02

Comment

0.020

What kind of mutual fund would be best to use in a new TFSA account with minimal initial investment for new investors? Attributes he would look for are those low in price, widely diversified and low turnover.

2012-04-02

Comment

0.020

Conservative ETF with a dividend for a TFSA? Virtually every supplier has a dividend ETF. The one he tends to prefer is from the Bank of Montréal’s Canadian Dividend (ZDV-T), which tends to have the highest dividend payout.

2012-04-02

Comment

0.020

Sell longer bonds and put them into a shorter duration bond ETF? If you are holding direct bonds that are paying more than what the current bonds are, and you are willing to hold them until they mature, hold them. If you will need the money before the maturity date, this makes sense. A laddered product such as 1-5 yr Government Bond ETF (CLF-T) or Vanguard Cdn Short-Term ETF (VSB-T) would work well.

2012-04-02

Comment

0.020

ETFs in RRSPs? Yes. Depending on your age and how long it will be held, you might look at global equities such as MSCI World Index Fund (XWD-T). If you wanted to slice and dice, then the Vanguard products are very good for Canada, US and international merging markets. (His preference would be to diversify outside of Canada.)

2012-04-02

Comment

0.020

RESPs? If a child ends up with $100,000 and the degree costs $50,000, what happens to the other $50,000? The government doesn't care as long as you prove that the child is in school.

2012-04-02

Comment

0.020

Downside to covered call ETFs? These are good stories for Nervous Nellies. Downside is if markets go up quickly. If markets go up quickly, a covered call strategy will cause the holder to forgo some of the gains that would otherwise be there.Downside to covered call ETFs? These are good stories for Nervous Nellies. Downside is if markets go up quickly. If markets go up quickly, a covered call strategy will cause the holder to forgo some of the gains that would otherwise be there.

2012-04-02

PAST TOP PICK

iShares Global Agriculture ETF

19.370

(A Top Pick March 23/11. Down 19.38%.) Still likes. Commodities are going to be high volatility. This is work against investors in the last year but he would hope that it will work for them in the future.

2012-04-02

TOP PICK

COW-T

21.940

(A Top Pick March 23/11. Down 3.25%.) Broadly diversified globally. Population of the planet is now over 7 billion. Foodstuff prices will be rising. This is a long-term hold.

2012-04-02

PAST TOP PICK

20.920

(A Top Pick March 23/11. Down 9.45%.) This one has done better than other oil products. Fairly expensive oil, combined with low interest rates is an environment for takeovers.

2012-04-02

BUY

BMO Covered Call Utilities ETF

14.690

Horizons Enhanced Income Financials ETF (HEF-T) or BMO Covered Call Cdn Banks ETF (ZWB-T) for a long term investment? Likes them both about equally and they are similar. Enhanced Income Financials if you feel insurance will outperform banks otherwise Covered Call Cdn Banks.

2012-04-02

Comment

ZWU-T

15.490

Markets for the past 75 days or so have been moving sideways. If you don't believe there is a great deal of direction going forward, utilities are good way of a) minimizing volatility and b) when you lay a covered call strategy on top of that, you minimize volatility even further. This is one of the most conservative ETF's you can get.

2012-04-02

Comment

BMO Dow Jones Indus. Avg. Hedge ETF

ZWA-T

16.880

Dow Jones Indus. Avg. Hedge ETF. This uses a conservative US benchmark, but on top of that you are using covered calls making it even more conservative. You're probably giving up some upside.

2012-04-02

BUY

Horizons Enhan. Incm. Fin. ETF

HEF-T

8.650

2012-04-02

TOP PICK

BMO Low Volatility Cdn Eqty ETF

ZLB-T

15.920

Underlying holdings are low volatility by themselves. Better risk adjusted return because it has market levels of return with substantially below market levels of volatility. This is for people who think the market is a scary place.

2012-04-02

Comment

0.020

3 investment books that he would recommend for anybody's home library. 1) Wealthy Barber Returns by David Chilton. 2) Winning The Loser's Game by Charlie Ellis. 3) Common Sense Investing by John Vogle. 4) Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

2012-02-27

PAST TOP PICK

iShares Global Agriculture ETF

20.990

(A Top Pick Feb 10/11. Down 12.39%.) S&P/TSX Materials ETF. Still likes.

2012-02-27

PAST TOP PICK

COW-T

21.990

(A Top Pick Feb 10/11. Down 9.09%.) Global Agriculture ETF. A long-term position that would make sense for people who want a tangible position in their portfolio and a non-correlated inflation hedge.

2012-02-27

PAST TOP PICK

22.290

(A Top Pick Feb 10/11. Up 2.51%.) Junior Oil Index ETF. Low interest rates and high oil prices makes oils particularly good because of takeovers.

2012-02-27

BUY

HAP Enhanced Income Equity ETF

14.290

Covered Call Cdn Banks ETF. Caller would like to sell her 2 banks to buy this. This ETF covers the major banks and writes covered calls that are slightly out of the money going out about a month or so. This produces income no matter what the market is doing. This would be a win because you have more than 2 banks and the covered call provides a margin of safety.

2012-02-27

Comment

HEX-T

8.010

Enhanced Income Equity ETF. Equal weighted 30 largest Canadian stocks. Like the market, it has dropped but is now coming back. Enhancement of the income is the covered call strategy. Gives you market like-return with less than market volatility and less down when things go down but less up when things go up.

2012-02-27

BUY

iShares TSX Venture Index ETF

XVX-T

20.290

TSX Venture Index ETF. This one should be treated as a core holding, but not more than 5% of your portfolio. It is risky but you should be well rewarded.

2012-02-27

TOP PICK

Vanguard MSCI Emerg. Mkt. ETF

27.500

MSCI U.S. Broad Market ETF which is Cdn$ hedged. Has hundreds of companies and is very cheap. You should have exposure to the US. It is the biggest market globally.

2012-02-27

TOP PICK

VEE-T

26.550

Emerging Market ETF. Cost is likely killer app in the ETF world. More broadly based ETF than most emerging market ETF's in Canada as well as the cheapest.

2012-02-27

TOP PICK

Vanguard Cdn Short-Term ETF

26.320

MSCI EAFE Index ETF, which is Cdn$ hedged. Lowest cost international ETF now in Canada. Many hundreds of companies in dozens of countries. Low volatility.

2012-02-27

BUY

VSB-T

25.060

Vanguard Cdn Short-Term ETF. Low MER. Low to moderate volatility because it is short-term bonds. Conservative. 20% would be a good position to take.

2012-02-27

Comment

0.020

Oil coming into its peak seasonality. Good investment? Thinks it is fairly priced right now at about $100 a barrel. Based on the current tepid recovery we seem to have now, if this continues then oil will probably go up rather than down. Probably a good buy.

2012-01-23

Comment

0.020

RESP suggestion? On his own children, he put the money into equities until she was 9 and from age 10 to 18, he put the money into income. But a few years ago, some ETF companies came out with 1-ticket balanced portfolios with a 60/40 mix consisting of some stocks and some bonds. This would be a good thing to buy to keep your costs down.

2012-01-23

Comment

0.020

65 years of age with $60,000. Where to put it for stable growth until age 71? If you are genuinely a long-term investor, diversify broadly including US and emerging market products.

2012-01-23

PAST TOP PICK

iShares S&P/TSX Preferred ETF

20.260

A Top Pick Feb 10/11. Down 15.4%.) S&P/TSX Materials ETF.

2012-01-23

Comment

CPD-T

17.450

S&P/TSX Preferred ETF. This is the sort of thing people who like preferreds. Broadly diversified and the income that you get from it is tax preferred. Distributions are sustainable. Yields are quite high right now for dividend paying stocks.

2012-01-23

PAST TOP PICK

iShares Global Agriculture ETF

COW-T

21.530

A Top Pick Feb 10/11. Down 10.75%.) Global Agriculture ETF. Agricultural products are things that he thinks have a long-term thesis.

2012-01-23

PAST TOP PICK

20.240

A Top Pick Feb 10/11. Down 6.93%.) Junior Oil Index ETF. Oil is strong and holding steady at $100 a barrel. Price of money continues to be cheap. This is a good confluence of factors that allows for takeovers.

2012-01-23

BUY

Horizons Enhanced Income Energy ETF

14.560

Covered Call Cdn Banks ETF. Good way to play the financial sector in Canada. It gives you all the banks along with the enhanced income of a covered call ETF.

2012-01-23

BUY

HEE-T

7.820

Enhanced Income Energy ETF. If you believe it is compelling to buy oil stocks, which he does, this is a good way to do it, especially for a person who is at or near retirement. You get a margin of safety with the covered call strategy. The only problem is that if it goes up quickly, you won't participate fully on the upside.

2012-01-23

TOP PICK

Vanguard MSCI Emerg. Mkt. ETF

26.270

Vanguard MSCI U.S. Broad Mkt ETF. Gives you broad exposure to US stocks. Cheap. Broadly diversified and tax effective.

2012-01-23

TOP PICK

VEE-T

25.450

MSCI Emerging Mkt. ETF. Emerging markets are now about 9% of the worlds stock market capitalization

2012-01-23

TOP PICK

25.160

MSCI EAFE Index ETF. (Europe, Asia and Far East) Currency hedged. Very cheap and you are getting hundreds of stocks from all around the world. Broadly diversified and tax effective.

2012-01-23

N/A

0.020

Fees: A Morning Star Employee did Research on fees that has shown that when you look at mutual funds you do better by choosing the cheapest funds blindly. 58% of the time the lower cost funds perform better than the higher cost funds.

2011-12-20

N/A

0.020

Wealth Management Company: Cost matters in both products and fees. When you interview, interview the individual you will be assigned to. You should have someone of like mind. Ask them about their trading philosophy.

2011-12-20

N/A

0.020

At what point do you let a stock go (small caps)? It is case by case. A lot of people sell ‘A’ to buy ‘B’ only have ‘A’ do better the following year. If you liked it when you bought it and nothing has changed, then you should consider holding it even if the price has gone down.

2011-12-20

N/A

0.020

Investing Approach: Be broadly diversified, tax effective, cost effective, and with products you don’t have to trade very much. He is research-based. Rigorous research and academic proof.

2011-12-20

N/A

0.020

REITs: are going to be a lot more volatile that GIC will be but the yield will be higher. With Real Estate there is always the chance of the underlying asset dropping. Some think Real Estate is due for a correction. Would not go totally into REITs. Moving some from GICs into REITs would be defensible.

2011-12-20

N/A

0.020

TFSAs and Tax Loss Selling: It doesn’t apply. You can’t take advantage of a capital loss inside a TFSA, but there is also no tax on gains.

2011-12-20

BUY

0.020

Insured Annuity: is wise. Not a lot of people use them. You buy both an annuity and an insurance policy and the annuity pays the insurance premiums. The insurance proceeds are there for the beneficiary if you pass away.

2011-12-20

BUY

0.020

Wrap ETF: ETF that gets you exposure to Canadian, US, dividends, bonds. Likes it for accounts like a TFSA where you can only put in a small amount of money anyway. Otherwise you are better to use a handful of ETFs.

2011-12-20

BUY

iUnits Real Return Bond ETF

0.020

High Yield Bond ETFs: High Yielding bonds are yielding quite well right now and you don’t worry have to worry too much about credit quality, at least he isn’t. You might get a pickup of 2-3% by moving down the credit ladder as long as your risk tolerance can handle it. It is similar to preferred stocks. Doesn’t like credit quality below triple B.

2011-12-20

BUY

XRB-T

25.750

Has been doing well and people should be looking at it as we head into the new year. Pays a return above inflation.

2011-12-20

PAST TOP PICK

iShares 1-5 yr Ladder Corp Bond ETF

19.370

(Top Pick Dec 29/10, Down 20.36%) Is the leader in its space. Materials have had a bad year.

2011-12-20

BUY

iShares BRIC ETF

CBQ-T

24.480

Believes the long-term prospects for emerging markets are positive. CBQ has been hurt more than the broader emerging market space. If you like the Claymore thesis then it would be a good time to average down.

2011-12-20

Comment

CBO-T

20.470

Prefers to others because as a shorter duration and is cheaper.

2011-12-20

BUY

iShares MSCI Brazil Index ETF

XBZ-T

16.500

Prefers a Canadian product even though they cost more than US products but you don’t have to worry about currency fluctuations and there is simplified tax reporting.

2011-12-20

PAST TOP PICK

iShares Broad Commodity ETF

CBR-T

22.380

(Top Pick Dec 29/10, Down 0.75 %) Still the only fantastic commodity product in the Canadian Market place. This is a broad commodity ETF. About 24 commodities.

2011-12-20

PAST TOP PICK

18.970

(Top Pick Dec 29/10, Down 7.47%) Oil has been recovering lately. It is down similar to the underlying commodity. Oil is cheap now and since Money is cheap, the market is ripe for corporate take-overs. This should help the medium term prospects for this product.

2011-12-20

BUY

Horizons Enhanced Income Energy ETF

13.610

Financials have been hurt this year. Believes the strategy of the ETF is still sound.

2011-12-20

BUY

HEE-T

7.450

Using a lot of covered call writing to get energy exposure. You are paying a little more but you get the income from the covered call strategy. A very conservative way to get exposure to oil patch for the long term. Prefers this to writing your own covered calls.

2011-12-20

TOP PICK

Vanguard MSCI Emerg. Mkt. ETF

24.790

Just came out. Tracks over 3000 US stocks. You have small and mid-cap market also. Low cost. Currency Hedged.

2011-12-20

TOP PICK

VEE-T

24.070

Broad. Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey included in their emerging markets. Most Canadians generally invest too much inside Canada.

2011-12-20

TOP PICK

24.300

Currency hedged. You are getting small and mid-caps that you normally would not. Low cost. Vanguard is the low cost provider of ETFs, like a Walmart.

2011-12-20

BUY

iUnits S&P/TSX 60 ETF

XIU-T

17.360

S&P/TSX 60 ETF (XIU-T) versus Cdn Fundamental ETF (CRQ-T)? Both are industry leaders. Very good products. XIU tracks S&P/TSX 60, 60 largest Canadian companies. One of the cheapest in Canada. CRQ tracks RAFI index, more broadly based and more expensive but more of a value tilt and has outperformed XIU.

2011-11-09

Comment

0.020

Multi-Manager Diversified Funds. Is this the right time to sell? If you can put it into something that is cheaper and more diversified, then fine, but if you are looking at doing something else with your pension plan money, don't just sell it holus bolus and she will need your pension money.

2011-11-09

Comment

0.020

How do you relate ethical investing with ETF's? This is a problem for mutual funds as well. No matter how you screen for things you think are ethical, it might not dovetail exactly with the way your providers do it. There are ethical ETF's such as Jantzi Social ETF (XEN-T).

2011-11-09

Comment

0.020

Purchasing an annuity from an RRSP at age 71 or earlier and if so, what percentage of your portfolio? He would not do it. The money you get from an annuity is very, very modest.

2011-11-09

Comment

iShares MSCI EAFE (CAD-Hedged) ETF

0.020

Fixed income into TFSA accounts? Any kind of stocks are better for a TFSA then income. He would tend towards growth and small caps in value.

2011-11-09

TOP PICK

XIN-T

15.480

MSCI EAFE (CAD-Hedged) ETF. International. Cap weighted. Broadly diversified. It tracks the MSCI EAFE index, so it is a whole wide variety of 1st world economy stocks.

2011-11-09

Comment

iShares 1-5 yr Government Bond ETF

CLF-T

20.380

1-5 yr Government Bond ETF. This is his favourite Bond ETF but there are risks in that as the bonds come due, they might not be as attractive going forward. The question is, if not this then what.

2011-11-09

BUY

iShares Cdn Fundamental ETF

CRQ-T

11.090

2011-11-09

TOP PICK

iShares U.S. C$ Hedge ETF

CLU-T

16.340

U.S. C$ Hedge ETF. Uses fundamental indexing strategy which is 4 fundamental factors, each making up 25% of the screen and then you buy a very broad basket of US stocks. This gives you more of a value tilt as opposed to a cap weighting with regards to the US broad market.

2011-11-09

PAST TOP PICK

iShares Alternative Completion ETF

XAL-T

25.410

(A Top Pick Nov 23/10. Up 6.39%.) Alternative Completion ETF. Had thought it was really a good idea, but had hardly ever used it. Broadly diversified.

2011-11-09

PAST TOP PICK

BMO S&P/TSX Base Metals ETF

ZMT-T

16.560

(A Top Pick Nov 23/10. Down 15.5%.) Global base metals ETF. This is for people who want to be more specialized.

2011-11-09

TOP PICK

BMO Emerging Markets ETF

ZEM-T

14.550

Emerging Markets ETF. This one is so much cheaper than the other broad market ETF's in Canada. Broadly diversified.

2011-11-09

PAST TOP PICK

iShares Broad Commodity ETF

CBR-T

22.880

(A Top Pick Nov 23/10. Up 12.32%.) Broad commodities ETF. This is the best way to play commodities in Canada. Costs a bit more than others but more diversified than any of the others and therefore safer.

2011-11-09

BUY

HAP Enhanced Income Equity ETF

HEX-T

8.100

Enhanced Income Equity ETF. Because of their covered calls, they have done a fairly good job of protecting and having a fairly good income stream on a monthly basis.

2011-11-09

BUY

iShares TSX Venture Index ETF

XVX-T

19.000

TSX Venture Index ETF. This is a good way of playing small caps and diversifying a risk.

2011-11-09

BUY

iUnits S&P/TSX Capped Energy ETF

XEG-T

15.010

S&P/TSX Energy ETF. This is a good time to get into oil, which is starting to go up.

2011-10-05

PAST TOP PICK

Committee Bay Resources

CBR-X

0.045

(A Top Pick Oct 19/10. Up 13.47%.) Broad Commodity ETF. Did exceedingly well for the first 7-8 months. Still likes.

2011-10-05

Comment

0.020

Markets. The current situation represents a serious buying opportunity. Wouldn't be surprised if the figures shown yesterday afternoon were the bottom. For those people who have some courage, now is the time to show it, especially true if you are under 60.

2011-10-05

Comment

0.020

TFSA vs RRSP? Most Canadians are going to be in a higher tax bracket when they are working than they are when they retire. E.g. If you put $10,000 into an RRSP and you are in a 40% tax bracket, this will give you a $4000 tax refund. When you retire and you take that $10,000 out, you are in a lower tax bracket of 30%, it means you pay $3000 in tax. For 80%-85% of Canadians, he would maximize the RRSP.

2011-10-05

Comment

0.020

In a TFSA account, should we be buying dividend paying stocks are higher risk types? His general bias is towards growthy stocks, but a few are 60 or more, you might have biased towards more conservative dividend paying stocks

2011-10-05

Comment

0.020

Preferred shares? Usually good dividend yields and lower volatility but he prefers things that are more growthy on the equity side. If a company did not pay out dividends, the stock would go up by an appropriate amount. People who are 60 or older may prefer the greater stability.

2011-10-05

Comment

0.020

RESPs for grandchildren? Depends on the age of your grandchildren. For the first 9 years for his daughter he put the money into equities but when she reached 10, he started putting it into income but just recently switched it to a balanced position of 60/40.

2011-10-05

Comment