John HoodVanguard FTSE Cda All Cap ETFVCN.TOTOP PICKSep 01, 2017

Broad exposure to the Canadian equity market -- financials, energy, materials, industrials. Large-, mid-, and small-cap companies. Really likes it. Low cost. Canada stands to benefit from the next wave in the AI boom, especially as the next bottleneck is power.

Full spectrum of companies on the TSX. Whether to buy before or after depends on your view of how well negotiations are going to go. He's of the mind that they won't go particularly well. 

Operations of a lot of companies on the TSX are not actually in Canada, they're just listed here. Think gold and energy. Even companies such as banks and insurance companies have a lot of business around the world. 

It's "fine", not fantastic. Better places to be.

Historically, he wouldn't have more than 10-15% Canada in a portfolio. It's extremely low, but we just haven't been the economic engine that the rest of the world can be. 

We've always been a slow-growth, low-volatility, grind-it-out type of country. Future growth won't be what we've seen recently.

He owns few Canadian assets (is overweight US). He owns very little of this now. It's discouraging to invest in Canada; it takes forever to get approval for projects. Meanwhile, the US market is much more dynamic with far more depth. For example, what is the Canadian tech index or healthcare? They're far broader in the US.

VCN is an all cap with about 175 stocks. VDY focuses on dividend payers, so it has banks and oil and the like. 

The choice is do you want basic growth or do you want income? VDY for income. VCN for more growth and better diversification.

Currently you have more dividend cuts, restrictions and pausing of dividend in the last little while than in the last 10 years, so be careful at using dividend income to assess income. He would suggest looking at a minimum volatility XMV-T. The problem with a low-vol ETFs is that it tends to load heavily on interest rate sectors of the market and has a high sector bias. He thinks this is a difficult time for banks that make up a large part of that index.

(Past Top Pick Oct. 10, 2017, Up 1%) He likes Vanguard, but he's surprised this is up 1% given Canadian market performance this year. A year ago, it seemed like a good idea. He still holds a bit.

(Past Top Pick, Sept. 21, 2017, Up 10%) He wanted to get away from owning only the top 60 stocks as well as support the industrials.