iShares S&P 500 Index ETF (XSP.TO)

(Top Pick May 8/15, Up 0.37%) It is flat. He has this ETF in every portfolio. This is a core holding. Great American companies. He is bullish on the US. He is buying aggressively now.

Hedged S&P ETF. Whichever ETF provider you choose, hedging is very important. If you are a long term investor and want US large cap investor you want to do it with the hedge right now. XSU-T would be recommended if it was a bull market. To play defense he likes ZWA-T with a yield close to 5% now.

VSP-T vs. XSP-T. Both are fine holdings. The BMO version contains individual holdings while these two put wrappers around the US versions. There are tax considerations in holding US investments if you hold more than $100,000. He has increased US dollar exposure recently to play the currency short term.

(A Top Pick Feb 17/15. Down 8.95%.) Has this in every single account he owns. This is a very good product.

(A Top Pick Feb 17/15. Down 8.29%.) This is based on the S&P 500 and is a core holding, but is Cdn$ hedged. An important thing right now because if you are buying in US$, what happens when you eventually get a recovery in the Cdn$? You are going to lose.

ETF’s or stocks for $5000 a year TFSA account on a 10-12 your hold? He thinks a broad-based ETF would make a lot of sense. One of the indexes that he likes is the S&P 500, which is much better diversified than the Canadian one.

An all season ETF for a dividend investor? He likes this one which gives you a much better diversification than you can get in the Canadian market. Their currency on this has been hedged away, so you are not going to worry about it going up and down, especially over a long time frame. If you want to be a bit more aggressive, there is the Purpose Core Dividend Fund (PDF-T).

(Top Pick May 1/14, Up 15.25%) It is hedged. He is indifferent right now about hedging but it was beneficial until now.

For years he had been buying this, but as the Cdn$ got to par, he transitioned and started buying a different one. Now, as the dollar has declined, he has started buying this again. This is basically just a large cap Index and a good place to be. It should be a part of everybody’s portfolio.

Great way to play an international market.. It gives you exposure to the international market, and they hedge the currency out. Sometimes you can enhance your returns by not being hedged on the foreign currency, which has been the case as the Cdn$ has dropped off. However, going forward as an international investor, with the weak Cdn$ as it is, you want to consider ETF’s like this and iShares MSCI EAFE (CAD-Hedged) ETF (XIN-T) to hedge your foreign currency exposure.

This gives exposure to the S&P 500 with a hedged product. He doesn’t want to be buying it with $0.80 dollars.

iShares TSX 60 (XIU-T) or iShares S&P 500 Cdn Hedged (XSP-t) because of energy? We have had far more exposure in Canada to oil prices than the US. This has led to a decline in the Cdn$, but at the same time we have to look at the opportunity that creates for Canadian exporters, and there could be a lot of business coming out of this as a result. He has not been selling his XIU, but if you are inclined to do so, you could lighten up on them and buy this, especially if you don’t have American exposure.

Canadian ETF with US stocks giving a Canadian dividend tax credit? The reality is that any foreign dividend comes through as “income”, and you can’t avoid that. He would normally buy this one, which is hedged.

Good time to write options on this? There is nothing wrong with writing options on this particular ETF. Not a very liquid market for options on ETFs like this. Also, the hedge on the Cdn$ distorts the performance somewhat. Also, there are a couple of US ETFs that actually do buy writes on the S&P 500, Power Shares (PBP-N) and Power Shares PWV-N). He might be more inclined to do that.