Stockchase Opinions

Colin Cieszynski BMO Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF ZST.L-T PAST TOP PICK Nov 29, 2024

(A Top Pick Aug 07/24, Up 1%)

(Note the short timeframe.)
A substitute for cash when you're feeling a bit cautious. Slow and steady, conservative. When he chose it markets were selling off, presidential election was looming, seasonal weakness was upon us. And then the bull market resumed a week later.

$60.290

Stock price when the opinion was issued

E.T.F.'s
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TOP PICK
It reinvests the proceeds. The chart is a steady climb, rising 2.6% for the year, but it is sure and steady. Good for short-term cash. Fort he conservative income part of a portfolio. MER of 0.17%
BUY
A 12-month duration product he likes, which pays a little bit more. Keep for 3-6 months, don't jump in and out. If markets are going to come down 5-10%, nothing wrong with parking money for a bit and having some dry powder.
BUY
Something safe to generate a nice income.

If you're looking for something safe, for 1-2 years and aside from GICs, he'd recommend ZST or ZST.L (this version accumulates the units). Yield would be ~4.9-5%. Very safe, very short-term with 3-4 month, investment-grade corporate bonds. Inexpensive. A way to get a diversified basket of bonds.

BUY
De-risking 40% of a portfolio at age 59.

Likes the idea of PSA. TLT, he believes, is a leveraged play on the bond market and wouldn't do that. BNS high interest savings, for example, pays 4.75% for optionality and no risk. 

For an ETF filled with 1-year bonds that's very low risk, look at ZST.L. Pays a high dividend, though it's interest. Very competitive rate. If interest rates come down, you might even get a bit of capital appreciation.

TOP PICK

In his portfolios, he can go between 100% equity and 100% cash. When things go awry, he can sell equities and go to cash. For him, this means short-term money markets and bonds. This ETF holds bonds with maturities of less than 1 year. It's like cash that you earn a bit of money on. Yield is 4.9%.

A call on being conservative. He started to see a bit of weakness in some of his indicators; understandable given how fast markets came down, combined with seasonality, economic outlook, and political cycle. A place to go with so many uncertainties out there.

This pick is the ".L" version with accumulating units; reinvests proceeds as interest comes in. More tax-efficient for non-registered accounts, such as cash and margin accounts. The plain vanilla ZST is good for registered accounts.