Vangrd Dividend Appr. E.T.F. (VIG-N)

Solid ETF dividend strategy with US names.

He likes this ETF for US exposure. He likes names with rising dividends over time. Very reasonable 5 bps MER. Top names include: AVGO, JPM, AAPL, MSFT, V. Typically, high quality. Very strong performance, up ~16% annualized over last 5 years. Down 1.87% YTD, not too bad.

On currency, with the interest rate differential between Canada and the US, he has to wonder when we see this big rebound in the CAD. It might be some time. You want to diversify your currencies as well. Having USD exposure has worked out very well for Canadian investors over the last few years.

For US names. VIG is in USD, VGG uses CAD. Names like AAPL, AVGO, JPM, MSFT and so on. More of a tilt of rising dividends, especially important when interest rates are rising.

He used two US dividend ETFs: VYM-N and VIG-N. VYM screens companies for their absolute yields, thus overweights financials VIG looks for companies that have increased dividends for the last 10 years and overweight them, which is more cyclical. It's a decent, long-term core holding. Nothing exciting.

VIG vs. VGG in a non-taxable account? And will the CAD go down? The USD won't go down, but he won't speculate on currencies' directions. It's impossible. But BIG is great. VGG is the Canadian one and you can buy it, but there's an extra cost with it. He prefers VIG, the USD one.

(A Top Pick April 10/15. Up 2.27%.) This holds a number of big US companies that have a record of steadily increasing dividends. This is a good way to get into the US market on a conservative basis.

(A Top Pick April 10/15. Down 1.64%.) A little bit of a disappointment, but it has had a reasonable yield. Since then, he has shifted his emphasis to BMO Low Volatility US Equity (ZLU-T).

(A Top Pick Jan 22/15. Down 0.08%.) He is moving out of this because it hasn’t given him much of a kick for the US.

(A Top Pick Oct 10/14. Up .04%.) This hasn’t performed as well as he had anticipated. Once there is the 1^st increase in US interest rates, he thinks dividend stocks will do better. Most of his investments in the US are through ETF’s. Thinks the Cdn$ will continue to be weak.

These are companies that grow their dividends, and in this case, he is showing a little bit of bias towards the US markets. This has a significant number of stocks. Their largest weightings are consumer goods, services, industrials and healthcare. Has a small dividend. A very conservative type of investment.

Thinks the Canadian dollar will continue to be weak. You should have some US participation in your portfolio. It has all the big names in it.

(A Top Pick Dec 12/13. Up 15.06%.) This is a dividend appreciation fund in the US. These are big, old, well-established companies that have a long record of increasing their dividends.

Dividend appreciation is a thing that is a little bit gimmicky, but it is broadly diversified, low cost and doing exactly what it is supposed to do. This can be used as a long-term hold.