BMO International Dividend (ZDI-T)

ZDI uses the MSCI World Universe International Developed Markets index, which does not include exposure to South Korea. VIDY uses the FTSE series, which does include South Korea. That's the main difference, along with a slight difference in MER (ZDI slightly more expensive).

Focus on the exposure, not the MER. You have to make a call whether there are enough good dividend-paying stocks in South Korea to want to choose VIDY. Remember, these dividends don't get preferential tax treatment, it's all income. So if you're looking for income in your taxable portfolio, you get a much better tax experience with capital gains from the covered call overlay.

Excellent option for quality oriented investors who like dividends. Good for a long term hold.

ZDH-T is the hedged version. He is okay with exposure to the unhedged version. He would rather get the international version with covered call overlay. ZHE-T/ZWP-T.

Basically self-explanatory. 16% UK. Australia, France 13%. Some EAFE. Been around for quite some time. Do your homework. Dividends don’t qualify for the tax credit.

The problem he has with this is that it is foreign income. As a result, you are not getting the dividend tax credit. This is not something he would be interested in.

The only issue he has with this is that these are all foreign dividends, so you are not getting the dividend tax credit. It is all coming in as straight income. Other than that, he has no problem with it.

International dividends and is pretty diverse, but doesn’t think you are getting the dividend tax credit as it is foreign income.

An international dividend, which means it is going to come into your hands as income and will be taxable. He tends to avoid this type of situation. A lot of it is basically EAFE. You have a lot of Europe and you also have some Japan, Far East and some Australian.

The issue he has is to be very careful with the dividend story, at least in the short term. Over 10 years you are going to be perfectly fine owning something like this, but in the short term with rates rising, the hunt for yield is going to get impacted, somewhat negatively.

Allocation of 15% of a portfolio in dividend paying stocks in developed countries outside of North America? If you are putting 15% of your money diversified geographically, outside of North America, this is fine. With this amount, he would presume you are a growth investor. The fact that you are buying an ETF of essentially dividend stocks, leads him to think that you like the income. Because of this, he is not sure he would go as high as 15%. He would go around 10%.

European ETF NOT hedged. This gives you international exposure to dividends. He believes the Euro is heading south of parity. It will play out through next year. He is not sure you want that open exposure. It is a great idea when the currencies bottom.