iShares Core S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF (XIC.TO)

Broader exposure to Canada.

(A Top Pick June 30/17 - Down 0.5%) Sold half holdings last week. Good index and good ETF. It is an exit from here.

(A Top Pick March 3/17 - Up 0.03%.) Not very exciting. The markets haven’t been too excited. Not unhappy with it. A way for an individual to have a safe and diversified way to access the market. An easy way to get diversification. He still likes financials particularly the banks.

(A Top Pick June 30/17. Up 8%.) That’s a core holdings in all of his portfolio. It’s a little bit more diversified than the XIU-T. He likes both because they both have a liquid options market. From time to time he will buy a Put or sometime he will sell a Call which is quite rare, so he likes the fact that its liquid. These indexes don’t get away from the typical 65-70% of banks, energy, base metals and gold. He would recommend ZIN-T from BMO because it’s industrials rather than being financials and it’s a good complement to the big ones.

In the past, he’s tended to focus more on the BMO Low Volatility Cdn Eqty (ZLB-T) on the Canadian side, but it lacks exposure to commodities. If you want exposure to the commodity side, this is one way to do it.

There are people concerned about Trump, NAFTA, real estate, etc. and have withdrawn form the market and are sitting on cash. He has come up with suggestions that are relatively safe and represent a broad diversification in relatively safe areas. With this, you are going into a broad market. If the TSX does break out, this stock will match that performance. It gives you good diversification.

XIC-T vs. ZCN-T. He does not know the difference between them. The Canadian market is the least diversified in the world. He does not want to own anything that tracks the TSX unless we are in boom time in the banks or commodities. He does not invest in ETFs.

He likes this because it has options on it, and is a little less heavily weighted towards financials and energy. A very good core ETF to have and hold.

The premiums for options seem very, very thin. Because of the diversity that protects you? Yes. This one is just the capped TSX 60. It was designed when Nortel was a big part of the index, so they capped the exposure to one stock. We don’t really have that issue today. You are looking at a diversified ETF that isn’t particularly volatile.

If you feel the total index has a little more oomph to it, this is the place you want to put a little of your money right now. It is for those people who feel they are being left behind but can’t make up their minds as to where to put their money. It gives a lot of diversification.

(A Top Pick May 26/16. Up 12.24%.) He thinks of Canada as a core holding for many Canadian investors and, of course, you have to be careful of how much you hold. When it comes to building out that core position, he likes to start with low cost, passive ETF’s, such as this one.

This is a great product and it is cheap. He has this in practically all of his accounts.