r/CanadianInvestor

Your daily investment discussion thread.

I'm a finance nerd and I spend too much time reading about alternative investments

Lately I've been looking at private credit. Lending to mid-sized businesses that can't get traditional bank loans. The returns look good. But I'm more interested in how it actually plays out for the companies

I found one organization that specializes in financing distressed and growing companies. I pulled a list of their portfolio companies from Tracxn. Some are doing well. Others seem to have disappeared

But data only tells part of the story…

I want to know what actually happens on the ground. Did the financing save a company that was about to go under? Did it help a business grow and create jobs? Or did it just load up debt that eventually crushed them?

I've seen private credit work wonders. I've also seen it fail.

I'm hoping some of you have real stories. Maybe you worked for a company that got private credit financing. Maybe you saw it help or hurt. Maybe you know someone who did.

Well… I'm not looking for investment advice. But I'm trying to understand how this stuff actually works in the real world

Anyone have a story to share? Good or bad. I'm genuinely curious…

Hello. I have a question. I currently have about $140k of cash sitting in my Canadian corporation that has basically been dormant. I don’t need the majority of it for operating expenses and would like to start putting some of it to work, rather than just it sitting there. I’m considering investing about $100k into XEQT, either as one lump sum purchase or a few larger purchases, and leaving it there long term. This isn’t going to be an active trading account (probably buy XEQT, reinvest distributions, and mostly forget about it.)

My corporate banking is already with RBC. I’m currently going through the process of opening an RBC Direct Investing corporate account, but I also have a Wealthsimple corporate account i haven’t used yet...

For those who are experienced in investing, which would you choose: RBC Direct Investing or Wealthsimple?

Main things I care about:
Simplicity.
fees on 100k ETF purchase
Ease of moving money from my corporate bank account
Tax documents/accounting at year-end
DRIP or reinvesting distributions
Customer service if something goes wrong
Any disadvantages to holding a six-figure corporate investment account at Wealthsimple vs RBC????

I’m not looking to trade regularly or pick individual stocks. This would basically be long-term corporate savings invested primarily in XEQT. Would you keep everything under the RBC umbrella for convenience?? or is Wealthsimple the obvious choice for something this simple?

Any advice would help thanks so much!

Hi all- with the impending build out of data centers, nuclear power, hydro power, mines, pipelines etc., what are some of the higher conviction plays to take advantage of this? My thoughts go to some of the larger engineers service providers such as WSP and Aecon, but looking for other smaller, more tangential plays.

Your daily investment discussion thread.

Hi,

New to ETFs and wondering if it makes sense to take some profits when the gain is substantial. E.g one of my ETFs is up 40% since buying in. Debating whether it’s smarter to set and forget or pull some out.

It lives in a TFSA

Appreciate the feedback.

I just sold my apartment and I'm now saving for a house. I have 50,000.

What's the best way to grow this (at a low risk)? I've heard patients tell me they make 10-12 % in returns but I'm not sure if they take really high risks because I'm not much of a risk taker.

I know it'll take a few years.

What are some good books or blogs related to investing/trading in Canada? I know nothing about it.

Apologies if this is stupid ignorant, I'm in healthcare, not finance so it's new to me. TIA!

Your daily investment discussion thread.

Long story short, im looking to start an account each for my two nephews. My understanding is that they are not considered blood relatives so I'd have to structure it as an informal trust, which seems fine for what I have in mind anyways, which is to help start them off on the right path financially as they enter adulthood.

Im just new to investing for myself as well so im a little unsure how I can set this up properly. My main concern is that as these accounts grow it will become a tax burden for me. Every etf im currently invested in within my own accounts has a listed dividend of 1.5-2.5 percent. This seems to be the case across the board.

I'd love to hear advice from others who run accounts like this. Is my idea of running something like this and not having a significant tax burden possible?

Id be in posession of these accounts for roughly 15 years when they come of age so lots of time to grow and start compounding, id just like to avoid putting my own financial well being under stress as they do.

Looking for some feedback on a 15+ year TFSA portfolio on Wealthsimple. I want higher expected returns than plain 100% XEQT by pairing modest structural leverage (~1.15x net beta) with a solid small-cap value factor tilt.

​I'm torn between two setups:

​Option 1 (3-Fund Mix)

​60% HEQL (1.25x leveraged global equity)

​20% CASV (Avantis global small-cap value)

​20% ATSX (Accelerate 150/50 long/short)

​Option 2 (Clean 2-Fund Factor)

​70% HEQL (1.25x leveraged global equity)

​30% CAUV (Avantis US small-cap value)

​

​For those holding HEQL, how do you feel about the cash borrowing drag in the current interest rate environment?

​Is ATSX’s long/short alpha worth the fee structure and lower liquidity, or is a pure long-only factor like CAUV a cleaner play long-term?

​Which of the two setups would you run for pure long-term compounding? (😅 I know just buy xeqt is popular but i want higher risk and reward)

I am very new to stocks btw, I am an engineer who just started with stocks.

To retire early… how much money do you feel you need to live a regular life. Maybe 1 or 2 trips a year. No Mortgage. 2 teenage kids.

Setting up a self-directed sleeve inside a Holdco. Landed on a 85/15 split with a US/tech tilt.

• 48% XUU (US total market)
• 12% QQQ (Nasdaq-100 via Norbert's Gambit to avoid the FX fee)
• 10% XIC (Canadian equity)
• 15% HXDM (international/EAFE, corporate-class)
• 15% ZDB (discount-bond ETF)

Four of the five are physically-replicated index funds: no derivatives, no swap counterparty. HXDM is the one deliberate exception. Its yield (~3%) is high enough that converting it from fully-taxable foreign dividend income into a deferred capital gain outweighs its ~0.47% cost premium over XEF (0.23% MER), even after pricing in that it's still swap/futures-roll based (not physically replicated) and the fact that Global X has already raised its swap fee once. Ran QQQ vs HXQ through the same lens first; that one wasn't worth the risk to me given QQQ's much thinner yield, but HXDM's higher yield tips the math the other way.

On the bond side, ZAG (3.4-3.5% yield) is maximally tax inefficient inside a corporation. ZDB (1.95% yield) has the same underlying credit quality but holds discount bonds specifically so more of the total return comes from price appreciation rather than coupon income. Phsyically replicated, no swap. HBB (0% distribution yield, corporate-class) - this one is swap-based. I went with ZDB because it captures a reasonable chunk of the same tax benefit of HBB without the swap/counterparty exposure, and the incremental benefit didn't really clear the cost/structural risk for me the way HXDM did (instead of XEF).

Curious if anyone sees a hole in this, particularly:

1. Anyone holding HXDM specifically inside a corporate account with real-world experience?
2. Does concentrating all the "risk budget" into one ticker (HXDM) rather than spreading it thinner make sense, or should I be thinking about this differently? (I could, for instance, go with HXQ, HXT and HBB.)