Topic: How To Invest

Hi, Pat: I would like advice on a holding of mine that I am unsure what to do with. It is an ETF from BMO called BMO S&P/TSX Laddered Preferred Share Index ETF. Thanks so much in advance for your guidance/thoughts on this matter. I really do appreciate reading all of your publications.

Article Excerpt

BMO S&P/TSX Laddered Preferred Share Index ETF, $10.93, symbol ZPR on Toronto (Units outstanding: 90.6 million; Market cap: $990.3 million; www.etfs.bmo.com), holds Canadian floating-rate preferred shares. Issuers include Bank of Montreal, Enbridge, BCE, TransCanada and Canadian Utilities. The fund’s MER is 0.45%, and it currently yields 4.9%. Note that the dividends you receive from this fund benefit from the Canadian dividend tax credit. Floating-rate preferred shares pay dividends that fluctuate with changes in interest rates. The dividend rate may range from 50% to 100% of (usually) the prime bank rate. As interest rates rise, so do floating-preferred dividend yields. Sometimes the floating-rate feature only kicks in several years after the issuer sells the preferred to investors. For example, the preferred may pay dividends at a fixed rate for five years, then the payout floats with interest rates. This ETF’s 145 holdings are divided into five staggered, or “laddered,” rate-reset dates ranging from the current year to four years out. Each year…