Investment Q&A

Q: From today's Wall street Journal:
Tesla’s 125-fold increase isn’t even the best gain since it listed. That honor, at least among the top 3,000 stocks in the U.S., goes to Xpel Inc., which makes film to protect car paintwork. It was a penny stock with a market value of a bit more than half a million dollars when Tesla came to market, and has since soared almost 170,000%, leaving Tesla in the dust.

I cringe when I read this. I bought 400,000 shares of this company at less than 15 cents in 2011. Just goes to show you, that it never hurts to hold on to some position. Alas I sold after making a 10 bagger.

Q: Can you recommend the best way to purchase a Canadian equity in-trust for a child that is not my dependent?

Q: Steve asked about donating shares to charity. Would this site be a good choice as well: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/donate/donate-securities/

Q: This is a comment to your answer to Kapil regarding deductiblity of interest. I alawys thought that as long as the money that is borrowed be used to generate income "irrespective of it is a line of credit or a mortgage" then interest on this money is tax deductible.

Q: Hi, the GICs of smaller banks through TD direct investing such as Equitable, Home Equity and PC Bank offer much better rates than the big 5 and insurco banks. I know they are CDIC insured up to $100k but would still like to invest knowing they are decent and relatively secure companies. Could you comment on or rank the 3 mentioned in this regard and any you would pass on, Thanks

Q: Hi 5i team,
I will use XBC as an example here. It is now approaching $1B market cap. You guys always seem to reference this as a magic threshold that can bring in bigger investors that either don’t like the small cap space or are not permitted there by their mandate. I am curious if this is a key threshold for just Canadian companies or is the threshold typically higher for U.S. companies, where the cap sizes are proportionately higher.
Thanks again for the insight.
Dave

Q: Hello Peter and the rest of the 5i Team. I have been investing on my own for about the last 5 years and have done ok primarily sticking to well managed, established companies. In the last year or so, I have added some more "growthy" names, which you guys have suggested and have worked out very nicely (thank-you). My concern now is trying to hang on to what I have made. I hear a lot about the market cycle and money rotating out of one sector into another. I am also picking up on future inflationary concerns and how now is a good time to start buying gold stocks. Also, interest rates are so low and really have nowhere to go but up. Government debt levels are mind-blowing? What does this all mean for the market? I know that having a balanced/diversified portfolio is important and it is difficult to time the market, but based on where we are in the cycle, is there historically a preferred sector that I should be moving some of my money into? Gold, resources, financials, real estate? Or is it time to take some profits and increase cash positions? With interest rates so low and eventually moving up, does it make sense to buy bond funds/ETFs? Can you please help me make sense of all this and suggest a few names to consider?
Hopefully my question makes sense. Thank-you.

Q: What is the process for selling an equity for a tax loss, but also giving the same stock to a charity to claim a tax deduction?

Q: Hi,
I am thinking to borrow money from HELOC or LOC and invest in non-registered accounts. ($50,000). This is 1-3 years plan. Can I right off LOC interest from my personal income tax? please suggest if this is a good strategy in this time of year ? Also what are best options to invest ? Thanks

Q: Not a Q but a comment. My biggest winner (not by $ which is SHOP - thanks for that!) is RPI.UN which I bought at 2009 bottom. A 1600 bagger!
Most of it came from dividends. I would never have guessed that possible.

Q: Hi Peter
My wife and I are fully invested in TFSA and RSP accounts. I have about $150,000 to invest. I guess I need to use taxable accounts, which I have no knowledge about.
Can you point me some good resources on taxable accounts and how to get started.
If I am already at the top of the tax bracket, is it worth consulting with a tax consultant before I go down this path?
Any guidance on approach and methodology will be very helpful.
Appreciate your great work!
Thanks

Q: enbridge came out with annual investors day presentation today and just wondering if you guys listened to it. they increased the dividend by only 3% but to me that was being cautious for outlook next year cause who knows what will happen but happy in their decision to raise a bit at least. just wanted your thoughts and as a sidenote i get a
newsletter from a reputable writer in ontario here and he was saying in one of his latest reports that 80% of all trading on the canadian markets [tsx] comes from south of the border now. i did not know that and is this right?
thanks

Q: Hello,

In the upcoming shareholder meeting, the following changes to the investment restrictions are proposed:

Current Investment Restriction:
[Each iShares Fund] shall store all the Bullion owned by the iShares Fund in: (i) with respect to CGL, the vault facilities of a Schedule I Canadian chartered bank or an approved subcustodian or sub-subcustodian or an affiliate or a division thereof on a segregated basis; and (ii) with respect to SVR, the vault facilities of a Schedule I Canadian chartered bank, or an affiliate or a division thereof, or a sub-custodian on an allocated basis.
[Each iShares Fund] shall ensure that the Custodian has adequate insurance in place in respect of the Bullion held by the Custodian on behalf of the Fund.

Proposed Investment Restriction:
[Each iShares Fund] shall store all of the Bullion owned by the iShares Fund in the vault facilities of one or more entities that meet the requirements to act as a custodian or sub-custodian for assets as described in NI 81-102 (or are permitted to act as a custodian or sub-custodian pursuant to exemptive relief from the applicable requirements granted by the Securities Authorities), on an allocated and segregated basis.
[Each iShares Fund] shall ensure that the Custodian itself has, or that the Custodian or sub-custodian(s) are required to ensure that their respective sub-custodian(s) have, adequate insurance arrangements in place in respect of the Bullion held on behalf of the Fund by such Custodian or sub-custodian(s), as applicable.

Would you be able to please explain in simple(-er) terms what's being proposed here?
Also, if the proposal is approved, how it would affect attractiveness of CGL going forward? I.e. would it be a good idea to continue to hold it?

Thank you kindly

Q: Hi,
I just came across the "Venture 50" list on the tmx money website. Please see link below. This is a good list of small caps that have had strong price appreciation and market cap growth (and that is all, there is NO other criteria to make it onto the list).
But 4 of the 5 venture-listed stocks in the 5i Growth Portfolio are showing up on this list which is a good sign (and WELL was there too, but has since moved up to the TSX).

Do you agree this is a solid list to use as an initial screen/filter for finding good investment ideas in the small cap space? For sure, more investigation is required because for example, I just looked at the #1 stock overall on the list (DYA) and it has no FCF, and expenses are rising faster than revenue, and it is just a 52-cent stock, and it didn't get the bump that others in green-clean energy/technology got from the recent positive market sentiment. It's worth watching but not ready yet..? Thx.

https://www.tsx.com/venture50

Q: Finished reading the book 100 Baggers and it was a great read. Good to know lots of companies achieved these level of returns. You just have to find a few and hold on.

One of the book suggestion is to focus on smaller market cap companies which can grow over time among other metrics. Looking at some of the recent IPO that came to market with 20B+ market cap and SNOW hitting 100B makes you wonder if some of these newer IPO's can get you 100 Baggers returns.

My questions are as follows:
Do you see market cap playing less of a role going forward and investors will just pay up for growth? Maybe instead of putting 10K in the stock you may have to invest 20-30K to get that capital to compound to 1M without having a 100 bagger.

Finally, just for fun if you were to guess at a few name in the US or Canada that has 100 bagger potential what would they be? I see SHOP, TTD and WELL as having a shot.

Thanks

Q: I just received a notice from my broker about a voluntary mini-tender by TRC capital for $73.75 USD, is this a good deal?
Thx
Nancy

Q: Hi,
WELL, together with LSPD, GSY, REAl, VEEV, KL, makes up the core part of my portfolio.
I find when Canadian listed companies seek a listing on the US stock exchange they have much better exposure to a way larger market, which ultimately benefits the stock, provided they execute their plans successfully.
Would you see, WELL, a small company by US standards, benefitting from a listing in the US and do you think that management at WELL might be heading in that direction?

NB" The hypothetical question is from the idea that maybe they can grow in Canada without seeking other markets, but I am skeptical about that.

Thanks,

Q: Hi,
Once you have maxed out your RRSP and TFSA contribution room, and you can continue to do so each year, where does a person put his/her money? In a non-registered account? I suspect that's the only way to continue to invest the stock market, correct?

Thanks

Q: In calculating the weightings of individual equity holdings, I use only my total equity holdings as the denominator and ignore bonds. Outside of Canada, my equity exposure is held in international ETFs, and I include these in the total equity when making the above calculation. Do you think that's the right approach? I go back and forth on whether to remove the ETFs from the calculation.

Thanks.

Q: In my self administered TFSA I’m invested about 50% in US equities/50%CND equities.

So whenever I’m buying or selling a US stock I have to deal with currency conversions as well as trading fees.

Am I allowed to have a Self directed US dollar TFSA thru Invest Direct at CIBC and linked to US dollar account held at the same bank? My local CIBC guy says no. Seems RBC allows it. Thanks for your appreciated guidance!!