Investment Q&A

Q: Thank you for your answer to my question of May 28th, about forecast equity returns by geographic region/ country. You provided a link to Star Capital's site, which forecasts the US to have amongst the lowest equity returns globally over the next 15 years.

I would appreciate you advice about this forecast. Do you agree with this forecast? Which regions/countries of the world do you see best to invest in over the next 5-10 years? In Portfolio Analytics, what rates of return are you using for each geographic region/country to forecast the long-term expected return for a portfolio?

The CPPIB is now invested 90% outside of Canada. What are your views for an individual investor? Should individual investors be taking a similar position, and having most of their portfolio invested globally?

Thank you again for your excellent advice, and this wonderful service.

Q: Further to Harrys question on CIPF insurance with brokerage firm. We have 3 acccounts one joint and one in my name and one in spouses name, (1 cash acct, and two TFSA's) Does the one million apply to each account or for all 3 combined.?
I really appreciate your help at all times

Q: Hi 5iTeam,
Suppose I have $250k in each of my RRSP , margin, TFSA, RESP and cash for a total of $1,250k with a brokerage firm. If the firms becomes insolvent, how could CIPF cover my investments? And would CDIC come into play in the aforementioned scenario?
Cheers,

Q: Just trying to understand the short term effect on the market of the 10 million units in the secondary offering. I read that the underwriters committed to selling the shares for $48.85 USD. Does this mean selling in the open market or do they typically have buyers of big blocks lined up to soak up the units? I'm assuming that, if the units are to be sold in the open market, this will put a ceiling on the SP for quite a while since the 20 day avg volume of the US and Canadian markets is about 600,000 units.

Q: If one was to place some stop loss points to various parts of a portfolio,
1. Would you base the number on a moving average and if so what time frame? 100 day moving average?
2. For ETFs?
3. For Canadian equities?
4. For US equities?

Thank you............Ron

Q: When considering weightings of a particular stock do you look at the weight as a percentage of just a stock portfolio, or would you consider it as a percentage of stock portfolio plus defined pension. For example, CSU has grown to 9% of my stock portfolio, but if I include my defined pension it is 3.5%. So if I consider only the stock portfolio then I would consider trimming (to maybe 7%) whereas if I include my pension in my calculations I have no need to trim.

Q: Could you please explain what this means when a stock "does a secondary".
I am thinking that when a company/stock first goes public, they issue a certain amount of shares to raise money. Then, I am thinking that if they "do a secondary" - they issue more shares? So then the value of shares you have are less? Could you talk a bit about this.
Thanks so much for your help
Margaret

Q: Why is this stock so volatile in the $65-72 range

Q: Good Morning,
Thoughts on the proposed name change for Royal Nickel to Karora Resources and the proposed share consolidation of up to 11-1?
thanks

Q: Hello,

I note that REAL is sitting on approx $90M in cash at the current time. Based on its MC, is this considered a lot?

Secondly, is there a point where having excess cash can become a drag on the SP? I picked this up a few months ago based on 5i's recommendation.

Lastly, I bought in at 2% and am now approaching 4%. Let it ride or trim?

Q: Hello 5i,
I don't know if you have any expertise in old stock certificates but I thought I would run this by you just to see. I just opened an old box in an inheritence that we recently received and it looks a bit like someone was dreaming of making it rich: a series of old mining stocks. I have done a quick internet search but have found nothing. I don't know if you know if there is any simple way of dealing with this. They have names like: Atlas Chibougamau Mines Limited, Galloway Chibougamau Mines Limeted, beresford Lake Mines Limited, Conro Devopment Corporation Limited ( another Quebec mine), Laval Quebec Mines Limited,Peninsular Petroleum Limited, Alliance Mining and Securities Limited. As I say, this is not your area but maybe you have some ideas. thanks

Q: Does it matter price-wise if you buy a stock before/after the dividend is paid? Is it the same answer if you buy before/after it goes ex-dividend? I am a long term investor so wondering if there is any significant savings to trying to time the purchase a bit?

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: Did people at 5i take a position in Flutter as per your disclosure on the last question? Thx

Q: Looking at some of the data under the company tab, I see good profitably ratios but the book value is negative and the return on equity is -111. %. What does a negative ROE mean - is at an artifact of the negative book value?

Q: Is there any way to separate out questions asked about American companies and Canadian. I invest in only Canadian an get frustrated when find out question is on an American company.

Q: With regard to Mike selling all his shares in SHOP too early; what I have learned from 5i is you do not have to sell your winners just because they are up; you trim if the stock position gets too big. What I have also done is sell enough shares equal to my original cost and let my profits ride until the position gets too big.

Q: Just a follow up to my earlier question.
What do you mean that the combined company will be dividended out to CSU for free?
And again will there be an IPO Offering and how will one know ?
Thanks
Jeff

Q: Hello Peter,
One of your fellow FP columnists suggests that the valuation gap between expensive (e.g., tech/growth) and cheaper stocks has never been greater. So while growth managers have been doing well, their upside may be limited. And value managers, while their patience continues to be tested, may have their day (soon). For those of us putting new money into the markets, your views on the above are appreciated. (I’m reminded of the dot.com boom when a start-up called 724 Solutions was, within days of its IPO, worth more than Bank of Montreal. I chose instead Edperbrascan, which was so out of fashion as an ‘old’ company that it yielded 6%. This of course became the best investment of my life, as it is now BAM!)
Thanks!

Q: Hi, is there any sign we small investor can detect ahead of companies doing finance instead of waking up next day price dropping ? thanks for your great works.

Q: After the Sino Forest debacle we were told that the books were not easily checked because it was a foreign company. Is that a fact?
Also Mad Money Cramer at one point said never buy a Chinese company, are the requirements for a foreign company as far as reporting and being audited different then for a US company or a Canadian company?

thanks for the great service, Jean