Investment Q&A

Q: My brother did a Ph.D in the area of virus research, at M.I.T. He has zero interest in stocks. He was able to tell us 1 thing regarding this event, it's that Europe, Canada and the U.S.A are currently in what he calls Phase I of the virus breakout (out of 3 phases) and that statistically, the death cases should be much higher in about 2 weeks. This of course might not translate to the equity market, but probably means that worst looking headlines are coming. My plan is to wait 2 weeks and then, start buying on margin *IF* the market is lower than today. Here's my question. Considering that the cost of the loan is 4.95% (all-in-one mortgage from NBC), how much of a drop from today (SP500 is at 2950) would you recommend buying the U.S index? Thank you.

Q: Good morning. My question concerns the shut down of the TSX yesterday afternoon. Our CDN platform goes down yet we have some 50 odd CDN stocks trading on multiple platforms that can still be bought or sold. It seems an entire nation of investors and investment professionals are unable to do their respective jobs because our data system is antiquated. Billions of dollars in trades are held up yet stocks with dual listings can be traded. Once again I'm underwhelmed by all things Cdn. The TSX needs to upgrade it's systems. I can see some enterprising lawyers developing a class action lawsuit on behalf of investors and investing professionals who are powerless under these circumstances to do a damn thing in real ttime. Any thoughts or suggestions? David

Q: I tend to decide if a stock is "fairly" priced based on its historical average dividend yield.

1. what do you think of this approach.
2. Do you have a different way of looking at "fair" price for buying into a position ? in this case MFC.

THANKS

Ernie

Q: How good of an indicator do you consider 5 year roe? Is free cash flow better?

Q: Good Evening
In one of your answers today about Magna you indicated that the corona virus will affect negatively "everything". Yet, today we saw that some stocks like Northview REIT and Fortis were not affected. Can you please elaborate which sectors will not be affected by the corona virus?
Thanks

Q: Coronavirus.
Will 5i be doing a report on the implications of the virus and your suggestions for adjustments to our investments.
There would seem to be implications for global growth.

Q: With the markets down big time with coronavirus issues. What companies would you recommend which have gone down a lot but have huge potential once everything is back to normal.
Thank you.

Q: Any words of wisdom you can impart to worried investors today to calm their nerves might be a prudent approach to our collective investing concepts for the next couple of weeks. Thank you for the stellar guidance in good times snd and troubled times. David

Q: I understand that REITs and REIT ETFs are somewhat tax advantaged. Should these all be held in a registered account or can I hold some in taxable account. Thanks for your explanation!

Q: A comment on Shirley of this morning regarding tax forms (T3, T4, T5, LP tax forms..etc.), now all of these can be downloaded directly from Revenue Canada website directly to your tax filing program. The only issue is that you have to wait until all of them are received by RCA which is usually around first week of April.

Q: I'm meeting with my broker tomorrow. My results were over 20% last year. 2019 TSX return was 19%.
I'm still working full time so I find it difficult to manage my portfolio on my own.
I check all of his recommendations on 5i.
Mostly conservative dividend paying stocks. Buying on dips and trimming on rises.
Overall, I'm finding it hard to complain about what he's doing
What should I ask him when we meet tomorrow?

Q: 25 per cent of my portfolio includes the above ETF’s. Are there other ETF’s that I should consider to replace any of these. The returns have not been exactly stellar compared to many of the individual stocks that you have recommended. Thanks
Dennis

Q: SHOP is almost 30% of this ETF now. Shouldn't the "manager" be adjusting the weightings of this Fund? I realize it's slim pickings in the Cdn Tech sector but the other holdings could be beefed up and SHOP could be shaved back a bit. With a bad Q, SHOP could drag this ETF thru the mud.

Q: Hello guys,

Do you know some criterias to use to evaluate the integrity of the CEO, CFO and officers when you want to invest in a company. I'm scare that the case of MTY look like as Nortel

Q: I have noticed lately that some of your answers have an addendum that people associated with 5i may have financial interest in companies mentioned. Does this represent a shift of philosophy away from unbiased answers?

Q: Can you help me understand why SHOP went vertical (looking at the minute to minute pattern on the RBC website) Wednesday literally in a heart beat? Is the observation correct in terms of the 7-8% pop happened instantly? If correct how does this happen? Is this programmed trading? Would any regular folks have been able to buy it along the way up or did it just pop without any pauses along the way up?

Thanks again.

Q: The US is having some issue, China is having major issues affecting world economy and Canada in particular is struggling to resolve transportation (and therefore market) issues.
Do you have a general outlook on where the market is headed and should I be cautious and keep a larger cash balance? If so, when do you anticipate a clearer outlook?
Thank you.

Q: I currently hold the listed equities in my TFSA, advised by a newsletter that will be winding down in a year. When this happens, I will likely liquidate my current TFSA holdings. Understanding that you cannot give personal advice, which of the following strategies do you think would be most likely to generate a longterm annualized return of 10+%?

1) Allocate the proceeds to 30% ZSP, 30% VGG, 20% XEF, 20% VEE, and hold these longterm, rebalancing annually to maintain original allocations
2) Allocate the proceeds in the 5i Growth Portfolio - I am already overweight Canada in general, so I don't really like this option
3) Allocate the proceeds into 5i's favourite growth/total return potential 8-10 US equities at the time, and then periodically ask 5i say, every three months, if there has been any change in this roster of 'favourites', (if you select this, I will ask for specific names in a followup question)

Parenthetically, I would absolutely love it if 5i would add a US-based portfolio to go along with the current three Canadian-focused portfolios, and would be willing to pay significantly more for my annual subscription to access this (reviewing the QandA, one already has a good idea what the 5i ' US favourites' are, it would just be nice to have this presented as a regular growth-oriented portfolio). I reviewed the Investor Suite and don't feel I would make good use of many of the tools, reports, and features offered in that comprehensive suite.

Thank you, and please deduct as many credits as deemed appropriate.

Q: Why would a company like telus do a stock split at its somewhat low price? Usually stocks don't split in this price range.

Q: GReat article on trying to understand the Brookfield emplire.

https://theprovince.com/financial-times/inside-brookfields-empire-a-complicated-jigsaw-of-500-billion-in-assets-spread-across-the-world/wcm/ced4b714-3e50-4115-b9ac-48d6ce1f623a

Cheers