Investment Q&A

Q: I am interested in bitcoin. Perhaps something like Coinbase not GBTC. I realize that this is more gambling as apposed to investing but it is possible for large gains and I would appreciate any guidance that you can give me. Thanks, James

Q: In the future could you email us when your monthly portfolios are available?
Also, where can I find a list of your latest summary of your 60 plus companies?
Thank you

Q: Suggestion for Derek on January 09, 2020. He wants to transfer funds to the US.
I use Transferwise to transfer from the UK to Canada. They have minimal fees and a much better rate. I don't know if it would work for larger amounts but it is far more economical on smaller amounts.
PB

Q: Can you tell me if it is common practice to use total return or price return as the benchmark when comparing personal year end returns to the TSX or S&P? I'm seeing many sites use the lower return (price return excluding dividends) which obviously makes returns look better in comparison. But if i'm comparing my portfolio which has some dividend income why wouldn't the benchmark also include its dividends to truly see which performed better? Just wondering what the accepted practice is? Thx

Q: Hello Peter and Staff
I am looking to find a table of historical TSX returns inclusive of dividends .I can find the Composite returns but I believe those are exclusive of dividends. Also can you please explain what makes up the stocks in the calculation
Thanks for all you do
Dennis

Q: I am purchasing a house in the U.S. and will be converting a substantial amount of CDN $. Am looking at using DLR.TO etf to facilitate Norbert’ s Gambit using Scotia ITrade..I will also be talking to Scotiabank to see what they would cost.
What source do I use to determine actual exchange rate instead of relying on BNS info? Is Knightsbridge an alternative? Are there better avenues to use for NG than DLR ?What are the risks using NG?
I find all this rather intimidating and appreciate your advice, and also other people’s advice. How would I access previous question on this matter? Thanks , Derek

Q: Hi,
I would like to know what is considered a very low debt level for company’s in the following activities/category and what would be the best ratio to look at for each category.
1: Financials
2: REIT’S
3: Telecommunication
4: Renewable energies
5: Utilities
6: Technologies
Thank you

Q: I am looking at this mutual fund as a way to play the potential bounce in canadian mid cap oils. I am impressed with Eric Nuttal's knowledge base and this seems like a more diversified way of playing this space. I bought 1000 units on RBC Direct just to see how the fund works and the result was puzzling. The transaction seems to be at the NAV and only happens at the end of the day and although the units show in my account, my "check orders" page shows it still pending until the following day. Before I buy more, can you tell me if I am buying on the market or from NPP ... all of which is OK. A second question is when I want to sell, is there a market or am I at the mercy of NPP deciding what to pay me.
many thanks for the great service.

Q: Can you hold OTC stocks in RRIF or TFSA? If not what happens if a security goes OTC? Thanks

Q: I find Insider Filings quite confusing. Would the following entry for ATD Couche-Tard indicate that the company is buying back shares? Thank you.

Filed 2020-01-07
Subordinate Voting Shares Catégorie B
38 - Redemption, retraction, cancellation, repurchase
-210,900 vol

Q: I am in my early 30’s. In terms of creating a strategy for buying and selling stocks shouldn’t I just always be buying stocks, even if the market goes down?

If I have a 30-year run way until I start withdrawing or using the funds wouldn’t it be best to just find great companies to average into?

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated in advance.

Thanks,

Dave

Q: Hi Peter and all 5i, Happy new year to all of you, and thanks for providing this wonderful service. I'm starting my RRIF withdrawals this year, and wanted to ask if you think my assumption for return on my portfolio is reasonable. The calculators that are online, require a percentage return, for each year. Presently, my RRIF is producing 4% in dividends, so I entered 6% in the return of the total portfolio. Portfolio is similar to your "Balanced". Do you think I'm being too conservative? Thanks

Q: Hey Guys,

What are we to make of the constant negative headlines on some websites (zerohedge in particular) that talk about a recession coming this year?

I have been hearing in the headlines for years that there will be a recession...but it hasn’t happened yet.

I just don’t want to invest right before a major downturn like in 2008.....

What to do?

Thank-you.

Dave

Q: I was on holidays at Christmas so I put a stop loss on a few stocks. Trade Desk which was trading at a low of $256.00 for quite some time for a split second dropped $10 to $246.00 and took out my stock and was right back up at $256.00 again. Would the market maker have dropped that so some lucky guy could get the stock cheap?
A broker I know told me that since I average at the most 30 trades a quarter, Revenue Canada could classify me as not an investor by making so many trades which could cause me to not qualify for the 50% capital gains rule and I would have to pay tax on 100% gains. I put it on forums but I haven't had a response yet. Hopefully you can enlighten me on this.
Nice call on Park Lawn. I get a lot of emails pertaining to the market and one advised me the other day to buy Park Lawn as it was going to break out above $30.00. I already own Park Lawn so nice call from 5i that I got it a lot cheaper some time ago.
Thanks for making my trading easier. Dennis

Q: Hi, I just have a question about holding CAD listed stocks that currently pay dividends in CAD$. If the stocks are also US listed, how do I go about getting the dividends in US$ if I wanted to?? Do I need to ask my broker to convert the cad stock to the US equivalent? In that case, would they just convert it at the current FX rate and would I get them to journal it over? Would I use norbert gambit to do this possibly to save on FX conversion? Any advice would be great!

Thanks!
Keith

Q: Hi Team,
There have been numerous corrections on Wall Street between the great depression of the 30s and to end of 2019. I would like to know the timeline and the extent of such pullbacks in excess of 15% during this period.
Cheers,

Q: Helllo 5i,
My wife and I have about $20,000 each free in our TFSA. We are 73 yrs, value investors with a 5 year GIC ladder mostly in our TFSA. Should we fill it with more GIC's, move some stocks over to the TFSA from a non-registered account, buy new value stock, put in NFI and PSI (5-10 year outlook) or have a mix of all of the above?
Thank you
Stanley

Q: What would you suggest looking to buy in anticipation of a potential crisis in the Middle East which unfortunately now seems imminent. Oil and gold I suppose are the obvious sectors that come to mind. Thanks.

Jason

Q: Hi :
where is a good place to find the beta value of a particular stock ?(large cap REITS, banks, Utilities)
I normally use the one shown on my TDwaterhouse account (is it reliable ?), I also check the drop in price from the 2008-2009 TSX crisis. I am trying to calculate what the beta of my porfolio is.

Q: With increasing political tension between Iran and the United States, what effect could that have on Canadian and US stock markets?