Investment Q&A

Q: I have quite a bit of money to invest but I am in no hurry, maybe even in January as there are a lot of problems in the world just now.
impeachment, British Vote,,Brexit, Trumps antics, upset world
What are your thoughts or suggestions

Ernie

Q: I was thinking of putting $1,000 in 10 small caps before year end for total returns. My picks are Sangoma, Trican, Royal Nickel, Savaria, Aphria, Martello, The score, Questor, Photon and Well Health. I know you don’t give financial advice but is this a smart thing to do? Or would a big gain in one just offset all the potential losses? And are there any of these 10 companies you would not invest in and I know timeframe needs to be longer than a month! Lol

Q: How did gold perform during 2008 financial crisis?

Thanks.
Liping

Q: I find it curious to read this and realize that a senior officer at SHOP owns so few shares of the company he works for. He owns less than I do.

If I'm correct he's the COO.
"Shopify Inc (TSE:SHOP) Senior Officer Harley Michael Finkelstein sold 416 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$413.77, for a total value of C$172,126.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 517 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$213,917.37. "

So my question is why would you guess would the COO of a fast growing company like SHOP own so little stock. Doesn't show a lot of confidence in the company to me.

Sheldon

Q: Do you know of a site that lists preferred shares? If not could you recommend 5 to 10 preferred shares to purchase at this time. Thanks

Q: Good morning- I have canadian gold dollar one ounce coins. Can you suggest where I can sell them for an appropriate price? Thank you.

Q: So what happens to my shares of quarterhill that I bought on the nasdaq exchange in US dollars. Do they get convert to Canadian dollars.
My shares are held in a US cash account.

Q: A trading education question - today (Dec.5) WCP opened at $4.25, high of day was $4.36 and at 4pm closed at $4.29. Volume weighted average trade price for the day was $4.2918

On the TMX site more trades were listed at 4:10pm. Six trades printed, all done at $4.68
Selling brokers included brokerges with numbers 85,62,25,68 & 80. The TMX Member Firm Directory details those brokerages.

https://www.tsx.com/trading/accessing-our-markets/member-firm-directory

Question relates to the buying broker for all 6 of the 4:10pm EST trade prints - brokerage #100. Total volume printed for the 6 trades was 407,000 shares. Not mom or pop trading in their pajamas.

Who is brokerage #100 & what would be the probable reason for why the 6 shown trades were done at over a 9% premium to the day's volume weighted average trade price (ie. $4.68 vs $4.29)?

I'm assuming it's somehow related to institutional trading given individual trade volume sizes (250,000 on one print) but I would be interested to know a better answer. Ideas?

Thanks for insights and opinions.

Richard in PG

Q: According to the efficient markets theory, a stock should reflect all publicly known information about a company. Given the advances in AI, technical analysis, computerized trading, etc., under what circumstances do you see individual investors being able to beat the markets, or more specifically, being able to beat the computers?

Are there specific types of stocks, or specific market conditions or circumstances, where individual investors have an advantage over computers? Under what circumstances is it better for an individual to hold a diversified basket of ETFs as opposed to individual stocks?

Are you aware of any research in this regard?

Many thanks for your excellent advice, and for this wonderful service!

Q: I also have to reduce my weighting in SHOP, but what I am doing is donating the shares to a charity and adding the cash that I was going to donate to my portfolio.

Q: Hi,
I was looking through past questions that you have answered on PTQ and note the following comment.
"It is a US company listed in Canada, which can raise some red flags..."
Could you explain what the red flags would be? Thanks.

Q: Once again I have to contemplate reducing my weight in SHOP as it is again at a 10% weight. (Okay I understand this is a good problem to have.) I reduced shop before a few months ago and I find myself regretting it. A couple of years ago I reduced my CSU weight by 75% at $700 in order to stick to a lower risk portfolio theme and have a proper weighting, and yes I really regret that (now that it basks in the $1,400 range). Both these stocks I have a really strong belief in, as I know you do. I guess my question is, should not balancing be tempered by the confidence in the stock? I mean one of the reasons I go diy is because I believe no advisor can take a big risk on my behalf in good conscience yet it might be one that I would be willing to take for myself, hence no advisor. As you say, any stock can go down 50% (in a day even), but really, CSU and SHOP? My total portfolio is otherwise pretty well diversified. Am I being completely reckless here by not divesting some of SHOP or do you think that this falls under your concept of one's personal preference realm? Again, thank you for all your help.

Q: Hello 5i,


I am wanting to move more into US and rest of world, as the analytics program directs me.
Due to a sale in my tfsa, i will have US dollars that i can then put in my non registered account. ( i will fill the tfsa once afain from that same non registered account). I was wondering what to buy with these US dollars, though. I dont want to lose too much of. The divident break we have for US stocks in the Rif, so i was looking for low or no dividend yield candidates. One problem encountered is that in my non Canadian portfolio, i am moving away from individual stocks and towards etf's. Harder to find low or no dividend payers.

VEA was one I was looking at.

In the 5i portfolio tracking and analysis it says that vea has a yield of 1.89, which although not ideal, maybe something we could live with. When i go on the bmo site, though, it seems to indicate a yield of 2.99, which is becoming less livable.

I imagine you are riht about the dividend. But, would like to be sure. Also, do you see the 1.89 yield as being too high for a non registered account? Thanks once again

Q: Further to my question re: a bought deal. I read i that the deal was for $ 92.50 a share US that is approx $123.00 Canadian. If shares were trading at a higher level prior to the deal - approx $126.00 - ( mind you they were around the bought deal price a week ago ) what is the "bought deal" part of issuing new shares?
I have read that term a few times and seen the stock prices for stock react wildly from the announcements - I am unsure what it mean or what the implications are.

Q: I was interested in Brookfield Asset Management CEO Bruce Flatt's comments during a BNN interview with Amanda Lang this week. Flatt said that "We are close to 11 years into this economic cycle. I don't think economic cycles have been repealed; there will be a recession." He added that Brookfield is more cautious today than it was in 2009 during the world financial crisis. His company is holding lots of cash and staying diversified to weather the downturn. With 5i's years of investment experience, I would appreciate your opinion on the risk of a recession and your recommendations for capital preservation of investment money if such a situation might occur. Thanks!

Q: Hi,

I have a question about timing the market. I know the old saying that its not about timing the market, but time in the market. However, 10-11 years into this bull market, how do you juggle wanting to invest in good quality names if you believe the market may slip into recession in the next 12-18 months? Should you keep a percentage of your portfolio in cash? What if the recession doesn't come for another 3-4 years?

Thanks,
Jason

Q: When I read/hear the phrase "GIC-like funds" what is being referred to? Can you provide a few examples if that phrase has meaning in the realm of investing?

Q: Another option for Paul aside from Sharesight is CanadaStockChannel.Com
On this one, you don’t have to register. If you use it repeatedly on the same day they will ask you to sign up, but you can come back another day and look up more stocks with no hassle.
Only tracks TSX stocks, and only based on $10k initial investment. It will compare returns with dividend reinvested and without, and will compare against various benchmarks.
Main reason I wanted to chime in though is just to urge everyone to do this exercise, whatever site you use, if you have not done so previously.
It is a real eye-opener to compare the longterm performance of different kinds of equities,, and seeing this should make some rethink their approach. A friend did this with me a long time ago (it was much harder then!) and I am very grateful today.
Good luck fellow investors.
John

Q: Questioned asked by Paul; "a website that will calculate the current value of stock investment whereby you enter the original investment amount at a specific date many years ( decades ) ago and it calculates the current value, also taking into account the reinvestment of all dividends."

Try Wealthica | Wealthscope - Income widget. NOTE: Requires subscription. https://app.wealthica.com/

Roy

Q: Questioned asked by Paul; "a website that will calculate the current value of stock investment whereby you enter the original investment amount at a specific date many years ( decades ) ago and it calculates the current value, also taking into account the reinvestment of all dividends. "
Try Sharesight. Up to ten holdings can be tracked for free.
https://www.sharesight.com/
Roy