Investment Q&A

Q: I like to look at debt to EBITDA as a key indicator of financial risk in a stock. Can you provide information on a good source for this ratio for Canadian and US stocks?

Thanks,

Q: Good morning,
Thank you for your response and suggestion that I get my broker to move shares, such as AQN and BAM, that pay dividends in US$ to my US$ Non Registered account in order to save on f/x conversion fees.
This is a follow up to your response and your thoughts and appropriateness of the following strategy to save on f/x conversion fees.
Objective. To increase the Tech/Med sector exposure in my US$ Non Reg account, I would like to purchase a few ETFs that are denominated in US$.
Question. To save on f/x conversion fees, could I simply purchase a stock such as AQN or BAM in my Cdn$ Non Reg Account and then have my broker transfer the stock (s) to my US$ Non Reg account where I would then sell them and purchase my US$ denominated Med/Tech ETFs. Would this be an efficient way of accomplishing my stated objective?
I thank you in advance and look forward to hearing your thoughts and response to this potential f/x conversion fee saving strategy.

Q: Hi team,

This is a question on sector risk with changing stock classifications. I saw a question recently where you confirmed that GOOG is now classified as Communications. I believe FB, NFLX and the gamer stocks (ATVI, EA, TTWO) have been moved there as well. I tend to run an overweighting in tech stocks, as you know from my questions. It is higher risk, but I follow things closely. To my mind, GOOG, FB, NFLX and the gamer stocks move with tech sentiment, not with the sentiment, if there is any, on Communications stocks such as Verizon or Comcast. So, how can you assess your risk exposure to a particular sector, tech for example, when these new classifications don’t really change their risk levels and can give one a false sense of comfort that you have not exceeded your desired limit on that sector?

Thanks for the insight.

By the way, congrats on the successful launch of PA. It seems to be getting a lot of positive reviews.

Dave

Q: Hi 5i.

I have transitioned from 55 stocks to 25 hybrid (ETF (16) & keeper stocks (9)) 3 months ago, based on 5i Stock & ETF Growth/Balanced portfolios. Sleep better.

Question: Given 'Ya can't time the market', can one successfully/intelligently tweak holdings a bit based on current economic conditions?

Example: Given USA-China trade war risk, move 20% (VEE, VTI, VVL, XEF, AYX) to (ZAG, XBB, CLF, HFR, ENB). If market goes down -2%, swap half back. Another -2%, swap back remaining half; otherwise, do nothing. Do this at most say 3 or 4 times a year.

Am I just kidding myself that ETFs can be used differently than individual stocks?
I did buy more (VVL, VEE) with available cash when they went down -3% (last week) from when I bought them, with little emotion. Just felt 'smart'. Or am I deluding myself?

Thank you for your continued wise advise for 6+ years.

Q: My tfsa account has 110k.How much since inception has a person deposited including this year if max. deposit with no withdraws.
tnx u...

Q: Hello 5I team
What would be the smallest denomination you would deploy considering a $10(rounded up) trading fee. Would you buy at $100, $500, $1000, or greater, perhaps based on a percentage of total portfolio? I have accounts where dividends build up and this is the money I am looking at with this question. I do not want to turn them into DRIPs at this time.
Thank you
Jeremy

Q: I notice a number of people here are thinking about diminishing dividends and going for capital gains instead. I know I am looking at that. It would be interesting to have an article discussing the relative merits of Canadian dividends. For instance, you wrote an interesting article recently about home bias in Canadian portfolios. i think one of the main reasons Canadian have lots, and maybe too much, in Canadian is because of the preferential treatment of Canadian dividends.
tbanks

Q: just a comment for the gentleman who posed the option of quitting and deferring his pension. One thing to always keep in mind is that in some company pension plans, if you defer your pension you lose eligibility for retiree benefits which in some cases can significantly reduce your risks in retirement significantly. Extended Health care benefits in retirement can be a significant benefit so if you are considering deferring your pension, make sure you understand what happens with any Retiree Benefits you may be eligible for.
Publish at your discretion

Q: My question is about keeping a defined benefit pension with a former employer or transferring to a LIRA to invest in index funds/market etf's. I keep hearing that the plan is great (PSPP Gov plan) and that I should leave the money in there because you are paid for life at retirement. But I'm trying to wrap my head around why it is considered so good. From my point of view I see my 75K sitting in this plan year after year not growing. Supposedly it accounts for inflation (not sure if only when I start claiming or now that i've left plan), but they say around 1.5% adjustment. I still have minimum 20 working years left. In my mind it seems like a no brainer, I transfer to a LIRA invest is 3 market index funds predominantly US, then CDN, and a little International. If I achieve a 6% return I have 240K after 20 years vs 75K. Yes there will be ups and downs but over 20 years I should do pretty well. Am I missing something? Why would someone stick with the pension that doesn't grow or barely grows, just for safety at the cost of much bigger returns?

Q: what are your thoughts on conv debs as fixed income. The yields are
quite attractive but some consider them equity like. "they are not
bonds and will get hurt in a recession" What are the risks and are they
legitimately fixed income ? Companies like AG Growth, CargoJet, etc.

Q: Peter, please:
I have a portfolio of dividend paying stocks (50% cdn, 25% us, 25% Int'l, built steadily over nearly 30yrs of middle and now upper middle class paychecks, using synthetic drips for the last half of that time up to now. I had always planned to keep dripping until my company pension kicks in. I will be eligible for an excellent full company pension in 5-6yrs. I could theoretically quit my extremely stressful job now but have been determined all along to hang in, currently for the last 5-6yrs now left. I have a situation now where I am finding my tax burden extremely onerous to say the least. I'm digging deep into my line of credit each april to pay revcan. In my situation would you remove the drip program that I have established. I'm extremely reluctant to do so since dripping has contributed in a big way to my success over the years, because it has forced me to utilize my regular paycheck to pay revcan and buy stocks while additional shares accumulate thru drips. However, gradually, and most notably this year the tax bite has become very nearly unmanageable even with my line of credit to access to pay revcan. Your valued thoughts please. Would you remove the drips and use dividend cash along with paycheques to help pay taxes from here on out. I have an accountant and I've been told there is nothing further to be done to lessen the tax bite due to my salary and dividends. //Also, at what point would you endorse walking away from a pension and taking a one time payout instead, and living off dividends . The point of my starting investing years ago was to become financially independent. Fast forward a few decades later, my portfolio looks incredible on paper but I'm stressed each tax season over finding funds to pay tax and also unsure if quitting my job would lessen my tax bite (I realize earned income is treated differently than investment income) along with my stress level. If I had to do things over I would have invested in cdn div stocks to the point where one pays no tax, and walked away from work years ago.

Q: png has been halted for several days for not filing financial documents as required... assuming they file sometime soon, do you consider this action as detrimental to future trading??
edward in montreal

Q: Good morning, my question is about the rating system.
I was screening for companies that had an "A" rating.
When is scrolled down I noticed that most "A" rated companies had reports that were 2-3 years old, Is an "A" rating still relevant today if the report was written a few years ago? Thanks , Rick

Q: In regards to share buy backs, do you companies employ someone to watch the daily price and take advantage of dips, maybe even help support the stock price in a slide, or is it more systematic?

Q: Where would be a good place to park cash for the short and medium term?

Q: I was watching James Hodgins on Market Call last week and he mentioned that he is "restricted on the name and cant talk about it too much". What can be possible reasons for this? Thank you.

Q: ENW has been doing well, but ENW.WT has been doing much better. Two questions: what rights does a warrant give the owner? And why is the warrant doing so much better than the common stock? Thank you.

Walter

Q: My husband and I are basically retired (I still am working a couple of days a week as I enjoy it) so our income is now from CPP, his OAS, and investments.

I have been reading about pensionizing income after retirement, especially if a person doesn't have a corporate pension. The literature talks about annuities. With low interest rates they are more expensive then if interest rates are higher but regardless they would provide guaranteed income, although not indexed. This provides some income security. What is your opinion on annuities? My husband is 68 and I am 63.

Q: I have a question about the tax treatment of Canadian stocks that are listed on the American exchange. I own a number of Canadian stocks listed in the TSX that pay Canadian dividends and allow me to apply dividend tax credit in my non-registered account. Ex. AQN, BNS, BIP.un
I'm considering exchanging some of these stocks to the American exchange so that I can collect dividends in US dollars.
Will the dividend tax credit remain in tact in the non-registered account?Would there be any tax with held impact if I made to same switch in my TFSA?

Q: Have some cash account money to invest right now, could you recommend some suitable options ? Need to be able to liquidate in event of house purchase/investment.