Investment Q&A

Q: Clarification on my question --"whether it is best to convert money to the US and then buy stock or just buy stock and then convert to the USA stock". You say "that if one is buying a US stock there will be conversion at some point. Either C$ gets converted into US$ for the purchase, or US$ gets converted into C$ when the investor wants to withdraw Canadian cash from the account eventually."

There will be no conversion fees if I do below steps.
Example: I buy CSU on TSX Then move to USA Stock
When I decide to sell I move CSU from the USA to CDN and then sell.

Is this strategy will end up saving money or the best way to convert money from CDN to the USA or vice versa.

Thanks for the great service.
Hector

Q: Hello 5i;
I don't understand your reply to Hector's question today about "whether it is best to convert money to the US and then buy stock or just buy stock and then convert to the USA stock". You say "........there will be no difference". If he converts cash, he will be paying a FX fee. If he buys a stock on the TSX and then moves it to the US side, are you saying that there will also be a FX fee involved?

There is obviously a lot of confusion about US/CDN conversion, be it cash or stocks, the question of dividends, etc. The subject keeps coming up, resulting in a lot of fragmented Q & A's. I wonder if you could come up with an informative blog that would address this whole issue (incl. Norbert's Gambit)? I think we would all find it very useful!

Q: A member reported that TD Direct charges a fee for moving funds (via Norbert's Gambit) between CAD- and USD-denominated RRIF accounts. I cannot confirm that this is the case, but it bears noting that, not long ago, TD added a transfer function to WebBroker, such that account holders can execute Norbert's Gambit themselves. I have used this feature for this purpose (between CAD/USD RRSP accounts) and paid no fee - except, of course, the trading costs for opening and closing the position, which, at TD, for a smallish currency move, might well exceed 1.5%. Put another way, being thrifty with brokerage expenses might have more to do with minimizing trading costs than with occasional service charges.

Q: What drives price changes in Canadian-traded ETFs holding US securities on days when US markets are closed? Is it after-hours trading prices of the underlying securities, or something else?

Q: Moving a Canadian stock to the U.S. side in order to keep the dividend in U.S. $.
Is it best to convert money to the US and then buy stock or just buy stock and then convert to the USA stock? Do you end up paying less or is it same? (I.e Fex fees).

Thanks for the great service.
Hector

Q: I just found out that TD Direct does not allow Norbert's Gambit to transfer funds to/from Canada/U.S. within a RRIF. Their fee for moving the money is near 1.5%. Do you know of any discount broker that allows Norbert's Gambit within a RRIF? I am prepared to move my RRIF if so. Thanks. Rick.

Q: I am a new investor with my focus being on the long term. When I review the Reports for different companies, should I focus on specific grades with the Report Card. For example:
5 YR ROE;
5 YR EPS; or
should I place more emphasis on the overall rating?
Thanks.
Matt

Q: I was a latecomer to learn about 5iResearch so alot of your stock picks in the model portfolios had grown too high for me to jump in on and put together a proper plan. I was wondering, with so many new stocks coming on the market since 2013, will you be putting together any new model portfolios with lower entry prices for members who were late to the party? You provide a wonderful service and I am enjoying learning from everyone's questions. Thanks so much.

Q: Good day team,
I'm not sure if this has been asked before but I was wondering if it's better to buy US stocks with Canadian cash or transfer the Canadian cash to US then buy. I have a questrade account and was looking at buying some US options.

Q: You recently provided the short position on chesswood “813,000 shares; 7% of the share float.”
As well it seems the short position question comes up with some regularity.
Can you provide some insight how as an investor I should interpret short positions.
For example I have no idea if chesswoods short position is good, bad or neutral.
Thanks John

Q: Regarding Sanjay's question about moving a Canadian stock to the U.S. side in order to keep the dividend in U.S. $, is this the only way to go about it? And if one wants to sell the stock later in CDN $, then have it moved back? Or would you just specify the currency on the trade order (or would that incur FEX fees)?

Q: Hi Peter/Ryan
Last couple weeks read good information on Q&A section on moving money to US account using DLR/DLR.U. Out of curiosity what happens if I call TD rep and ask him to convert my existing 100 Canadian NTR shares to US NTR shares in RRSP account? I am assuming I will still have 100 NTR shares under US trading account with NYSE listed price at the time of transaction. This way I can keep my US dividends without any transaction cost. If this is the case i should be able to convert any stock which trades in both exchanges. Hope this is not a dumb question. Your expert advice please.
Thanks

Q: My question is about deciding when to invest. I've used your resources to come up with an income portfolio; however, I'm curious if you have any sort of outlook on the optimal time to begin? Also, as a student, would you advise I hold off until I have more disposable income?
Thanks!

Q: How can I find a summary of securities covered by 5iresearch?

Q: You answered Francesco on May 16 that to reduce currency conversion fees on dividends one should sell the stock in Canadian funds and rebuy in American. I have been told by my broker that I am able to journal over a stock such as BIP.UN to the American side of my account without sale and purchase fees. It is in my LIRA but I have yet to call to move the stock so it is an untested strategy. I have moved DLR/DLR.UN this way successfully.

Q: Could you please provide a good source where one can obtain historical financial data on NA securities (minimum 10 yrs). Free sources preferable to paid, however willing to consider paid if better, quicker, easier to use. Thx

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.