Investment Q&A

Q: Just a comment

I am very impressed.
Being in my mid 60's I now have reduced my holdings to under 20 from 80.
Makes life easy and now I can retire.
I was 100% Canadian, I have now covered all areas Canada, US and International.
Money well spent
Cheers

Mike

Q: I read/hear on BNN and on this site regularly that inflation is low. To anyone who does grocery shopping or shopping of any kind, inflation is definitely "not" low. Prices have increased dramatically over the last few years on pretty much everything. I realize the low Canadian dollar contributes to this, but I think Economist are too busy looking at charts and not actually paying bills. This has at least been my experience, can't talk for anyone else.

Q: If you were starting a new portfolio, what are some of the Canadian and US stocks you would consider at todays levels to hold as core holdings?

Q: I notice a number of growth-by-acquisition stories out there. CSU, GUD, Valeant, Concordia, etc. Management aside, what is your approach to valuation for these types of scenarios?

Q: If i do not want my shares to be lent to a short seller can I prevent that by putting a sell order on the shares at a price much higher then it trades at.
Example. last trade $10.00 and I put in a sell at $25.00

Q: Good Afternoon,
I have just finished reading the ETF & Mutual Fund Update Newsletter which I really enjoy. I read the article by Moez Mahrez written about Return of Capital (ROC). I think most investors find this whole concept a bit odd and confusing. A direct quote from the article " It is not actual income generated from investments, rather it is cash that is distributed from the cash portion of the fund". If this is a return of cash why pay any tax on this? I know it reduces the ACB and becomes a tax deferral mechanism but this shouldn't be taxable at all? Once again a direct quote " ROC is quite tax-efficient as it turns that cash into a capital gain, which can be deferred". Once again isn't this a bit of a scam? If I and other unit holders buy an EFT and there is an influx of cash and the fund distributes some of this cash back to me, is this not double taxation? That money has never been invested, never earned a return and all of a sudden it's taxable to me? Under the Big Picture portion of the article " realized returns from the past as well as new money from investors", if there is a portion of the cash that are realized returns from the past then shouldn't that portion of those returns be taxed accordingly? If those returns were cap gains, dividends or interest shouldn't they be taxed as such?
Sorry this isn't directed at your organization I understand you are simply describing how the process works and I find the article very helpful. I'm sure this is a CRA issue. It's pretty basic isn't it? If the money is invested and a return is earned than that money should be taxed accordingly. If the fund has a large cash position because of a large influx of new unit holders , this hardly seems fair that when a portion of this money is distributed it shouldn't be taxable at all, this is double taxation in my mind. That is after tax dollars we are investing and a return has never been earned.
What am I missing here?
Thank-you

Q: Hi Guys:
I've re read this article twice since you sent it out, lots of good advice on how to invest for the long haul, for the individual investor who manages there own money. I wish I had found 5i many years ago, so thanks for the service and the information to help make the right choices in my retirement.
Best Regards,
Tom

Q: Peter; Have you looked at the KOHO site and/or experienced their service. It would seem to complement your low fee quest re ETF’s . Thanks.
Rod

Q: Gentlemen
Finally, Computershare responede to my question about the dividendes in U$ from Can corporations (CSU & FNV, but applies to all Can corp)
"This is in response to your request for information.
Please note that the declared currency is USD. Canadian residents will receive CDN funds unless they choose to receive US funds and US and international residents will receive US funds unless they choose to receive CDN funds.
Please contact your broker to help with your request."
I asked NBDB & ScotiaITrade.
I will put this in forum.
Thanks

Q: Does any material info explain the positive momentum? It feels to me like a sell before May & go away. Your thoughts please?

Q: Hello. My question is about the market value of ETF's. How does the market value relate to the NAV? Does the M.V. get adjusted to the total NAV of the underlying stocks? And if yes, how often does the revaluation happen. Basically, when I purchase an ETF, am I paying an amount (MV) that that might be higher than the underlying NAV of the ETF?

Thank you.

Q: I was wondering if you could recommend some stocks that trade on the tsx that pay dividends in US money. I believe pif does, could you name some others.

Q: Hiya, I’m wondering if you have considered running aTFSA contest similar to the one that MoneySense ran? Wealthiest accounts are announced along with some of their best performers. Cheers

Q: Can you please tell me if employee options are currently, accurately reflected in US and Canadian financial statements? If not, how significant would this be to the balance sheets of companies, in particular tech stocks? After some research, I'm losing confidence in the auditing results of companies by the established accounting firms. Trump's appointment of Jay Clayton to the SEC concerns me even more as I'm thinking the system is already rigged against the small investor and we will see many more Sunbeam's , Enron's, Concordia's, etc. in the stock markets future. Please use as many credits as you feel necessary to give an in depth answer. Thank you



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Q: Most of my equities are individual dividend DRIP stocks. I'm mulling switching to non-drip because I would like much more clarity in terms of the dividend $ our stocks generate and how the basic stock price is performing. Your thoughts please?

Q: I hold aa good amount of your income portfolio and about 50% of the balanced portfolio. But my u.s. exposure is only 12%. Would it be a good idea to use xei for Canadian dividend exposure as I require about 4.5% to live on in my outside accounts and sell down some of the balanced fund and invest in vun to bring my exposure higher. Also, what percentage of my total portfolio would you suggest in u.s.exposure...Thanks for the great service...Gene

Q: Bogle-style, self-directed investors (buying an exchange-traded fund which mirrors the S&P 500, e.g. SPY, VOO, IVV, RSP in an appropriate asset allocation) can probably ignore commissions today, especially on six-digit transactions. Even five-digit ones.

Can they ignore bid/ask spreads? Market orders get filled instantly, limit orders can take forever.

Thank you.

Milan Somborac DDS

Q: I was intrigued by your answer today to the Q re selling shares: If a bid shows for more than 2,000 or 3,000 shares at a 1 cent to 2 cent spread, we would hit that and leave your other offering in place.
I am curious what is the thinking behind that strategy. I also have large position in a few small or microcap stocks and it often seems difficult to reduce a position in a way. My broke has offered to place an "iceberg order".

Q: When looking at an ETF, sometimes I see, in addition to Management Fee and Management Expense Ratio (MER), Trading Expense Ratio (TER). I believe the TER reflects costs of maintaining the current holdings of the ETF in-line with what the ETF is trying to accomplish, and can be quite high when there is significant portfolio turnover. Is the TER included in the MER, or should one add the MER and TER together to arrive at the true cost of holding the ETF? I had always thought that the MER was the 'all-inclusive' cost, but I hear/read very little about an ETF's TER (and often, this is hard to find). Thanks.

Q: Are preferred shares suitable for the retail investor?
I admit to not fully understand them but it seems to me that:
- value is primarily impacted by interest rates, so constitutes an interest rate speculation
- the positive or negative effect of an interest rate change will vary depending upon the particular issue
- even on a reset date, an issue will not necessarily trade at par
- the characteristics of individual issues varies a lot, complicating comparisons
- thinner market for individual issues, making for bigger spreads
- trading prices are not transparent
- a pref share ETF may be a better choice
Comments?