Investment Q&A

Q: This is not a question but a comment on your Portfolio Tracking and Analysis.
For individuals who do not have the time , investment knowledge, experience and time I would highly recommend it.
Going to a financial planner who cost a lot more without the specific investment recommendations.
I know that you are not in the business of giving investment advice but I have a couple of suggestions on this and other items. Not a criticism.
1. Provide a link to latest news releases on pertinent securities.
2. Provide link tosecurity upgrades and downgrades by reputable analysts.
3. When client is providing info on holdings, put in date and price of purchase, this should include commissions and/fees.
The important point being that this will give a true yield and whether these is a capital loss or gain, realized or unrealized. The client will be able to see how his/her portfolio is performing.
This could show up either on a daily , yearly or to date.
Thank you for your service. I find it valuable as part of my overall research into managing by portfolio.

Q: Enghouse wants to buy esp for $1.57 a share. Today the stock price of esp goes to $1.58. Can you explain why please? Thanks.

Q: I have a few questions about the new Portfolio Analytics service.

1. How does the Portfolio Analytics service differ from the Portfolio Review service that was offered in the past few years?

2. I don't see the Portfolio Review service anymore on your web site. Has it been cancelled?

3. A lot of personal financial information about me would be stored somewhere on your servers. How is this data protected? What is the privacy policy?

4. Has 5i Research ever been hacked?

5. Morningstar has an "Instant X-Ray" tool, which is used by Sunlife where my DCPP is held. Is your tool similar to this X-ray tool, where I can x-ray my portfolio at ANY time myself to get asset class, sector allocation, country weightings, stock style, fixed income style, etc. It's not clear to me that I will be able to do this myself at any time I want, or will I need you to "x-ray" my portfolio for me?

6. Information changes all the time with DRIPs, buy and sell transactions, etc. It would be up to me to keep the information up to date in this system. Every time I do that would I get a new report automatically pointing out over or under allocations, suggestions for improvements etc.? I guess the question is how many times in a year can I get a "second opinion" from this service?

Q: With your portfolio analytics you mention in some answers that it will also track portfolios. I'm just trying to grasp to what level. Could this be a replacement for say Yahoo finance, where it would be our go to daily portfolio tracker for up to date gains/losses on holdings, portfolio performance (yearly included), also since most of us will have tfsa, resp, rrsp, non reg holdings, will it give overall performance of all combined? Thanks,

Q: On Portfolio Analytics, if my understanding is right, you screen all portfolios (TFSAs, RRIFs, US accounts and etc.) then make a total evaluation of the entire portfolios together.

Q: Are the fees for the Portfolio Analytics membership tax deductable

Q: Your new portfolio analysis tool sounds perfect for me. I am my own advisor (with help from 5i). So I have signed up. I wonder how I should approach the questionnaire on what my risk level is. For our RRSP’s I am a conservative income seeking investor. For TFSA I am a growth investor. In a smaller non registered account an aggressive growth investor. I should add I have a very good defined pension.

Q: Hello
Can you explain what is standard deviation and how does one calculate it? I am trying to understand how to calculate it when it comes to options especially for selling put options?

Q: does your new service provide daily gains/losses? also can it be used as a watchlist? ie does it accept indices , commodities, currencies ,or other items with but no positions?
thank you.

Q: Are we able to track RDSP accounts through your new portfolio analytics tool?

Q: Hi There,
This new tool sounds interesting but, the pricing is confusing.
My current 5i subscription expires Jan. 30, 2021.
How much does it cost to add Analytics so it expires Jan. 30, 2020?
How much does it cost to add Analytics so it expires Jan. 30, 2021?
This sounds like this advisory service may qualify for a tax deduction. Can you confirm this?
Is there a limit to the number of TFSA, RRSP/RRIF, NonReg accounts that can be supported?

Q: When filing your income tax return and you have to declare stocks sold in a particular tax year from an open account ( T5008) the CRA requests the Adjusted Cost Base for those stocks/sales. Can I as an individual calculate the ACB or do I have to have my financial institution provide it? If I can calculate it what backup material do I have to provide?

Q: What is the record like for Veritas on these types of calls ? i.e.: sell the banks.

All the best for your launch today !

Q: Can you tell me if my thinking is correct here. The MER on the 2X leveraged short ETF is 1.52 whereas the MER on the non-leveraged ETF is 1.42. However if I want to go short (or long on the short ETF technically) for 10K CAD, on the leveraged I would buy 5K. Paying the MER on the 5K would be almost half as expensive as paying it on the 10K for the non-leveraged ETF. Is this essentially correct, or am I missing something?

Q: Gentlemen, Good Morning
Following question Asked by richard on March 26, 2019.
There are more details on the Forum US dividends by Canadian Corp.
Richards will find his response
Thanks
Best Regards

Q: In reply to Dawn's question of the 25th about the paying of US-denominated dividends into US accounts, you replied that the dividend was paid directly in US dollars. However, a member a few weeks ago pointed out that some institutions (it would be good to know which ones) double charge for this service. First, the US dividend is converted to Cdn dollars and then re-converted to US dollars.

Q: Hello!

What are your thoughts on VantagePoint AI software? I went through a 2hr demo which looked very impressive but too good to be true. Looking forward to your take on it. Also, is this is one of the marketing schemes, what leggit AI software packages would you recommend?

Thanks in advance!

Q: What is the formula that allows you to compare the after tax return on Canadian dividend income compared to interest income. For example how do you calculate if it is better to receive a 5 per cent dividend from a stock that qualifies for the dividend tax credit or a 8 per cent interest income assuming you have a 60,000 taxable income per year. Thanks for you help.

Q: These companies are all now the subject of an active open Dutch Auction / share buyback offer to purchase for cash. I am interested in your thoughts on the merits of entering these auctions, and if entered at what price point (the offers are between $29 - $35 depending on the company). The shares have all risen with the release of the offer. Will they fall back after the offer closes? What is the longer term outlook for these companies?

Q: Gentlemen Good Morning
Your answer today about dividends in US$
"Holding US-dollar dividend companies inside a US account saves this fee, and we would prefer to see them held in a US dollar account"
Not always thru unfortunately.
At NBDB, if you have CSU, FNV, OTEX, NTR in US account the fees fx/x conversion are double, because NBDB said it receive dividends in Ca$ from their agent (or custodian). I will complain to the Ombudsman.
At Scotia-ITrade they said the dividends are in Canadian by default because its a Canadian corporation, but they deny that dividends are payed in US$. The agents don't understand (or not competent)
At BMO said they dividends as paid in US$ if the stock is in US account, I feel some uncertainty on this answer but maybe true
VB said "This will only happen for two reasons at Virtual Brokers. First, if you do not have an U.S. side open in your account. Second, if the company trades on Canadian exchanges and pays the dividends in U.S. dollars we convert it to Canadian". Its clear. The G&M gives to VB best discount broker.
Best Regards.