Investment Q&A

Q: I sold my entire portfolio on 21.Dec.2018 .
Currently I m siting on a cash CAD$ 550 K . My entire portfolio was 65% CAD. stocks from your B.P. (7 stocks) and 35% US stocks (6 stocks).
I have not invested in materials ,energy & healthcare.
I had good growth with my selection in portfolio and now I want to start to buy back all my previous selection from my portfolio.
My question is this the time to start buying or should I wait for end of February after all reports and predictions are done .
What about 65/35% (CAD/US) stocks ratio in my portfolio I am thinking of changing to 50/50 (CAD/US),dos it make sens in going down Canadian economy predictions to buy more US stocks.
Thanks Andrew

Q: For question re Nest Wealth - episode 32 of the "Fintech Impact" podcast is an interview with Randy Cass, founder of Nest Wealth and may be useful.

Q: Wondering if some of the members here have experiences they can share about Nest Wealth at Work, as my employer is considering this for our RRSP plan?

Thanks.

Q: I have a question about a Canadian Heat map for stocks like the excellent Finviz.com
The two that I've found ...
http://www.watchstockprices.com/tsx/
http://www.digitallook.com/dlmedia/investing/visual_tools/heat_maps?&username=&ac=&country_id=25
... are not visual or user friendly like Finviz.com. Can you recommend one?

Q: I learned from TD Waterhouse that Enghouse did a 2 for 1 stock split in December. I discovered it when I saw, what I thought, was a drastic fall in the share value to $37. My question is: should I not have received some sort of advise about the stock split from the Company?? To my knowledge I did no receive any such advice. And, also can you give me some background about the split?? Thanks

Q: After 7 years of being a member of 5i I just want to say thank you. With your assistance my wife and I are in a position that we can retire and live off our dividends. We have reached a level that our retirement income will surpass our working income, without touching the principle. We have always saved but 5i, let us put it all together.
To think we started off 40 years ago with just $40.00.
Great Service
Sincerely

Mike

Q: How do Preferred shares typically respond to changes in interest rates?

Q: I’m not sure if this is in your mandate, but here goes : If a Canadian retail investor ( accredited) is looking to invest in some ‘ alternative strategies’ , where would you point them? Thanks

Q: I'm using XIU puts for my CAD portfolio and spy puts for my US portfolio, whenever i feel there is a market risk.
A few weeks ago one of the 5i questions was about XIU short selling for down risk protection.
My US portfolio is $290k. I'm interested in providing protection for70% of my portfolio for the next 6months. I would appreciate your opinion of how you would use the SPY short selling for that.one of the problems that i see is that you tie up too much margin and i use it when i buy risky equities ( like NLY).

Best Regards

Frank

Q: I receive emails from Contrarian Outlook on a regular basis and read them with interest. This week they’ve offered 8 high yielding US dividend/ income funds with potential upside. Are you familiar with this organization at all? Do you think their picks are valid? Examples: PDI, EOS, CSQ, EVT... I’m not looking for analysis of each fund but rather if you have a general opinion of this firm.

Thanks

Q: Jan 18 article on BNN regarding U.S. Hedge fund shorting Canadian Banks. According to them, 80% of Canadian companies are not generating enough cash to support their businesses - the highest in the world. Further they say that 80% of non financial stocks are cash flow negative which they measure as cash flow from operations minus capital expenditures.
Would 5i please comment on this? Most often I read and interpret what I'm reading as a strong opinion from you that most companies that you cover are doing well.

Q: Annual Exchange Rates - US dollar: Where can I get these exchange rates for the years 2011 to 2018? The Bank of Canada web site only shows 2017 and 2018. Thank you.

Q: I read this article in the Globe today that appeals to me because of it's simplicity, low cost (few commissions, no MER's) etc and it's relative performance as measured by the author.

I know it a very simple approach and mirrors the Buffet "Here's what you should do when I die" with my money.

Would be very interested on your take of this and if you think it would be a good idea or not and why.

Thanks

Sheldon

Q: I am retired, DB pension, and mostly hold equities that generate some dividend income as I prefer to be paid to wait. I believe I need more ex-Canada exposure. Other than VDU most of my portfolios are heavily oriented to Canadian equites and only a handful with apparently significant non-Cdn. revenue streams (ENB, HOT.UN, BAM.A. BIP.UN, TRI, SLF and MFC). Do you know of a source or list of Canadian listed equities that 1) have foreign income streams and 2) pay a growing dividend in Canada? How does someone go about finding this information?

Q: When i log to todays questions, I got Jan 17 questions. Surprised there's nothing so far for Jan 18. Fooklin

Q: 1. I am curious about what are the new website features/tools you are working on?

2. Any news on when your next webinar will take place?

Q: It's challenging to assess the earnings of REIT's if using the distribution payouts as a base of information. It would seem logical that payouts with a high return of capital would suggest weak results, yet individual price quotes suggest often refer to low P/E's.
Or maybe it's better to compare Return on Capital vs Cost of Capital?
Thanks from Randy

Q: I read with interest the question from Richard about the Canadian Income Tax System. I was wondering how 5i would handle it. Not very well. My view is that it should have been immediately directed to a blog for those who want to discuss it. It has no direct bearing on 5i's reason for being, and what I pay an annual fee for, which is:

Investment Research For Regular People
Conflict-Free Research on Investments: Stocks, Funds, IPOs
5i Research works only for you.
We are conflict-free.
Our research is independent.
No one else in the investment industry can honestly say that.

But instead of doing this, you presented specific views on the tax system. You would prefer a flat tax system. You make a broad statement that "lots of time, money and effort is made by Canadians to lower their tax burden, which we think everyone will agree is too high on average". Everyone doesn't agree with this. I for one absolutely don't want a regressive flat tax system and I also don't feel the tax burden is too high, on average, for what Canadians get back in services from the government. Could it be more efficient and effective, absolutely.

I subscribe to 5i for good conflict free investment advice. I continue to subscribe to the service as, on average, I'm generally pleased with the results. But I don't subscribe for quick, superficial, one sentence views on very complex topics that have no bearing on my investment decisions.

Q: Hi, a couple or questions here. First, I am wondering about switching a lot of my portfolio to US$ and investing there. Just thinking Canada as an investment place will be a bit dead for quite awhile. Apart from a few of the Cdn growth stock ideas you are touting which I would keep. Is this a good idea? Or if one is spending Cdn $ does the currency risk say stick to Canada. Or do you just hedge that somehow. Next, you have mentioned you are working on "new services". Would this be adding the USA to the Cdn service you now provide? Thanks.

Q: I spend a lot of time flying,do you know of or could you recommend any podcasts to listen to that is similar to your service or just stock picking in general thank you