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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I am purchasing a US stock, is it best to purchase in cdn dollars or in US dollars in a RSP account. I am able to do both. Ultimately (years) down the road I will withdrawal in cdn
Read Answer Asked by Scott on July 03, 2018
Q: You reference on your website that you follow 70 companies. Do you have a link to those 70 companies? I have looked through the site without success on that point. As a new user, this would be very useful. Thanks Rob Ward
Read Answer Asked by Rob on July 03, 2018
Q: New member here. Have been unsuccessful finding payout ratios in any of your company info. Do you provide it? I did see you recommend PR based on Cash Flow. Where would one also find CF? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by John on June 29, 2018
Q: I like the overview that is provided there.

However, with diversification and sector blends being frequent topics of interest and sources of questions, it would be helpful, at least for me, if 5i were to provide a sector overview each month as well as a frame of reference for managing our own portfolios. For example, technology 25% of TSX in May, up 3% over 2017; etc by sector and in a simple chart format. Any chance of that happening?

In the meantime, where can I find that kind of information. I have looked at the TSX.com website as well as the RBC Direct Investing sites and been unsuccessful.

Thanks for you help and guidance here.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on June 28, 2018
Q: Hi Peter/Ryan
Are there any ethical type ETFs (CDN, US and foreign) or low cost mutual funds that you could recommend? Any thoughts on this approach.

Much thanks
Read Answer Asked by Stuart on June 28, 2018
Q: A few years ago you recommended using longrundata.com. This was a fantastic site. I made a lot of money by utilizing the information I could obtain from the site. It was an eazy method of finding annualized total returns and dividend increases. Longrundata is no longer in operation. A few months ago I asked you if there was a similar site that I could use. Your reply was that you would investigate to see if there was an alternative; maybe something 5i could get into.
I would be more than willing to pay an extra subscription fee if you could duplicate longrundata.com and I'm sure many of 5i's subscribers would also be interested.
Any chance of reviving this site?
Michael
Read Answer Asked by Michael on June 27, 2018
Q: I'd like to know how much you find important to diversify through asset classes for a young investor with little financial responsabilities and a salary covering well over his regular expenses.
In my situation, I have no real estate, but 95% stocks diversified across sectors and geographies and 5% cash position to cover 8-10 months of living expenses in case of emergency. I am 27 and wondering if it is OK to have no bonds at all and focus on stocks? If one can tolerate a severe market correction-recession and has 25-40 years ahead of him, would bonds only be useful to help the investor feel more comfortable and a full-stock portfolio still be a better option?
Is the %Stocks=100-age a good thumb rule or just an overrated commonality?
If you consider one should still always hold some bonds, what would you consider a reasonable weighting for a young investor and what ETF(s) would you suggest?
Thank You!
Read Answer Asked by Julien on June 27, 2018
Q: Hi

I have noticed that most publicly traded companies do not publish a separate fourth quarter report . Why is that ?

I would like to know if by subtracting every line of the annual report from the first, second and third quarter statement of the income, balance sheet and cash flow, an investor can derive the fourth quarter statements?

Could you list the lines which are not suited to this exercise?
Read Answer Asked by Gilles on June 25, 2018
Q: More of a portfolio construction question, I would really appreciate your opinion on the following. Whether in The Post or The Globe, more and more, I’m reading in the ‘personal financial profiles’ that individual investors should be allocating, in some cases up to 30% of their portfolios, to alternative investments. These typically include private company debt, individual mortgages, and ever-increasingly now, factoring, the assuming of small business’ accounts receivables.

I’m a conservative investor, close to retirement, no pension, planning to live off the income of my portfolio. Without over-reaching for yield, I invest in mostly blue chip big-cap, reasonably diversified, with an allocation to some of your growthier names. But when I look at what is increasingly being suggested by planners, always under the auspices that alternatives are safer because they cannot be marked to the market in times of corrections, I cannot comprehend it. Companies that cannot qualify for the better rates that banks offer, people who don’t qualify for bank mortgages, and companies who have to sell their receivables because they cannot wait to collect them on their own, sound very high risk to me, worlds higher than investing in a mix of banks, lifecos, utilities, pipelines, industrials, tech, health, reits, preferreds, fixed income, and the like. While the market values of what I typically invest in can tank during correction periods, in my mind, they certainly don’t carry the very high risk of permanent capital loss that these so-called alternatives do. Particularly so since most of the ‘alternatives’ I assume are small companies.

Are these being offered because, a) you require a broker to get them for you, hence you must use one and pay fees, and your accounts likely become stickier because of it, and b) so a broker, when in a correction period, can point to these and say they’re safer because they’re not reacting to the negativity — but only because in truth, there is no market to mark them against. Not until you try to sell, that is.

Long question, but am I missing the bigger picture, and these ‘alternatives’ are something that should be considered?
Read Answer Asked by Warren on June 25, 2018
Q: In Joel Greenblatts book "You can be a stock market genius" he mentions that spin-offs historically have been great investments. Obviously not all of them but a high number of them. Specifically they were most successful when key executives from the original company would be moving to the spin off company and leading it, and most specifically when those key executives had large incentives (options, shares, etc) if the spin off company was successful. Also there was a large amount of insider buying from these execs, specifically the CEO, CFO, etc. One example was one of John Malone's spin offs which to this day is seen as one of the most profitable in history. Anyway, what are your thoughts on this theory. Does the theory rain true in some of the spin offs we have seen like (ECN/EFN), (Bombardier/DOO). Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Adam on June 21, 2018
Q: I find that 5i has some interesting perspectives but I continue to be confused about how the service operates in the following respects: 1) You have companies in your portfolios which you do not rate and you even comment on them in the media (e.g. WEF in the Globe recently) but you have no reports on them, 2) I am unsure about portfolio movements as you seem to sell/trim A- names while there are still plenty of B names in the portfolio - what do the ratings really mean? Personally, I would prefer not to have the portfolios at all and just have updated reports on a range of companies
Read Answer Asked by Robert on June 20, 2018
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