Investment Q&A

Q: A friend of mine who wanted to access the cash portion of his portfolio was told by his advisor that that the cash was part of a "sleeve" and therefore could not draw on the cash that showed in his statement. He ended by having to sell some of his stocks to get the cash he needed.
Can you please explain what is "sleeve investing" and why he did not have access to the cash portion of his portfolio?
Thank you

Q: What is your definition of momentum? How do I find a particular stock has momentum and how long does the momentum last?

Q: Re: EIF and other companies that become targets of a short attack, typically how long do the shorts hold their short position before they start to cover it? Shouldn't the price rebound somewhat once they start buying?

Q: My overall portfolio is down 3% the last 6-8 weeks which I justify as the downside of having equities in the portfolio. I am 40% in cash so the drawdown could have been worse. My concern is that the 3% drawdown is just over $20000 and that is a lot of money. We are 70 with defined benefit pensions and really don't need any more capital; just want to preserve what we have. You preach the downside of market timing, but I see $ 20000 worth of paper gains slipping through our fingers. Short of investing 100% in gic's should someone with my profile be more of a trader ie use tight downside tolerances and sell when a predetermined gain or loss is met rather than buy and hold. Please comment as I very much value your opinion. Thank you.

Q: I am a new member and just came into an inheritance. I want to preserve the capital and am wary of a big market correction looming on the horizon - soonish. So, where can I park my money to preserve its value while waiting for the financial Armageddon?

Q: At one point you were considering starting one or more ETFs based on your portfolios. Anything happening with that? Thank you.

Q: Hi 5I,
General question on how successful short sellers operate. Do they short the stocks daily, weekly or how do they keep the price down? If they continually short the stock, do they not end up owning a considerable % of the companies stocks in order to keep the price down? Is there a website that gives the % of the stock that is shorted? It appears that you need to be careful in the Canadian market that you are not on the opposite end of the short attacks. Are there any other Canadian stocks that are heavily shorted?
Thanks Keep up the good work.
Bob

Q: PLEASE MAKE YOUR OWN CALL ON WHETHER YOU LIKE TO ANSWER MY QUESTION PRIVATLEY OR PUBLICLY.

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I'm very frustrated with my investment in EIF. I took a loss early after the shorts took the chance to destroy the EIF share price on its Q1 results. I re-acquire EIF later due to the positive signs from management on its Q2 results. Well, the market manipulators (Prescience Point and Cohones and others) once again gang up to give EIF another dunking today.

Why investors would take the words of market leeches (who spread lies for a living) over those of management is beyond comprehension. This is how the market works, unfortunately.

You know you can actually ruin any business by spreading rumours! Take for example, we all know that even the best run banks cannot withstand a run, and collapsing a bank is very easy (see HCG). That is how quick and easy it is to make money in shorting, sadly the law is totally blind on this.

HCG was an earlier victim and thanks Mr. Buffet I hope the shorts took a bloodbath on that one.

My questions are a). can EIF find the Buffet type of back stoppers to rid itself of the shorts? b). if not, can us small retails continue to hang in there and perhaps face the DH type of volatility until management gives up and sell the company, or c). I should just take my second loss on EIF and learn from hereon just stay away from short infested stocks?

Your insight is much appreciated. Thanks.

Q: Hi 5i,

My portfolio has: AD, POW, REI,SRU, PPL, ATD, MG, BCE, EMA and GUD.
In your opinion do I have exposure to all sectors with quality stocks? Which ones would you suggest to add or get rid of?

Thank you!

Q: Hi, another EIF question. Are the shorts like cohodes and consorts paid by commission by a big US hedge fund to take out Canadian companies ?
Regards AEO

Q: I am curious about a comment you made earlier. Someone asked about photon control, and you pointed out that nothing had changed with regard to the situation or prospects at this company, which your regard as very good. Yet since late April, the trend in its stock value has been steadily downward. Savaria is another of your favorites with great prospects, but its trend over the last six weeks, has again been consistently down. If the actual underlying performance of the company has not changed, what causes a stock to fall off like this, not for a day or a week, but consistently over a long period, given most investment is being done by professionals?

Q: With the recent strength of the CDN$ I am looking for opportunities to take advantage of this. One thought is to sell current dual listed holdings and convert from Cdn to US and the other thought is to look for other undervalued foreign investments. Would appreciate your input and suggestions.

Thank-you and appreciate the great service your team provides.

Q: July 19, 2017 ? asked by Darcy:

The answer indicated most selling was on the bid. How is this info calculated and where is it available?

Q: I would like to ask for your opinion and comment on my investment approach with reference to hedged to CAD or un-hedged versions of ETF's available from Canadian issuers. My approach has been the following:
- keep US equity ETF un-hedged;
- keep developed and emerging international equity ETF's hedged to CAD;
- keep US bond ETF's hedged to CAD.
I am aware that this approach was not too benefitial during the past month or two, and I am starting to have second thoughts, but I figure I better ask for a second opinion from a pro before I make any changes. This is where you guys step in...
Thank you.

Q: How much faith should one put into Recognia valuation charting? Is there any evidence that any of their predictions bear out?
Can you explain how they come up with their projections?
Guy R.

Q: Great article on equal sector weighting in the blog! I wonder if the same theory is applicable in the US stock market as well? If so you definitely have a solid case! Thanks.

Shyam

Q: Hi Team,
When selling to open a put option position that expires in Jan 2018, is the premium received to be reported in 2018 tax return assuming it expires worthless in 2018?
Thank you.

Q: If the ex dividend date is the 19th can i put my order to buy and buy that day the 19th or do i buy 3 days before to collect the dividend for that month?

Q: Hi 5i,
Just a comment. For anyone looking at historical returns to evaluate the future prospects for a balanced (equity + fixed income) portfolio, it is extremely important to consider that the next 30 years of fixed income returns are virtually guaranteed to be significantly different than the past 30 to 40 years. Bond yields (interest returns) were in a generally declining trend, originally from nosebleed levels, for about 35 years from approximately 1980, during which even government bond yields dropped from double digit peaks to the negligible rates available over the past couple of years. The portfolios of investors who held bonds of significant duration early in that period reaped high interest rate bond returns while they watched the paper value of their bonds increase with each downward tick in interest rates. The fixed income component was potentially a tremendous contributor to very good portfolio returns over much of that extended period of declining interest rates.
Looking out over the next 30 years, the prospect is vastly different. Bonds don’t have anything remotely approaching the same kind of return potential. Current interest rate returns are still very low as rates are recently just beginning to move off what may later be viewed as ‘the bottom.’ The prospect for people who hold bonds of any significant duration while rates rise is that their holdings become less valuable. Low interest instruments may need to be held to maturity in order to avoid a loss of principal. In the meantime, those low interest bond returns will be a drag on any better portfolio returns that may be generated by equity holdings. If you have 50% of your portfolio in bonds that pay 2%, and you hope for an 8% overall portfolio return, you have to generate a return of 14% from your equities. Maybe bond yields will return to levels where they are not so detrimental to significant portfolio returns over the next 5 to 10 years but maybe they won’t. If they do, then holding bonds while the rates are rising can be painful. If they don’t, then they may go through an extended period where the chief value in bonds is the secure return of capital at maturity but the return prospects until maturity are relatively dismal.
The fact that someone buying a 10-year Canada Bond in 1982 got a 16% annual rate of return on it is not an indication of what anyone putting together a bond portfolio or balanced portfolio today can expect it to realize. It is completely irrelevant.
To assess the return prospects of a balanced portfolio today, you need to consider the relevant details and prospects for today's bonds, not the irrelevant details and portfolio contributions of bonds that have long since expired.

(Please print only if you think doing so may be helpful.)

Q: Hi 5i Team,

In the current environment, which sectors do you consider will be worth focussing on to add new positions - I am overweight financial, underweight most other sectors currently, attempting to resolve this.

Thanks