Investment Q&A

Q: I do not rely on technical indicators in a large way, but I use them to solidify my opinion of a company and to a degree timing a purchase. This would pertain for me mostly to a value or momentum indication within a stock. Is there an article or book that you are aware of that might give me a breakdown of how often an indicator proves to be correct and to what increase or decrease of price deviation might occur after the technical is noted? An example after a stock passes its upward 200 day moving average there is a 60% chance it will continue upwards by 10% within 30 days of that occurrence (Not factual). I do not mind doing the math myself but I respect and consider others opinions and formulas and also they may give me different insight. Any technical that you yourself like or consider?
Thanks
J

Q: Please give me your opinion on these two Etfs for my Tfsa. Thank you.

Q: In Peter Hodson's article in Saturday May 14th edition of the national Post he described how to convert Can$ to U.S.$ without paying high foreign exchange fees.
Question 1 what are usual fee rates you say are high.
Question 2 Can one do this in the opposite direction? ie Move U.S $ to Canadian

Q: Glacier has just announced a rights offering. Could you please explain how this works, what the advantages are for the investor and for the company, why would they do this and is this typically a prudent move by the company. Putting Glacier aside, do you recommend investing during a time when a company has made such an offering? Also, how do the backstop agreements work? Thanks for your great work.

Q: We are recently retired with no pension but would like to get the $2,000 each pension credit in this and future years. What are your thoughts (pros and cons) please on purchasing a say $100k annuity, which is roughly 10% of our registered savings. Thank you.

Q: Could you please explain the US index "BIXX" & what it is intended to represent. Thank you.

Q: Hi,
Im a young, passive investor. Im looking for long term strong TFSA growth to eventually convert into TFSA retirement income. I am new to investing and don't really have a grasp on all the concepts yet.
Can you offer an opinion/advice/education on the pros and cons of investing in ETFs that are Canadian dollar hedged vs. non. Which you you recommend for long term consistent and strong growth.? The two listed are what Im thinking for gaining some US exposure, unless you are able to recommend something better?

Thanks!

Q: Hi,
I have an investment horizon of 10-12 years and I am wanting to use mostly ETF's for the next 5-7 years for sure. - Can you recommend a website or book that I can find ETF's in all of the Asset classes you have identified in your model portfolios. I own CDZ now but I am hoping to hold about 7-10 more ETF's.

Q: When a company beats estimates. Who sets the estimates the advisors or the company.

Q: I had the experience of buying US stocks with Canadian funds.As the settlement date was three days later and during this time the Canadian dollar weakened my base cost was rising while waiting for the settlement date;the actual cost of the shares in US dollars remained the same.I was advised by the rep to convert first the required Canadian funds and then buy the US stock I was looking for in US dollars;ie I could convert at my own preference.

Q: Regarding Cheryl's question concerning U.S.$ registered accounts with ScotiaiTrade, I am not sure if this is what she is looking for but for RRSP accounts (maybe TFSA?) one can make the account US$ friendly so the 2% premium on Forex is not charged for sales, purchases and dividends. You make your account "US Friendly" and they charge $30 per quarter per account that is converted to that service. There is a way to do it online but one can also call them. I hope that helps.

Q: Hello my question is about corporate bonds. I hear analysts discuss various corporate bonds on BNN and sometimes subscribers here ask about particular bonds. But when I go on to Scotia ITrade often those bonds are not listed or shown. Is there some reason why and is there a website that lists all corporate bonds US too) that may be available, such that I could at least ask ITrade about them? Thank you, Bill

Q: I am trying to search for text RESP but this feature is not working for me very well with the new software. It worked fine with the old interface.
Also, could you consider adding time hr:min to the question time stamp?
Appreciate your service very much.

Q: I'm afraid I'm a bit like a dog with a bone, I don't let go until I have the correct answer. so I phoned back to Scotia and talked to a very informative person who states that because they don't have $US accounts for registered accounts they have to convert them back to $CA at there FOREX rate with a 2% premium. I am now comfortable with this information and hope it helps others as well. Thank you again!

Q: Further to my question re Canadian stocks paying $us dividends in a Canadian account I phoned Scotia itrade to ask about the fees for the conversion. They stated that no fee is charged to convert the dividend. In disbelief I asked well is there a premium charged on the conversion rate. They again said no fee is charged, I double checked. If this is true I don't need to do anything. But somehow I have a hard time believing this...your thoughts and if anyone else has any experience with scotia itrade to confirm this it would be greatly appreciated. thank you

Q: Hello,

I am looking to get some exposure in emerging markets. I currently own only Canadian and US equity. I am looking into ETFs, more specifically; XAW, XEF, VEE, amongst others. I'm looking to invest moderate to long term.

Doing you have a preference amongst those, or other suggestions? Secondly, do you think the timing is right, especially with respects to China? And finally, which countries/continents would you have a preference for?

Thank you

Q: My recent questions about stock charts - May 9, I don't navigate much outside questions and answers and you had indicated it would be put into Forums to find out any indication about free stock charts. How do I navigate around the Forums to find out about stock charts? Also navigating around reports. I found 4 reports - TMA, AHF, EXE and RIP. I imagine there are more reports so could you tell me how I go about finding them? Thanks Dennis

Q: I know that BEP.UN pay their cash distribution in US$ are there any other companies that are in your portfolios that pay in US$ or is BEP.UN the only company.

Thanks

Q: I'm always looking for good quality dividend companies (4-6%) with some growth potential. I'm currently at about 85-90+ % dividend companies with 10-15% that have more growth potential and little or no dividends. Can you direct me to the best source/list of the companies you sometimes refer to like Fortis that have never reduced their dividend. I believe they are referred to as the 'Dividend Titans"??

Q: Hi,
Thanks for the tip of TMXMONEY to identify the sectors. It turns out I had miss-classified 3 of my stocks (SJ, IPL and ECI). I'm now questioning my weightings. I currently have the following:

Cons. Cyclical 11.9%
Cons. Defensive 0.0%
Financials 17.1%
Healthcare 3.6%
Energy 14.7%
Precious Metals 13.9%
Real Estate 0.0%
Industrials 9.2%
Utilities 0.0%
Technology 24.5%
Materials 4.6%
Communication 0.0%

I'm ok with some risk, which is probably evident from above. My precious metals may be a little high due to the recent bounce in this sector.

Based on the current market environment, do you see these weighting as appropriate? Are there any particular red flags that you see?

Thanks, Ian