Investment Q&A

Q: Peter,
If there were 12 important items you reviewed of a company before buying a stock, where would ROE rank in this list as its level of importance? What might influence your decision to buy a company despite having a sub-par ROE?

Q: Hi Peter & Team,
Should I consider my wife's TFSA & RRSP as part of a consolidated family portfolio (diversification, % of allocation, etc)? or a "stand alone" portfolio (which may mean duplications etc)
Thanks for a VERY good service!
Morris

Q: Hello to the 5i team

I have always struggled with diversification as it relates to management of a portfolio. I understand the wisdom always being offered (including here at 5i) along the lines of ensuring that proper diversification is maintained. I read something recently that indicated an academic study demonstrated that the maximum effect of diversification is achieved with 18 positions.

My concern and understanding is this: while diversification offers the investor some greater degree of protection on the downside, it also prevents, I believe, any chance of accumulating significant wealth because of diluted positions in any given security.

There was a recent article in the G&M discussing the merits of owning a portfolio consisting only of Canadian banks. Most of the investment professionals consulted on the matter considered this to be a very bad idea. However, I think the idea merits serious consideration considering their long-term performance.

I know 5i advocates diversification but what is your take on a smaller concentrated portfolio?

Thanks very much. Your service is very much appreciated.

Q: I have a problem with fund managers who go on a TV business channel and brag that they have 25-35% of their funds in cash to keep their "powder dry"but still charge about 3% on your investments.As well the cash in the cash in the fund is actually losing money.Am I correct in this analysts.Thanks for your unbelievable service and advise.Jim

Q: I’ve been thinking about how to distribute my portfolio among my TFSA, RRSP and non-registered accounts. It seems to me that TFSA space is very valuable. Once you lose it, say because a stock crashes, you may never get the space back again. Perhaps its better to be conservative with your TFSA portfolio so you can take advantage of all its (growing) space for a very long time. As for RRSP space, I really own only about half of that space since the money is taxable when it’s withdrawn. If I take a risk in my RRSP and it turns out badly, the government will, in effect, absorb half of my loss. So it seems to me the TFSA is the best place for my fixed income assets and the RRSP is the best place for my risky equity bets, while my non-registered account is the best place for my less risky equities, especially those with good dividends that are eligible for the dividend tax credit and have some growth potential. What do you think of this perspective?

Q: This is a question about buying stocks. For example...say there is 1 Seller at $1.00 and 50 Bids at $.99 as a stock is hitting a multi year low and I want to purchase now... I want to buy a full position but realize if I Bid $1.00 my order will only be partially filled and the stock may run away quickly. Therefore I was considering putting a buy-limit at $1.03. My question is ...would I get the $1.00, $1.01, $1.02 lots for those prices or would I pay $1.03 for every lot ? Do you have any other suggestions?
Thank you for great service...Peter was terrific on BNN this week!
Dr. Ernest Rivait

Q: For those worrying about large capital gains, a stock donation to charity, if you are planning to donate to charity anyway, means you don't pay gains and your charity receives the full value of your stocks when they sell, plus you get a tax benefit. It's a win/win/win way to rebalance, it seems to me. (5i team, please say if there's something wrong with this theory)

Q: Just wanted to get your take on Master Limited Partnerships and are there any in Canada? Do you feel it would be worthwhile to buy some US MLPs seeing as they would incur the double taxation?

Q: I don't use this service yet but it may be what Jason is looking for. I hold Prakash Hariharan in very high regard, right up there with you, Peter. I really appreciate all the work of your team also.

Q: In regard to Jason question about information for stock,Globe an mail,free service is also useful.You can have a list of stocks for every min. information.Globe investor/my list.ebrahim

Q: Hi 5i,

I'd appreciate your thoughts on the price of gold over the short and mid (3-5 years) term.

Thanks,

Cam.

Q: which stock/sector will have positive/negative effect with today's end of QE announcement by FED?

Q: Thanks to 5i the last couple of years have been very good. Thank you for your help. I now own most of the income and growth portfolio stocks, plus an assortment of other stocks as well; and am prepared to commit new money to the market now.

Over the last few years I have been monitoring 2 other "model"portfolios that I set up on Globe Investor Gold. I call them Brookfield (BAM.A,BOX.UN, BGI.UN,BIP.UN,BPY.UN,BRE and BEP.UN) and Tobacco (MO, PM,LO,RAI and VGR). Both portfolios show very nice and consistent positive results from year to year. YTD 2014, Brookfield is up 16.2% and Tobacco is up 27.9%. In both cases, share price gains are augmented by decent sized dividends as well. All of this with no buying /selling or even rebalancing.

As a non smoker who owns no tobacco stocks currently, I cringe in asking this question. But I do need to grow my portfolios. Could you endorse putting real money into the above mentioned portfolios? From my perspective, it seems reasonably safe, and provides a degree of sector and international diversification. And I do need US dollars from time to time. The dividends on the tobacco stocks would help in that regard.

As usual your thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Q: Thank you for offering this wonderful service!!! Thanks to you I am making money - and more than I was with a full service advisor/manager.
I would like to know, in your research reports, where I would find an explanation of: recessionary EPS and Qualitative, and how to read the numbers.
Thanks!

Q: I am thinking of investing with a hedge fund. Can you give me your thoughts, and are there any that you could recommend? Thanks for your help.

Q: This is for the person who accidentally bought CNR on the New York exchange instead of Toronto. With dual-listed stocks, you can have it moved from the US side of your account to the Canadian side, or vice versa. You will therefore not lose anything on currency conversions. I have done this in my TD Waterhouse account both ways. As well, if you have a Canadian stock you want to sell, and were going to convert the proceeds to US cash, if the stock in dual-listed, just transfer it to the US side to sell. That way, you avoid the 2-3% currency conversion fee that TD Waterhouse charges.

Q: Can you tell me what is meant when talking about "ROAE" and how it is calculated?
Thanks
Dave

Q: Hello team,

I am looking to start an RRSP account with about $25,000 with a maximum growth objective, being fairly comfortable with volatility. Could you please give me your thoughts on the list of stocks below? Is this a good diversified mix? Should I buy at current levels or wait for a pull back on the ones nearing 52 week high? Please feel free to suggest alternatives.
Here is my list:
AVO; BPY.UN; GIB.A; WSP; HLF; TELUS (or GIL); WCP; BDI; MDA.

Thanks as always,

BK

Q: Regarding John's CNR question (October 29, 2014 (asked by John )).

If John wants to hold his CNR position back in CDN dollars, most brokerages will journal the shares over to the Canadian side if you give them a call and ask. HTH

Q: Peter: On an attempt to buy 100 shares CNR I hit the wrong button & bought in NY with Cdn dollars. To sell now would mean taking a hit on the exchange rate. It has kept pace with the TSE since. Does NYC & TSE usually keep pace when stocks are on both exchanges? Please advise (All Thumbs) Thanks