Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Peter and colegues,
Thank you for the webinar on dividend investing - we enjoyed the informative presentation(wife and I)from you and Avrom. Would you recommend that dividend paying stocks be a larger part of a portfolio and more important for younger investors, since it could grow to a considerable yield on initial investment later on or should growth be more important initially since there is a longer investing time frame? (asking for our children) Thanks again! Keith

Q: I placed an order to purchase 50 shares of CSU at $240.00 which was not filled and closed at $239.61. On contacting TD Waterhouse they said the reason for not being filled was that my order was for an odd lot, rather than 100 shares. Does this sound reasonable?

Q: Hi,
I currently only have cash and Canadian stocks in my portfolio, the cash accounts for roughly 40% of my portfolio, but I am looking to invest into some EFT's, mutual funds and US stocks as well. can you please advise me roughly what weightings i should be giving to EFT's, mutual funds and US stocks under the assumption that my Canadian stocks are relatively diversified. And also which EFTs, mutual funds and US stocks would you recommend as of today? I am in my mid 20's and have a relatively long term horizon. Thanks in advance.

Q: Peter and Team, This is a fabulous service. Thank you. I watched your most asked questions video (great idea)and it raised a question in my mind regarding superficial losses/30 day rule re the CRA. If I own a Cdn stock that is listed on both the NY AND Toronto exchanges and I want to change holding it in Cdn. $ and switch to holding it in US$ - will the CRA count this switch as a sale of the CDN holding and a purchase of the US stock and then apply the 30 day rule. Thank you again, Nancy

Q: I read Ryan's article on what to put in a TFSA with interest and am wondering what you folks would think of putting index linked GIC's in? There would appear to be a "match" since there is no capital loss and TFSA's don't allow write offs of losses. Plus, TFSA would be a decent place for interest income since there is no tax preference given away, as there would be for dividend income. Now I realize that some of the index linked products in the market are pretty poor in terms of return but one offered by Scotia linked to a basket of TSX stocks looked decent.

Q: What is your opinion of market neutral hedge funds as an alternative to bonds in a rising interest environment? Is such a product available through ETF's and, if so, what would you recommend or, if not, what is available to the retail investor in this area? As always, many thanks for your valuable insight.

Q: Peter
Best of luck with your bike trip. I was wondering whether the fees paid to 5i can be written off against taxes? Or is it a gray area? Publish this at your discretion but it could be a minefield!!

Cheers Jim

Q: For those of us who are time challenged I very much like your bullet response to Paul's question on the Utility Sector, where 9 companies were covered (8 requested). Just wondering: in the new/future question limit would such a question count as 4, 8 or 1 question or perhaps a blending of 2 (best/worst)? Perhaps you could clarify the limits for questioners who ask for opinions on multiple stocks in one email, too. Thanks, J.

Q: This is in response to Dave's earlier question re: Stop Losses/Limits

A very simplified way of thinking of the orders is like this:

Stop Loss orders generally guarantee that your order will be filled - however, there is NO guarantee that it will be at the price you specified. (In the case of a rapidly falling stock price, there's a very good chance that your fill price will be BELOW your specified stop loss price. This usually happens when there is bad news: earnings misses, Sino Forest type situations etc.)

Stop Limits generally guarantee the PRICE of your order - but NOT that the order itself will even be filled. (Again, when there is a rush to exit a stock, there's a good chance that the limit order will be by-passed altogether and one is then exposed to whatever market risk is at hand at that time.)

Q: Hello team, wondering...could you - expain to me like I was a child....buy/sell/limit/stop. I'm confused. I saw you suggest to someone re RPi.un to put in a sell order at a higher amount than market. I have been told in the past that a sell order with a (limit or stop?) could be dangerous because in a free fall the stock could sell for much lower than I wanted to. Is there a reference for dummies on this sort of thing?
many thanks Dave

Q: Hi Peter, Further to your answer on SGY, is there a website I can access which will show when large investors (not necessarily insiders) are buying or selling big blocks of shares? Thank you.

Q: What are your thoughts on beta? Does it play any kind of role in your analysis? I was getting beta info from the TSX website but notice on the few I looked up this morning, that the info is marked NA.

Q: Hi.How low a stock should go down before you should sell i(10%,20%,30% )even if the company looks to be a good company (e.g..AVO,or AYA ) ?.Thanks.ebrahim

Q: Tech stock have really fallen off a cliff. Is there still a bull market for them left?

Q: Not a question but a comment, I am a shareholder of Constellation and did receive notice of their AGM.

Q: Free lunch! There's probably one being served for you this week or next if you're a shareholder and go between 11 and 2. This is where you want the better hotels and golf clubs for the best catering, not a convention centre, and be sure to arrive half an hour prior to the start time of the AGM, maybe schmooze with some bigwigs, too.

Our most memorable AGM yet was a few years ago where my wife and I sat cheek by jowl with Pamela Wallin and Hugh Segal to hear the colourful Ira Gluskin hold court on the state of the economy and tell anecdotes such as his Mother griping to him that she hadn't made any money on her GS shares from the time of the IPO, which he assured her she would, in time.

They not all drab and dull affairs. 'Tis the season, so enjoy your dividends.

Q: just a comment and suggestion. In looking at being accountable,I look at past results only superficially.Your past results in 2013 were great. What I am subscribing for is for the future performance of your recommendations, whether inside the samply portfolio or in your answer to subscribers, questions. I want to receive your prediction on stocks for the future, at the current point in time. I am not interested in what a stock did last year, last month, only what it will do next month, or within the next year or so. Timing is important as price is truth about that point in time. I pay for research which should make me more money than I would be able to do, without it. many thanks. just my opinion of course.

Q: CSU

Noted with surprise the comment earlier today about the CSU AGM being tomorrow. This time of year I am flooded with invites and proxies for other stocks that I hold. For the one I am most interested in, CSU, I received nothing. I am in Toronto so attending is easy. My question: is it mandatory for companies to make their AGMs open to shareholders? I assume not given this example. I called the company number on their website, got an answering machine, and left a message which has not been returned as yet. Any insight is appreciated and thanks.

Q: Does it make any sense to buy 5 year GIC's as part of a balanced portfolio given that interests rates are at all time lows and rates are forecast to rise over this time frame? Thanks. Michael

Q: I have approx $600,000 to invest over a number of accounts. For example RESP's, RRSP's, TFSA, Investment acounts.

Currently I invest a Maximum of $5000 in each stock that I own.

Would you suggest I only own 25 stocks total for all the accounts.

Thanks for your great service.

John