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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: A follow up to Paul's. I find it difficult to monitor overall weightings is there a software to automatically update and consolidate multiple portfolios. I am trying to load my families 7 portfolios with some common shares.
mike
Read Answer Asked by Mike on April 15, 2014
Q: Regarding your report card in new reports. If this is still under development, could you please use different colours for us old folks, perhaps black on white or white on black
Read Answer Asked by Allen on April 15, 2014
Q: Questrade
Dear Gentlemen,
Not a question, only information, to follow Mr Jeff
"A reason to NOT use ....Questrade"
As Jeff, I have almost same problem with Questrade, tax slips (T5,T3) are all mixed, some revised or modified (?) 2 times, some 3 times, I was lost with all these changes, even the Kind Questrade agent who try to help was mixed up too. we spend 46 minutes on phone together to try to setup Questrade mix up.
I am still waiting for another to be corrected T5
Also the tax receipt for MY Resp contribution to wife account was on her name !
Except agent Mr MB, the customer service is terrible.
After the tax season I will transfer all accounts to another broker.
Best Regards
Read Answer Asked by Djamel on April 14, 2014
Q: A reason to NOT use Virtual Brokers: When I complained that they had posted 18 T5 slips for my account as opposed to the one T5 in prior years, I got this response-

"Virtual Brokers has changed its carrying broker and, as a result, has become responsible for all administrative tasks including the issuance of tax statements. For this reason you may have noticed a difference in the presentation of tax statements this year as compared to prior periods.
We have posted a T5 for each individual holding which produced income throughout the 2013 tax year per the regulations imposed by CRA."

And to finally imply that it's all CRA's fault and out of their hands! TD and Scotia had no trouble summarizing all dividends into one T5 for me. So easy to blame CRA these days!

Publish only if you feel this is instructive. J.



Read Answer Asked by Jeff on April 14, 2014
Q: Where and what is this "5i Report card" a few members have recently mentioned? Have I missed it or does it go by another name?
Thank You
Read Answer Asked by Frank on April 14, 2014
Q: I am wondering if 5I has a mandate to educate readers as to make report cards themselves, or to teach us to start to do some of our own research. Say which websites to use , etc.
Read Answer Asked by Don on April 14, 2014
Q: Would you mind if I was to email CBC's Marketplace and suggest to them to do a segment on the fantastic service you provide for Canadians in the investment arena. Normally their shows deal with rip-offs and the like but I bet they would like to do a "positive" show once in a while that provides an alternative to what else is out there for investment advice.

Regards
Read Answer Asked by Derek on April 12, 2014
Q: Hi, I also love the new 5i report card that was added; gives great insite into how you are evaluating the company in an easy to see format.

Can you comment on the following: I don't see a "current valuation" row, which is interesting to me. I think it is fairly consistent in you guidance to look for great companies and focus less on day-to-day gyrations; however, do you not look at that at all in these ratings? For example, you recently mentioned that you don't consider CGI (gib.a) a great company but it is very cheap, so may be considered. If you did a report card on CGI, this wouldn't be reflected in the report card, would it? I guess I'm thinking of the situations when the market may be mis-pricing valuation of a company in your view; however I suppose this would mean the scorecard would have to be updated fairly regularily for each company.

Thanks so much for your service.
Read Answer Asked by Kel on April 12, 2014
Q: Feedback on report format enhancement: the new ACQ report has a new 5i report card on the left side of the page. What a terrific addition to provide us folks with a quick snapshot of the company, and your analytical process. All in all a very nice value added piece. Thank you.

If possible, it would still be a big help for sector balancing activity to know exactly which sector you see each company fitting into. Could this be done, for example, in the white bar at the top of the page where you have ACQ all by itself?

I fully expect future MBA programs to be teaching case studies featuring 5i . In your short history thus far, the growth process, the continual fine tuning, new enhancements and high quality customer service are so impressive and should be an inspiration and superb example of "how to grow a new company" to budding entrepreneurs.

Best wishes for your future success.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on April 11, 2014
Q: Hi Peter & team, I always find difficult to remember the company name associated to a symbol. If possible, when answering a question could you please make sure to use the company name in your answer. This would be easier to read, and would avoid the need to search for the company name associated to the symbol used in the question. On the other hand, it would be great if everybody would do the effort of using both the symbol and the company name when asking a question. Thanks, Gervais
Read Answer Asked by Gervais on April 11, 2014
Q: Hi Peter,

How come you do not have any US stocks on your recommended list.

Paul
Read Answer Asked by Paul on April 10, 2014
Q: Looking at reallocating some cash in my RRSP to stocks in the Model portfolio. Was wondering if you expect some downward pressure simply due to the "sell in May" phenonema. i know over the long term it probably doesnt matter but short term Would I be better of waiting a month or two for a better entry point.
Read Answer Asked by Lloyd on April 10, 2014
Q: good morning,
could you clarify joe's april 9 comment regarding having your broker "journal" inter listed stocks from Can. to US listing and then selling to raise us funds? Assuming the stock performs flat over the holding period, does this circumvent the bank charges that your would normally incur if you just bought us funds?

Thanks,
John
Read Answer Asked by John on April 10, 2014
Q: As long as you have both US & CDN a/c's I just call up TD or CIBC. Let's say I have 1000
ABX in my CDN a/c I just ask them to journal same into my US a/c. Then I sell same
in US a/c. Presto I have $20,000. US. This applies to any interlisted stock.
Joe
Read Answer Asked by Joseph on April 09, 2014
Q: When selling a stock short and buying it back in a different year. Do I report gain or loss in the year the transaction is closed ? Would the same rule apply when selling put option in one year and buy it back or exercised the year after?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Saad on April 08, 2014
Q: Regarding Jacques' question on March 26, 2014 and the response, it is correct that no tax slips would be issued for any TFSA since it is a tax free account. All that happens when dividend withholding taxes are applied is the cash dividend you receive in your TFSA from US holdings is reduced by the withholding tax. This is also true if you hold foreign non-US holdings in an RRSP based in countries in which Canada does not have a tax treaty with in relation to RRSP's. I have seen this in my own RRSP account where I have had withholding taxes taken off my Teva dividends. The main purpose of a T3 tax slip is to distribute income to the taxpayer for a taxable account. They are not going to give you the benefit of any deductions if there is no income to be taxed. Hope this helps.
Read Answer Asked by Lonny on April 08, 2014
Q: Hi,

Regarding BYD.DB, can you explain in some detail how this security will behave? Since it is trading well above its conversion price, my understanding is that its delta should be close to 100% of BYD.UN, but it will have 5.75% interest payments instead of the ~1.35% distribution? Does this not make it more attractive than holding BYD.UN? Can you also put into simple language the redemption features?

"On and after December 31, 2015 but prior to December 31, 2016, the Debentures may be redeemed by the Fund, in whole or in part from time to time, at the option of the Fund, at a price equal to the principal amount thereof plus accrued and unpaid interest up to but excluding the Redemption Date (as defined herein), on not more than 60 days' and not less than 30 days' prior written notice, provided that the volume weighted average trading price of the Units on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”) for the 20 consecutive trading days ending on the fifth trading day immediately preceding the date on which notice of redemption is given is not less than 125% of the Conversion Price. On and after December 31, 2016 but prior to the Maturity Date, the Debentures may be redeemed by the Fund, in whole or in part from time to time at the option of the Fund, at a price equal to the principal amount thereof plus accrued and unpaid interest up to but excluding the Redemption Date, on not more than 60 days' and not less than 30 days' prior written notice. The Debentures may also be redeemed by the Fund in the event of the satisfaction of certain conditions after a Change of Control (as defined herein) has occurred. See “Description of Securities Being Distributed - Offer Upon Change of Control”.

Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Adam on April 08, 2014