Investment Q&A

Q: Good day folks. a question regarding U.S.investments in a Canadian exchange etf, now that the Cdn $ is trading around 90 cents, does it make more sense to use a hedged etf in Cdn $ rather than a non hedge etf in either Cdn or U.S. dollars.

from cold Panama City Beach, Fla, thanks

Q: Hi Peter and Team:
I would like to start my own equity portfolio and emulate your impressive 5I equity portfolio. Most of the issues in your portfolio have run up nicely, so how do I start entering positions to build a portfolio? Portfolio size would be the same as yours with about 20 positions. Thanks in advance, Henry

Q: Hi 5I,
You have an excellent concept and service. Love it!!!
I'd like to know how you define a blue chip company and which Canadian companies do you see as meeting this criteria.
As always, MANY thanks!!!

Q: Hi Peter,

Would you 5-6 names of company which recently declares its first-ever dividend? what's your thought of those names?
Love your service and just renewed membership.
Thank you

Santos

Q: In a report dated January 14, 2014, TD Securities noted WIND Mobile withdrawing from the 700 MHx auction. The following is a precis of their 5 anticipated results.
1. A buyer sells the 700 to WIND
2. 700 buyer acquires WIND from Vimpelcom
3. Large new (foreign?)player acquires WIND
4. Industry Canada and the CRTC bump up the regulatory requirements and encourage WIND to buy the 700
5. Buyer just sits on WIND as investment.

Here's the quote that prompts the question.

" In all but the fifth scenario above, we believe that investors in RCI.B,T and BCE shares could face as much risk, or even more, over the next 12-24 months as they would have faced if WIND had participated in the auction directly. However, it would take several months for these scenarios to play out, and we expect a bullish tone in the interim..." They then raised the target price by $4 on RCI, $2 on BCE and $3 on T.

The price of BCE dropped by 12% on the Verizon news ($47-$41)
and the suggestion is that this could happen in the next year or so.

I had planned on buying BCE and T on a pullback, but I don't relish the idea of holding them under TD's warning. What do you think. I won't ask you to comment on their raising the target price after issuing a warning on what amounts to a 12% drop in the stocks! Thanks Tim...


.

Q: Kelly and Scot, re: CIBC fees for trading. Much appreciated. I called and did get the lower rate + a refund back to July for trades done w/higher rate. Thank you ! Paul

Q: As much as I appreciate the importance of diversification and investing outside of Canada, the low Canadian dollar is making it very expensive to buy into the US. Is it still wise to invest in the US or would it be best to wait for the dollar to rebound to maybe the mid 90 cent range?

Thanks and as always, appreciate the great advice.

Paul

Q: Re question by Vicki re not having MS Office to open reports (or anyone else) I have been using Apache Open Office for years. It's free and works well on PC or Mac. http://www.openoffice.org/
It may work for others as well.

Q: I have three td mutual funds from my wife's estate. Can blue chip,can mo.inc and. Div. inc. These have considerable duplication in their large holdings.all have increased by 50%+since the sell off in 2008/9. I realize that a diversified hold ing of efts might give me a better return at lower fees .However at my age 89I am reluctant to pay the capital gains tax about $15,000. These I investments and others are a supplement to my defined pension plan. Is there a formula for considering tax in relation to potential gain?

Q: I am unable to open your Jan. 4th and Jan. 3rd Reports as I do not have MS Office. Can you do it in another format i.e. PDF? Thanks.

Q: This may not be within your scope, but I would appreciate your opinion on the general reputation (for delivery of results) and past performance of issuers of Flow-Through LP's. I.E. their NAV at the time of the Mutual Fund Rollover approx 2 years down the road. In checking the 'New Issues' available from TD/Waterhouse for instance the following are listed right now...
Brompton,CMP,Front Street,MRF,NCE,NORREP & Sprott.

I welcome your insight!

Thanks

Q: Could you give as crisp as possible definition of the "industrial sector"?

Q: hi , so lets say that you knew gold was going down too $1000 oz and oil down too $60 a barrel , and bottomed there , what would you want to purchase if you had a couple hundred thousand to spend in the T.S.X. and how would you divvy it up? thanks , look forward to your answer.

Q: Hi 5i team,

Couple of beginner questions: I've recently graduated, and am starting to build a portfolio for longer term savings. At the moment, I have 500 shares of Power Corp (POW), and another ~$10 000 cash that I'm looking to invest. First, how concerned with diversity should I be right off the bat? - that is, would you recommend taking a larger (say $5K) stake in 2 companies, or several smaller stakes in a number of companies? Would it be worth selling some of my stake in POW and invest in other sectors for more balance?

Q: Apologies if you have already explained this: Will you be starting a new model portfolio in March or continuing with the same one? Thanks.

Q: would you recomend sitting on some cash at the present time?
At the turn of the year most experts seemed positive on both the Canadian and U.S. markets. Now there is a significant number of the same people calling for a general, large, pullback. Self fulfilling prophecy, perhaps?

Q: I am trying to rebalance my spouse's RRIF with either income stocks or ETFs.We are seniors. What strategy could I use in juggling $ 120,000.00 to get the best bang for the buck?

Thanks very much.

Q: Hi Team: A general question on securitization: why do finance companies not just keep the receivables and collect the interest themselves? I suppose there is an advantage to selling off the assets and redeploying the capital again? Does this reduce their risk profile and make it easier to borrow? thanks

Q: I have a lot of GIC's and am considering starting an equity portfolio with the following. Security of income and capital is the only requirement.

COS BCE SLF CTY
ENF T ZWB CSW
VET IDR.UN
MIC
NWC
What would you add, delete, substitute or comment?

Thanks Tim.....

Q: Hi 5I,
What are your thoughts on having "stop loss" parameters on our holdings. There has been a lot of chatter lately about this. We have a lot of gains on some of our holdings especially the growth part of our portfolio[ thanks to 5I] , and even our large caps , and TD e funds, are doing well. We've never used stop loss before . We're not sure how to do it . We monitor our holdings daily [except when we're away on vacation] and we're thinking of putting the parameter on a 10 or 20 % drop. Some fund managers admit that they have been stopped out and the holding continued to climb.
thanks for your insight