Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Guy's,
This is a suggestion and not a question. Why not change your "submit question" form to have a cell for the name of the company and the ticker that the member must fill in before the question is submitted. This will assist you and all the other members with the question.

All the best in 2014.

Regards
John

Q: Hello, I'm astounded by Ford Equity Research's recent sell recommendations on many of my junior Canadian mining stocks ( they have sells on NGD,HBM,DML,CS,PG,AUG for example). I checked with their website and they apparently provide independent unbiased research on approximately 4000 companies from their US headquarters. How much weight do you think a person should place on their recommendations on Canadian junior mining stocks?

Q: hello Members:
just wanted to say: Thanks very much for the information regarding the different brokerages, and for taking the time to write in. All the best.
and, btw, all of my "best" stocks are 5i picks (ie. CSU, BAD, KBL etc etc). How did I get by without you guys lol.
Merry Christmas

Q: I'm a huge fan of 5i and if appreciate your need to focus on Canada. Are you aware of a similar service covering the US?

Q: Hi Knowledgeable People:
Could you give me a quick 101 on CAP RATE? I believe it is the opposite of PE Ratio. So often on BNN I hear them talking about a cap rate of 6 or 10 etc. Do they mean 6%? Is a property with a cap rate of 12 more desirable than one with a 4% rate? Also, do you have any information on San Juan Basin Royalty Trust? I do not believe that it is an MLP ( which I want to avoid). I am concerned about tax reporting of trust income to the IRS. Probably a US Tax return would be required. Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks very kindly,

BEN

Q: can i get an opinion on the so called permanent portfolio. I was wondering about a tweek to 20% cash or short term bond etf 20 % long term etf 20% canadian low vol. etf 20% us low vol. etf and 20% gold IGT thank you.

Q: Hello,
I recently took a ½ position in DHX and GPS with the intention of buying the other ½ later; one is up and the other slightly down. My problem...what is "later"?
Tony

Q: HSCEI AUTOCALLABLE NOTES
I would appreciate your views and comments on these types of notes as I am having difficulty finding information on performance.
I am researching a Note- the HSCEI Autocallable Note. The note will be a 5 year note issued by xxxx bank and is linked to the HSCEI (China H Shares) index. It will have approximately an 8% coupon each year, will be callable each year if the index is flat or up from the issue level, have an approximate 30-35% downside principal protection and daily liquidity.
Example Outcomes:
The HSCEI Index is flat or up at the 1st anniversary date the note will be called and the total return will be 8%
The HSCEI Index is down on the 1st anniversary date the note will not be called and will extend to the next anniversary date
The HSCEI Index is flat or up on the second anniversary date the note will be called and the total return will be 16%
The HSCEI Index is down between 1-35% at final maturity your investment amount is returned
The HSCEI Index is down greater than 35% at final maturity the principal will be returned minus the amount by which the index is down.
Thank you.
Nadine

Q: My 2 cents on the brokerages: we dropped Questrade due to incompetent customer service, now use Virtual, itrade, and TD Waterhouse. I move $ around among the 3 but most is with TD as I like their research and tools best as well as full level 2 quote access and Globe Investor Gold which comes with President's Account. itrade is ok but has only limited level 2 for our level of assets. Sometimes access at Virtual can be down for the entire trading day, but their low low commissions atone for that.

I find it is handy to have multiple brokerages for IPO or secondary offerings such as the recent DHX issue. Virtual sold out immediately, TD didn't offer and I got a 50% fill at itrade. I hope this adds to the discussion, J.

Q: For Paul re Brokers. I switched from TD to RBC direct last summer to avoid the forex fees on my US stock dividends in my RRSP. RBC lets you hold the US stocks in US dollars and does not force you to convert the dividends to US as does TD. Saves quite a bit of money for me and I am no longer angry every time I see the div's come in and get converted. TD has been telling me for 3 years they will "soon" allow US dollars to be held in their RRSP accounts but it still has not happened.

Q: Seasons greetings 5i!

I currently own VIG,FEZ,QQQ,IWO and BRK.B in my US portfolio each about 6%.
Going into 2014 and with the expectation of tappering and rise in interest rates. Are these ETF's ok to hold for the next year or two and is it ok to bump up my holdings to 10% in each?
I own SLW for insurance as well.

Looking forward to your reply.
Thanks.

Q: I'm satisfied with Scotia iTrade as well. I don't have any problems with them.

In response to Fred's question, the Daily Edge report that comes out every morning lists upcoming earnings for companies they cover, but I don't think that's something they could supply for companies they don't cover.

Q: Hello,

What are your thoughts on the virtual currency Bitcoin?

Thank you.

Q: Thank you very much for your answer to my question re WFT.

Does this mean that we can expect to see the price erode to more or less half the current price between now the middle of January, with no increase in the shares held?

Q: You answered a question to-day from Rob about a portfolio tracker. You mentioned your Resourses and Strategies section. Where do I find it

Q: Do you know of a good free portfolio tracker? I'd like to be able to track historical performance and have it properly handle stock splits and dividends. I've been using google finance but it doesn't seem to deal with dividends properly and also messed up the stock split on CNR.

Thanks,
Rob

Q: My wife wants to increase her US position. Is PRF better than VYM or VIG? I think VYM is better but I would like to know your opinion.

Regards

Q: I have an income oriented portfolio (mostly dividend stocks) I am concerned about the potential for rising interest rates to negatively impact its value. I am considering investing in an inverse bond eft to hedge against this. I am thinking to take a position of 25%. What are your thoughts on this
Thank you!

Q: Who will benefit from the post office cut backs, mailboxes delivery
Tom

Q: hello Peter:
a general market evaluation question if I could:
S&P earnings are up around 7% this year, while the market is up 26.6%. Are we that much overvalued, or am I missing something?
thanks
Paul