Investment Q&A

Q: I found your answer to Andrew's question yesterday re selling to be most interesting. As I took quite a bath in '08 and '09, I have educated myself on technical analysis but my results in market timing have been somewhat less than satisfactory. But I am afraid of another loss like that of '08 and '09.

My question is, do you ever foresee the day when you might consider going to 100% cash in your model portfolio?

Q: Regarding your price increase notice in the Dec 2nd issue
I joined in April 5, 2013. I think I read in your notice that I do not have to do anything about renewal at the old price until April 2014.
Is that correct ???

Keep up the good work

Q: Hi Peter & 5i: Just a comment regarding Andrew’s question (12/3/13) about switching between VUS and VUN and the possibility of not triggering a capital gain. I agree with you that his contemplated switch would crystallize a taxable gain, if executed, but I think he may have had something else in mind when mentioning what he had heard about. I think in some cases mutual fund companies are able to allow investor’s holdings to be switched between their various funds “in house,” without creating a taxable transaction for the investor. That may have been the idea. As you point out though, it doesn’t work with ETFs, even if the ETFs are both products of the same investment company.

Q: Comment on the acr.un questions. The reason for them today might be BNN

JF Tardiff was on headline last night on Howard Green's show and mentioned that this was the largest position in his fund--sees both growth and safe distribution.

On another unrelated matter.
In Edit Profile section there is no way to change your email address which I can find--how do I do it?

Q: Hello:
I am thinking about selling VUS and buying VUN to take advantage of the weakening CAD.
I have a capital gain on VUS of 15000. If I buy VUN immediately will I have to pay capital gains tax on the sale of VUS? I have heard that if you are selling a fund to immediately buy a similar fund you don't get hit with the capital gains tax.
Thanks for the awesome service

Q: Hey guys, at any point will you guys suggest, due to market conditions, that equities might not be the place to be? I've been scaling back big time the past little bit with the thinking that this market is very unstable. One bad wind from the central bank can turn the lights out on this party. I guess what I am asking is how would protect yourself if you felt that the coming year was not going to be so pleasant?

Q: hello, 5I
A copy /paste from zero hedge just in case it would interest anyone:
“The correlation between stock prices and margin debt continues to rise (to new records of exuberant “Fed’s got our backs” hope) as NYSE member margin balances surge to new record highs. Relative to the NYSE Composite,this is the most “leveraged’ investors have been since the absolute peak in Feb 2000. What is more worrisome, or perhaps not, is the ongoing collapse in investor net worth - defined as total free credit in margin accounts less total margin debt – which has hit what appears to be all-time lows (i.e. there’s less left than ever before) which as we noted previously raised a “red flag” with Deutsche Bank. Relative to the ‘economy’ margin debt has only been higher at the very peak in 2000 and 2007 and was never sustained at this level for more than 2 months.”
No comments, although, yours would be most appreciated.
Thanks and as usual, publish only if it represent any interest for the community.

Q: You just responded to another user on BIF.UN. I am unable get a quotation for this through my discount broker. Is it available via some other symbol? Thanks

Q: Hi Peter, If you were putting together a list of 5-10 stocks to invest in starting now, and primarily your reported companies, what would it look like? Market balance is not important.
Thanks Tom

Q: I have the sensibility that the falling dollar will provide some stimulus to our export oriented manufacturing base. Additionally , takeover activity will pick up as American companies go bargain shopping north of the 49th. I am unclear as to potential winners/losers with the EU free trade proposition.

Which industries/companies would you recommend as ~5 year holds for growth given a 90 cent dollar for the next few years.

Kind Regards
Rod

Q: Peter I notice in your model portfolio you 100%equities .
I have 26% fixed I classify callable preferred 2015-16 fixed along with my bonds and 7% cash.77% is equities and perpetual preferred.Any comments
Stan

Q: Have your monthly portfolio reports been published yet?
I don't see them and I'm hoping it isn't my computer.

Thank you as always.
Craig

Q: Hello Peter,
I am looking for income generating ideas. What are the best Canadian & US sectors (for dividends) that are currently undervalued or fairly valued? Are the Canadian and US markets overvalued at this time? Should I wait for the next six to eight months to see the direction of these markets? Should I look at ADRs (Europe and Latin America)? What are your takes on individual and ETF preferred shares and corporate bonds?
I know I am asking a lot of questions. These are questions I think most of us here are thinking of as we look forward to 2014 and beyond.
Thank you and have a great day.

Q: Hello all:
My US and EAFE ETFs are way up on the year some as much as 30%.

Is now a good time to take profits on these or do you feel the US and Europe still have a ways to go?

Do you have a rule of thumb for when you take the profit from a stock or ETF?

Thanks for the great service

Q: I hold KKR in my RRSP and just read that as a limited partnership I should hold this out of a registered account for tax purposes. Could you please comment? Thanks, Lesley

Q: Hi,

Lots of times listeners ask questions about a company's earnings which are liked by your team e.g. MCR but are not otherwise covered by 5i. I am not sure if there could be a section about some of these companies so that listeners don't end up asking questions about them. Also, 25 question limit spans a full year, so does that mean a member can ask 2 questions per month max.

Thanks

Imtiaz

Q: Hi Guys,
Are you following the Bit-coin story? Anyway to play it?

Thanks,
Charlie

Q: Convertible bond question(asked by richard)on Dec 2/13

A 'layered' strategy implies receiving the redemption proceeds in cash. However, almost all cnvt. prospectus (see sedar.com) for the last 20 years contain clauses allowing the issuer to pay the redemption proceeds and interest in shares. Not all cnvt issues fare as well as the excellent list presented, particularly resource issues, eg: PDL.DB is .42/$, STP.DB is .50/$.

Publish at your discretion.

Q: Hi Peter How do I find your model portfolio on the site?
Stan

Q: Would it be possible to:

- Provide a 'maximum recommended buy price' for each stock covered, updated when reports are updated
- Include the 'maximum' on the summary spreadsheet
- Provide the summary as a web page (in addition to the spreadsheet), for easy browsing while logged into 5i.

Regards, Craig.