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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: 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
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on December 03, 2013
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?
Read Answer Asked by Seamus on December 03, 2013
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.
Read Answer Asked by claude on December 03, 2013
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
Read Answer Asked by Vineet on December 03, 2013
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
Read Answer Asked by Tom on December 03, 2013
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

Read Answer Asked by Roderic on December 03, 2013
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
Read Answer Asked by Stan on December 03, 2013
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
Read Answer Asked by Craig on December 03, 2013
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.
Read Answer Asked by Lucas on December 03, 2013
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
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on December 03, 2013
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

Read Answer Asked by Lesley on December 03, 2013
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
Read Answer Asked by Imtiaz on December 03, 2013
Q: Hi Guys,
Are you following the Bit-coin story? Anyway to play it?

Thanks,
Charlie
Read Answer Asked by Charlie on December 03, 2013
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.
Read Answer Asked by Russ on December 02, 2013
Q: Hi Peter How do I find your model portfolio on the site?
Stan
Read Answer Asked by Stan on December 02, 2013
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.
Read Answer Asked by Robert on December 02, 2013
Q: Hi Peter, Would a ratio of 60% fixed income/40% equity applicable today for a retired person? With rates potentially rising, should the ratio be revised to 40% fixed/60% equity?
Also, would you recommend a high bond etf (like XHY) for a retired person, if so, what is the acceptable limit? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Karl on December 02, 2013
Q: Hello Peter; Excellent decision regarding questions. Now we await your pick of multi baggers. I prospect them on free pages of StockCharts, under SCTR list for Toronto Stock Exchange. Other people may have other ideas. Suggestion: If these names are placed on the site for all to see, they could help unearthing crowd sourced leads. These are not questions and your answer is not being sought. However, you may choose from them to write a report or pick a winner if there is one.

Currently I have two names: Photo channel Network (PN) and Patient Home Monitoring (PHM)
Read Answer Asked by Shah on December 02, 2013
Q: Good Morning from BC
I have just been taking another look at your Model Portfolio and whenever I look at tables like this, I always look to see what the dividend of a particular stock is. Would it be possible for you to add a column showing the % Yield?
Read Answer Asked by John on December 02, 2013
Q: Any chance , even as a premium service you guys could come up with a market outlook type report done on a quarterly or monthly basis .
Your view of the near term and effect upcoming events may have
The things we should be contemplating or considering

Thanks
David
Read Answer Asked by David on December 02, 2013