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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 5i
While interested in making a little extra money , I have also wanted to keep my life simple, so I have concentrated on selling covered call options and puts. Because of the crazy recent markets, though, i have been looking at other strategies. For instance the bull put strategy looks interesting. Wondering whether you think it is worth while for an average investor to put much into these other strategies

Thanks as always for your help
Read Answer Asked by joseph on May 10, 2022
Q: Do you have a good reference site which I can use to compare historical interest rates vs each sector?
Read Answer Asked by Craig on May 10, 2022
Q: Everyone, I was never good at knowing when the market tops out or when it hits a bottom - the bell never rings. What I know is holding the best of the best and waiting ten years, it always works. My techs are down - yawn - but in the last decade my investments are up 10 times my original investment. I will take that everyday! Many thanks for your work and I all your responses EVERYDAY! Clayton
Read Answer Asked by Clayton on May 10, 2022
Q: I have noted in many questions you seem to distinguish between a starting position price and a price to add to a position. What is the difference in the thought process on starting position price and adding to a position price?
Thank you, Mike
Read Answer Asked by Mike on May 10, 2022
Q: Stock picking is getting too challenging!
Slowly shifting to broader ETFs. Eg utilities, energy, banks.,
Now looking more broadly at the TSX, NASDAQ, Dow and TSX.
Long term it seems that even among the professionals it is tough to beat the indexes.
Hence my shifting strategy.

Are these indexes revamped periodically?
If yes, how is it done. How often. Criteria?

Would this be the main reason for beating most of the pros?

As usual thanks for your help

Read Answer Asked by Donald on May 10, 2022
Q: Hi! I am wondering where you feel opportunities in the market exist. When oil was negative very few advisors were pounding the table to buy. It seems now looking back it was a no brainer and seems so foolish that I wasn't loading up on these bargains. Will we look back and say why didn't we buy high growth tech? Or, is it beaten up renewables/bond funds you favour if adding new money? Where do the opportunities lie based on current geopolitical risks and risk of recession/stagflation?
Read Answer Asked by Neil on May 09, 2022
Q: Hi Everyone at 5i!! I had the pleasure of reading Peter’s article, ‘’ 5 things Investors Rarely Think about Before Buying a Stock but should “ and it gave me good food for thought. I was wondering if 5i would put on a webinar about reading a stock’s financial reports, which help determine if a it is a good investment. I am aware of some things, but could really do with a comprehensive over view. For all I know you could have already provided such an over view and I missed it. If so, could you please provide me with a reference to the information . Cheers, Tamara
Read Answer Asked by Tamara on May 06, 2022
Q: Hi 5i,

Has there ever been a time (in relatively modern history) that the central banks have actually been raising rates in a recession?

For all the talk the banks have done about raising rates, very little has actually been done.

Thanks!
David
Read Answer Asked by David on May 03, 2022
Q: re your reply to a question today:
The issue in the current environment, however, is whether raising rates actually impacts the specific inflationary items we are seeing today (such as those caused by supply chain issues and the war).

Great point. You don't heard much discussion on that. If raising rates will not dampen inflation, then the Fed may just stop raising the rates. Don't these rate hikes add to the interest costs to government borrowing? Gov't debt is much more of as concern than private debt. The US has committed to to huge infrastructure spending. And that was before the war in Ukraine. Military spending has to increase. At the least, all those weapons have to be replaced.

Read Answer Asked by Murray on May 02, 2022
Q: I am confused and would appreciate some of your knowledge on the mechanics of the type of transaction Mr Musk is doing in buying Twitter.

a) I thought that stockholders were the owners, so that buyout would mean everyone's shares were being purchased. Is this the case?

b) Then Musk said that the Board were refusing to consider his offer and they weren't aligned to Twitter's performance because they weren't big stock holders. Can a Board actually block a takeover? The press seemed to think so. Isn't there going to be a vote by shareholders on the offer?

c) Then there's the purchase price. If it's going to remain a public company, then that $49B goes where, into whose pockers?

Thanks for your guidance on these questions.
Read Answer Asked by TOM on April 28, 2022
Q: Hi Peter

Is it possible to share the link to your asset allocation article that Steve mentioned yesterday?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Greyhair on April 28, 2022
Q: Hello!

I'm fully invested in the market (just turned 30) and have a small cash cushion on the side. I'm making 6 figures and have all my RRSPs in indexes and TFSA in growth stocks. Went from $100,000 to $65,000 in the last few months in that acct. I wont be using any of the money I'm investing for 10+ years and I'm not really bothered by the drops. My plan is to keep investing monthly in indexes and your picks for my TFSA and non registered account. I will not be selling. Is this a good plan ? Anything else high-level I should be aware of. PS I have no debt and can save half my income and my job is very secure!
Read Answer Asked by Danielle on April 27, 2022
Q: I follow your balanced portfolio and only have vgg for us exposure. I was reading about CRD s and wondering is this an easy way to buy some us stocks. How are they different? Would it be better to use tfsa account for these investments.
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on April 27, 2022
Q: Just a compliment on the recent 5iR article on Asset Allocation. I am fanatical when it comes to asset allocation. I learned decades ago that the biggest impact on your overall returns is from asset allocation, not stock selection. I had never heard/read the differences between Strategic AA vs Tactical AA....nicely laid out.

Every trade I do, whether it is a new purchase, a complete sale or my usual adds + trims is only done once I review the impact on my overall AA, both by sector weighting and individual stock weighting. I rarely adjust my AA, although I did make a tweak roughly 6 months ago...raising my Energy weighting while reducing my Technology weighting. I guess I got lucky...or...just maybe I was doing a little Tactical AA adjustment.

Again, thanks for the great article....Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on April 27, 2022
Q: Good morning, I kept almost all my growth stocks thinking I'll ride it down as usual but it's a bit worst than I thought, instead should have trimmed more to the like of NVDA and SHOP and a few others. Down over 12.6% from high so far. Everything seems to being priced for recession. Panic selling has not started yet just a slow drift down. Market could go down considerably more from here. Like 10 to 20% and we won't hear the bell.
Starting to get jittery. Your view on this assumption please?
Thanks for the great service!
Read Answer Asked by Denis on April 26, 2022