Investment Q&A

Q: As for diversifying equities where you have an RRSP, TFSA and stocks "outside": is the diversifying done over the total equity component or in each of the containment areas?
Thank you.

Q: At some point I would like to buy a vanguard canada etf that gives me US market exposure. VFV is the S+P index unhedged and VSP is the S+P index CAD hedged. Can you give me a simple answer as to when it makes more sense to buy hedged rather than unhedged? For example, if I think the canadian dollar is going back to par, which do i buy. If it stays at it's current level, which do I buy and why.
Thanks

Q: Good morning, how many stocks would you recommend for a S40k non reg.investment a mix of your two portfolios would be good. I have the same amount for my tfsa where I am redeploying the cash. I have ideas but am very lnterested in yours of course. Great work, many thanks.

Q: What are your current sector waitings for moderate to aggressive investors? Thank you

Q: An alternative look at the UN Climate change announcement. Europe seems to be tearing up all those juicy contracts that business' signed in recent years. Cameron vows to eradicate all the land based turbines! it's hard to keep up! FinPost's Lawrence Solomon in todays edition:

http://business.financialpost.com/2014/04/04/lawrence-solomon-reversing-renewables/

Q: Hi.You keep talking about interest will be going up soon.Recently one of the bank decrease the interest for future mortgage and one does not get impression from all sources that interest will be down at least for next 3 years.I appreciate your response and the logic behind it.Thank you an have a good day.ebrahim

Q: Hello Peter
I have brokerage accounts at two large full-service brokerages [Scotia McLeod, and National Bank Financial] and one at TD Waterhouse. I use the TD Waterhouse one with the low commissions for smaller positions and for ones I may expect to trade.

To simplify things I am considering consolidating the two full-service ones into one account, however I worry that then I may have too much riding on the solvency of a single bank, and in view of possible troubles and the possibility of "bail-ins" as happened in Cyprus and in several other European countries, maybe I am better spreading the risk.

I understand that the Government of Canada has already passed into law the regulations for the bail-in of an insolvent bank whereby the depositors are the losers. What do you think?
Thankyou........ Paul

Q: Hi, as a follow up to your recent response for larger portfolios on using hedged products, real estate and large caps, can you please provide some further recommendations for these ? I have set up 3 seperate portfolios - eft portfolio recommendations from the moneyletter , your equity portfolio , and the new fixed income portfolio with an investment ratio of 2:2:1.

Thank you

Q: In his recent shareholders letter, Warren Buffett gave this advice: "My money, I should add, is where my mouth is: What I advise here is essentially identical to certain instructions I’ve laid out in my will. One bequest provides that cash will be delivered to a trustee for my wife’s benefit. (I have to use cash for individual bequests, because all of my Berkshire shares will be fully distributed to certain philanthropic organizations over the ten years following the closing of my estate.) My advice to the trustee could not be more simple: Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. (I suggest Vanguard’s.) I believe the trust’s long-term results from this policy will be superior to those attained by most investors – whether pension funds, institutions or individuals – who employ high-fee managers." He doesn't suggest putting the money in BRK.
As a portfolio manager what would your thoughts be. I understand his wife is 66-67yrs old.
Thanks
Mike

Q: HI PETER..we have about $35,000 in our online investment account and will be out of country until end of May. Not sure weather to let it sit for opportunities after summer sell off but prefer to invest in stocks with some growth and minimal downside while away. I may continue holding on return if prospects are good. I would look at about 5 or 6 stocks.
I am looking at BAD, MG, LNR, HLF, TOU, BEP.UN, DH, HCG, L, We already hold IPL, SU, PPL, BTX and banks
Any of your suggestions? Thanks enjoy your site. Gloria

Q: Hello Peter,
We are new members on your site and are appreciating it very much. It is extremely generous of you to share your knowledge and judgement so graciously.
My question has to do with the amount of fixed income in a portfolio. We are both recently retired and have a one hundred percent equity portfolio. We have been considering getting some exposure to fixed income.
Our situation is such that we don’t really need our invested funds to live on. We do well enough with pensions and dividends. There are also many today who say that it is not a very good time to hold bonds. In fact, it is a bad time. One could actually lose money taking into account inflation and taxes. But, we keep circling around the fixed income issue, none the less.
Just to give you some background: we have been through the crash in 2008 and bought ( even if lightly) rather than sold at that time. So, we do have some experience of seeing our money go down and have been able to live with that.
So, we were interested in hearing your take on this issue. I know that in one of the interviews that you gave you said that even in today’s environment, most people would be more comfortable having a portion of fixed income. And if there was a fixed income component, what percentage of the portfolio should it be? I have heard people saying thirty percent might be a good level. But, even at that level, I am not sure how happy I would be that only thirty per cent was sheltered at a crash. What I mean by this is that I wouldn’t get the growth benefit of all equities and wouldn’t get a heck of a lot of comfort that only a relatively small portion is sheltered in a fall.
You did mention in another response about, I am not sure of the terminology, but possibly ‘variable rate’ fixed income, if one thinks that interest rates go up. I didn’t really know what these instruments were and how the work. Related to this is that some say that if you really must buy bonds, buy only government bonds, as they are totally secure and security is what you are after. But, I believe I noticed that you mentioned buying corporate bonds. We would appreciate any suggestions about what we might buy, if we did buy fixed income.
Hope this is not too long and convoluted,
Thanks Joe

Q: Hello Peter & Co.
I'm 70 years old and manage my RRIF portfolio. I need to withdraw 10% of its value annually; yield provides 3% and the remaining 7% is raised by selling stocks where "the story" has changed and by selling stocks that I have identified (with your input) as "not as good as the rest". Is this OK?
This exercise is hard enough that; it gets to be quite exasperating when people suggest to raise some cash in view of an "eventual" pull-back.
Would it make sense to raise 10% for income and another 5-10% for redeployment?
Keep up the good work,
Tony

Q: I was stopped out of AVO today; I set my stop loss at 94% of my purchase price. Please comment on stop losses and how to properly set them. How much of a loss is reasonable before it is time to get out before it is too late? Is the greater volatility part of the package for a stock that has run up quickly? Thank you.

Q: Hello Peter
I have a policy that no individual security should exceed 5% of the value of my total portfolio. Normally when a stock reaches 5.5% I trim it back to 5% and invest the proceeds in the fixed income portion of my portfolio to maintain a 30% fixed income, 70% equity allocation. Over the past couple of years I have needed to trim shares of TD, RY, BNS, BCE, T, TRP and CU as they have all exceeded the 5% threshold. These stocks are held in an open account, so capital gain taxes must be paid on the dispositions. I know that the value of my portfolio would currently be higher if I did not follow this policy. Is this policy flawed? Should I just let the winners run?
Thanks David

Q: Hello 5i,
I’m looking to raise some cash and diversify my holding, as it stands right now, which two companies in the list below would you sell.
Enterprise Group (PEG), PPL Corp ( PPL), Duke Energy Corp (DUK), Emera Inc (EMA), Fortis Inc (FTS), Southern Co (SO), Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc (HE), Consolidated Edison Inc (ED), TransAlta Corp (TA), FirstEnergy Corp (FE)
Currently I’m a little overweight with Utilities and am looking for good companies in other sectors with the exception of telecom with a dividend around 5%, any ideas?
Thanks for your help!!

Q: Hi Team, I have heard more than one commentary about a coming market correction. I own a wide spectrum of sectors, about 65% large cap, and 25% in mid-cap. and 10% small cap I have gains in all sectors (not all stocks) and I'm thinking about taking some gains to move into some cash for the next couple of months. What are your thoughts about the following sectors in small, mid and large cap , and how they might be affected if the market corrects. (all Canadian stocks)
Oil and gas
Pipelines
Financial
Industrial (eg. BGI.UN, WEF)
REITS
Tech
Consumer (DH)
Thanks so much.

Q: Hello Peter and Co,
A few advisors are suggesting that it is timely to raise some cash because a serious pull back is expected (my RRIF portfolio has only 3% cash); in my opinion, this suggestion flies in the face of the principle of investing for the long term (time in the market vs timing the market)
Your opinion is most valuable; in the meantime, I'm trying to identify my "lowest conviction" holdings.
Thanks,
Tony S.

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

In previous answers to questions you've said that 1) earnings, 2) interest rates, and 3) flows of capital (e.g., from bonds to stocks) tend to be the main drivers of market activity.

What is your take please on these drivers so far this year in Canada? Are any trends emerging?

Many thanks.

Michael

Q: Do you anticipate a substantial pullback in the market in the next while?
How would you recommend to prepare for the possibility and
Would things would you recommend to do if it should come more suddenly than rxpected?

Thanks

Q: it is quite often suggested that so called allternatives can be benefical to diversify. could you advise? and also what would your opinion as to the weight and could you please comment on xal for this purpose? thank you kindly Larry