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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: Peter; What would you think of a switch from a REIT to an oil company at this stage of the economy and the large price differential in western crude? Thanks. Rod
Read Answer Asked by Rodney on March 19, 2013
Q: Peter,
Thanks for putting out the model portfolio. A few questions.
a) What should the portfolio sizing be if the portfolio is say $50k or $1M. How many investments should be held in those?
b) How should we add to the portfolio on a monthly basis? Say someone had $2k to invest every month, how should that be allocated?
c) How would you categorize this portfolio like defensive, aggressive, growth etc. If this for example is a conservative growth portfolio, do you have plans to roll out other model portfolios categorized differently?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Imtiaz on March 17, 2013
Q: Do you advocate buying and holding through all market cycles or would you suggest a trading strategy that tries to take advantage of wide market swings and if the latter strategy is the best, what methods would you employ to identify optimum market timing strategies
Read Answer Asked by Bruce on March 13, 2013
Q: This is really a comment not a question. In early January I asked 5i for some advice on how to get into the market as an older, conservative investor unwilling to risk too much for fear of capital losses. The advice was to enter in carefully and purchasing a diversified portfolio - basically a balance of the B+ or better rated stocks and four large caps for even greater balance (26 stocks in total). Since then ATP has crashed by roughly 50% (highly unusual) but the good news is EQI and FSZ are up ~20%, BAD and BYD are up ~15%, ESL and KBL are up ~10%, the rest are either up or down but nothing drastic. All this to say my portfolio is still up over 2% in 9 weeks (~12% annualized) even though ATP crashed. The diversification protected me. No one's going to get it all right all the time. That's why the balance is needed. Cheers.
Read Answer Asked by Michael on March 06, 2013
Q: Hi Peter and Team, apologies in advance to all but I need ask the following question; watched a fellow on BNN, Charles Nenner, a professor who has a mathematical system which has apparently been correct so far, so he says, that calculates the DJIA to fall to 5000...absolutely crazy, isn't it?? Have you heard of this fellow? He states that those who bought in 2009 are the ones selling into this ralley and going cash! He is all cash currently, so he says. Please see him on BNN today, and your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. I am currently fully invested with minimal cash on sideline. Thanks as usual!
Read Answer Asked by Hussein on March 06, 2013
Q: Hi Peter, This is just a general question. Funds in my company registered pension account are managed by Great West Life. Right now i have 100% money in high risk account (Leith Wheeler). I am looking at 10 - 15 yrs horizon. What would be the right approach as i can transfer funds from one fund to another fund like US Equity Index, conservative fund and bonds without paying any transfer fees??? Should i be moving money from aggressive to conservative in case of correction and move back to agressive once there is indication that correction is over. Thanks for the guidance
Read Answer Asked by S on February 25, 2013
Q: Greetings Peter and 5i Team. Peter I recently saw you on Market Call/BNN...after hearing your philosophy I rushed to sign up to be a member of 5iResearch. Love it so far!
My question is, other than the top picks you gave on Market Call, do you ever publish a 'top picks list' here on 5iResearch from time to time ? Thank you...I'll hang up an listen ;)
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on February 25, 2013
Q: Hello 5I Team, just a thought on selling winners vs losers. I remember hearing a story of a car dealership that each month fired the weakest performing salesman. Sometimes I think that this may be useful information when it comes to investing. If you have a stock that is just not living up to your expectations may be it is time to fire it.
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on February 20, 2013
Q: Hopefully not an odd question, but I hear and read comments and investors talking about short, medium and long term in reference to their holdings. In your opinion, could you define your thoughts on actual timelines for each? I realize this is subjective, I just want you thoughts on how you might define them.
Read Answer Asked by Philip on February 20, 2013
Q: i remember the saying water the flowers,pull the weeds. also the 6% rule of total amount investing per stock.does this mean still stay within the 6% rule.
Read Answer Asked by dale on February 19, 2013
Q: Hi Peter & Team:

I am trying to pay more attention to sector diversification rather than just stock diversification. Could you comment on and/or provide a resource to help in determining how best to achieve appropriate sector diversification ? How critical do you feel this is and what information or signals does one look for when, because of general market changes, there should be an adjustment ? How does sector diversification strategy change depending on whether your portfolio is for growth,or income or balanced ? Can you recommend a site that classifies Canadian and US stocks into industry standard sector descriptions ?
You mentioned that you are doing a 'model portfolio' - will this also incorporate what you consider to be the best current strategy for sector diversification and will you do updates of that as appropriate ?
Would it be possible to provide a 'sector sort' for the stocks that you comment on in your Report and Member Question sections ?
Thanks so much for a great stress-reducing practical and educational service !
Read Answer Asked by Alexandra on February 18, 2013
Q: Peter,

What should one do if you are fully invested and and you feel there is some sort of 5-10% correction on the horizon. Should one sell some positions or stay fully invested. If one sells some strong performers, at their 52 week highs, would that be a wrong move. What should be the srategy in such a situation.
Read Answer Asked by Imtiaz on February 12, 2013
Q: do you believe health sciences are a good investment, also what different types of stocks should be in ones portfolio to have a nice blend. your company is a godsend thankyou from the bottom of my heart and keep up the great work you are doing for common investors
Read Answer Asked by dale on February 11, 2013
Q: For investors holding significant amounts of cash, would you suggest dollar cost averaging back into the market or investing lump sums? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Mary Jean on February 09, 2013
Q: https://www.5iresearch.ca/index.php?p=download&file=119
Peter are the ratings on your Jan PDF report redone for the report or the same as they were on the report date? If they are the same will you be redoing them in another pdf?
Also what is your strategy on being fully invested vs cash - do you try to time corrections or bear market downturns? what % cash do you like to keep?
Tks.
Read Answer Asked by George on February 06, 2013
Q: Hello 5i staff. I sure appreciate this fine service. I am a 61 year old aggressive investor. I have 10% of my portfolio in fixed income. At about $60k the fixed income portion is divided as follows. Sixty five percent in 5 high yield vehicles, FAP, TRH.UN, DYN9105, PHN280 and ATL908. Twenty five percent in corpoate bonds rated A and BBB, the rest in covertable debentures. With the prospect of rising interest rates should I sell any of the bond funds and switch into quality stocks? Thanks, Frank
Read Answer Asked by Frank on February 04, 2013
Q: Hi team, I have about 3.5% of our portfolio in CHB US high yield income fund and I am up a fair amount from my initial cost and have enjoyed over a years worth of interest income (inside an RRSP). I know there is a risks to this ETF if US interest rates rise, but that just doesn't seem likely for a while yet. I don't think I am overexposed in this area, what are your thoughts? Thanks, no rush on your answer if you are short staffed.
Read Answer Asked by Ray on January 29, 2013
Q: I was re-reading an article in the Canadian Money Saver by Wynn Quon. His analysis of a potential super bubble is certainly a scary prospect. I remember the 400 point losses on the TSE quite painfully.
What are your thoughts on this speculation? Have the problems that caused the turmoil on 2008 gone? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Kim on January 29, 2013
Q: This is a follow-up to the answer to the "hold winners vs sell part of winners which are too large a percentage of your portfolio".

It is often hard to sell any part of something which is doing well and lookss to be doing more of the same in the future.


What I have done instead of selling to bring the percentage in line is to place a trailing stop on the amount which you would have to sell to bring the diversification back in line. Obviously trying to get the best of both worlds.

Would you have any comments on the validity of this strategy?
Read Answer Asked by Bryon on January 24, 2013