Investment Q&A

Q: Everyone, is the money flow into the market in 2024 higher or lower than 2023? What segments is the money flow going into or out of. Clayton

Q: Good morning,

Have you done any work on what asset classes or equity sectors significantly outperformed/underperformed while Trump was President from 2016-2020. I recall that that the USD did not do well; gold did very well.

Any views/analysis most welcome. And would you be worried about overall market directionality with his expected focus on China and tariffs?

Q: Just a general question on how to react in moment like we are having now; a very nice 4 month bull with some sign of top. How to respond ? Trim your winner, trim your looser or do nothing and accept a correction. Thanks !

Q: Hi 5i Team - I have heard some concerns about other countries withdrawing money from the TSX and probably the Vancouver exchange as well. Am assuming that this is through the sale of equities and then withdrawing the proceeds. Am not sure which countries or how many. Could you comment on whether this a valid concern, and if so then how might it affect prices of Canadian equities going forward.
Thanks.

Q: Put Options betting the stock will go down or Call Options betting the stock will go up.

Do you prefer one over the other?

Thinking of trying both, I'm a 10 year self investor.

Or just continue to buy stock for the long term?

Are there any statistics that prove using Put & Call's perform better than buying and holding stocks?

Thank you.

Q: Hi there, what economic data points are being released next week, and the week after?

Which one of those data points listed do you believe will move the markets (+/-) over the next few weeks?

History dictates that markets are generally positive during the month of March, anything to be concerned about this March? Your thoughts on (forward looking) how you believe this month will unfold?

Thanks!

Q: A family member is 73 years old, Canadian, single, retired, and lives a very modest lifestyle. She has $100,000 from a recent inheritance with no other savings. I have been asked to assist with setting up an investment portfolio. Another family member has recommended she place some funds with a "MIC" which historically has a 7 % return; I think $20,000 could be allocated there. Then looking for a reasonable measure of security of capital, with a balance of some income and a bit of growth, my thought would be to divide the remaining $80,000 into the following: VDY; FTS; RY; SLF; BAM; CNQ; ALA; WSP; Amzn; and VGRO.

If you were me, would this seem like a reasonable approach?

Many thanks.

Q: What is the best way/strategy to make money in the stock market? I have tried trading, but that only led to small profits.

I tried buy and hold, but then I didn’t cut my losses in time.

Q: could you comment on sectors affected by the new u.s. sanctions on russia.
many thanks

Q: "History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes". Does the AI/tech surge remind Peter of anything in the markets before in history? If so, how does it all end?

Q: I want to spread some cash out, and away from a Canadian focus. Which of these two ETF's would you consider a better purchase for long term growth?

Q: I have just updated my portfolio analytics and am delighted with the results and the advice from it. 5i has been a big part of that, giving me the insight, information and confidence to make mostly good decisions.

I originally put a 30% allocation for bonds when I started 4 years ago, mostly because that's what was usually advised for those in my position (about 10 years out from retirement).

However, I have put no new money into bonds over that time because the ones I own have been the worst part of my portfolio. They did not act as ballast when the market went down - they seemed more volatile than most of my conservative equities. They also did not go up appreciatively when interest rates rose, and overall, even with the payouts, I'm in the red on these bonds over the past 4 years.

I heard you mention bonds in asset allocation on the recent podcast but I didn't sense any great endorsement of them. Other than the traditionally recommended 60-40 or 70-30 split, can you offer reasons not to sell them off and buy conservative stocks like CN, CSU, BN, etc or else broad-based index funds like XIC, XUU etc.?

Q: Hi...just watched the 2nd part of the podcast....good stuff. Got me thinking. I am trying to reconcile two different issues that I've been thinking about for quite some time.

#1 = Asset allocation and trimming when a position goes from, say, 5% to 10%. That is a 100% return. Where to trim at? I usually trim when a position gets to 6-7%...my own personal risk tolerance, learned from being greedy and hanging on too long. Some positions, like PBH and WSP (currently held since 2012 and 2014 respectively), have each been trimmed over 15 times and are still full 5% positions.

#2 = Letting your winners run. The podcast talked about a position running 100%, which is nice...vs a 1000% run.


Nice problem to have but how do you square these two opposing concepts?

Thanks...Steve

Q: READING A LOT LATELY OF BUBBLE, RECESSION, MARKET CORRECTIONS. INFLATION, INTEREST RATES ETC. UNFAVOURABLE FACTORS FOR INVESTORS.

WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK/THOUGHTS FOR THE US AND CDN MARKET OVER THE NEXT 12-18 MONTHS. LOOKING FOR SOME BRIEF GUIDANCE AS I AM SITTING ON SOME CASH THAT I WOULD LIKE TO DEPLOY.

I HAVE SIGNED UP FOR YOU US OUTLOOK WEBINAR NEXT WHICH I ANTICIPATE MORE DETAILS.

THANK YOU

Q: SPY has quite a run. Any thoughts on moving some funds over to MDY to gain more mid cap exposure ?

Q: Hi 5i, this is a general question on the big ship S.S. North America.

First what do you consider are the best leading indicators? For example US PPI and Retail Sales are down this week, and the sales are down a lot, not sure if this is seasonal post holiday burn out. Another thing that perplexes me is why housing, both mortgages and rent, aren't backed out of the CPI. If they are then aren't we around 2%. Lastly how come we don't look at GDI more? It seems while GDP , govt and personal spending, is driving this number however GDI is going down. It would also be nice to see real numbers adjusted for the massive immigration, pretty sure they would all be negative.

Q: I have quite a bit of cash in GICs & HISAs to invest. I am trying to reconcile buying at the top of the market vs waiting for a drop (which is difficult to time). I do not need the funds in the near future. I am thinking that if I buy now at the top of the market and then the market drops, I can always sell for a capital loss and immediately repurchase a similar ETF that trades in a different index provided the ETF is held in a non-registered account . If I take this course of action, then I would actually be no further behind vs waiting for a market drop (other than the ~4.5 I would get in a GIC or HISA). Is my thinking logical? Am I missing something?

Q: My question is what to do with my legacy fixed-income holdings.

I've been holding the above ETFs after being advised by 5i's portfolio analysis services to increase fixed-income holdings. Holdings are in registered accounts at a 25% weight combined.

They have all lost capital value over the past 5 years, however with distributions, they have returned approximately zero or flat over the last 5 years, I view this as a loss due to the inflation over this time.

What would 5i suggest I do with these fixed-income holdings moving forward? Should I hold for ballast or sell and move funds into dividend growers like Utilities or Pipelines eg. FTS, ALA, GEI, TRP, etc.)? The bond investments have put a drag on my investment returns.

Please advise your thoughts and wisdom, Thank you.

Q: What would you advise as an optimum allocation of CAD vs US stock now (and the next few years) ? It seems that the US economy is growing and would support more easily higher interest rates than Canada. Also more innovation, productivity.
Thanks !

Q: What are your thoughts on ETFs that are market weighted versus equal weighted? From anecdotal review it looks like the market weight ones do much better. It may also be relevant how many holdings they have.