Investment Q&A

Q: What sectors/industry do you see as the most promising over the short, medium and long term?

Q: Over the weekend I was reading about the potential for mean reversion producing a rebound in value stocks in the US. Do you think this makes sense overall, or is it just about as likely as any of the ten thousand other 'this is what is going to happen' stock market ideas? And, do you have any CAD US based ETFs that would fit this profile and that you would recommend? Thank-you, again.

Q: What are the various sector weights to use at the moment?

Q: Hi All at 5i! Any advantage to holding one ETF over the other. Which one do you favour? Cheers, Tamara

Q: Hello, With the news of Deutshe Bank in disarray and the high potential for a new 2008 Lehman Brothers scenario, are we going to see the tidal wave coming or is it already too late to run to higher grounds (higher % cash). Please advise.

Q: I used to think of bonds and stocks as generally moving in opposite directions so that bonds could be a safety factor in my account for when stocks go down. Stocks used to go down for economic reasons and then bonds would go up since the central bank would reduce interest rates to try to stimulate the economy. This worked marvelously for me in 2008-9. However, it is far more common now for them both to move in the same direction since stocks are dependent these days more on lower interest rates than economic news so they go up when there is a hint of interest rates going down and so do bonds as they always did. In reverse, when interest rates even hint of going up, stocks decline and so do bonds. Good economic news means the stock market is likely to decline since interest rates might go up. It seems that the market believes that it cannot survive any interest rate increases. So what do you suggest these days to balance against this unified stock and bond reaction?

Q: I have a lump sum from a sale of an investment property. I struggle with the decision whether to invest the money now given the long bull market that we've had and the increase in trade tensions and the political landscape. I know returns rely on time in the market as opposed to timing the market, but its hard to justify psychologically. What would you advise to do with a large lump sum? Do you see areas that are undervalued? Is there better relative value in Canada or the U.S. or abroad?

Thank you,
Jason

Q: This is a follow up question to my previous question about building a solid portfolio sector distribution.

You mentioned "If inflation picks up, you might want more consumer staples and less consumer disc (it is the other way around right now)"

Are you saying that it would be best to have more Consumer Disc now than Consumer Staples? If so, why?

Thanks again,

Fed

Q: I am trying to build a solid portfolio sector distribution, for reallocation purposes moving forward. This is only for the equity component of my portfolio. I am keeping a significant portion (50-75%) in non equity fixed income. I am looking for a retirement type Portfolio, with relative stability and good dividends. I am also worried about inflation getting carried away, as I feel most governments are not truly addressing the financial issues of the day. That is the reason for my 15% allocation to Mining. I have a house, so I do not feel I need to allocate anything to real estate.

Do you feel this is an appropriate distribution? Do you see faults in my reasoning?

Energy (incl pipelines) 8%
Mining (incl gold) 15%
Industrial 12%
Cons Disc 10%
Cons Staples 8%
Healthcare 6%
Financial 18%
Teck 7%
Telecom 6%
Utilities 10%
Real Estate 0%

Thanks once again,

Fed

Q: For years economists had referred to the Canadian dollar as the "petro dollar" in that our dollar fluctuated with oil prices. With plans by our government to phase out the Canadian oil sector (e.g. Bill C-69 & other policies) what impact will this have on our dollar in the future?

Also, President Trump wants a lower U.S. dollar. How do you think he will achieve this? And what impact might this have on our Canadian dollar and on our exports?

I had converted much of my investments to U.S. accounts when the Canadian dollar was closer to par with the U.S. dollar (& oil prices were high) and am now deciding if changes to my portfolios are warranted,

Thanks
Bryan

Q: Hi 5i,
Can I get your asset allocation suggestions for a taxable account based on the following guidelines:
1. I don't need any of this money to retire
2. account size is approx. 1M
3. I wish to buy individual US and CDN stocks
4. I will buy International ETF's if required
5. I am a buy and hold investor
6. I prefer not to have a high dividend due to tax issues
7. My RRSP's provide enough retirement income and are diversified
8. My TFSA's are growth oriented and are diversified
What is your range for:
International ETF's
US Stocks
Canada Stocks
Cash

thanks

Q: Hi, I currently have $11,500 to add to my TFSA with a long term horizon. I currently hold CNR (2.53%), NTR (2.88%), PLC (5.04%) PPL (2.98%), TD (4.21%), V (4.71), WCN (6.15%), XLV (3.31%) MAW 104 (25.11%). I am wondering if I should add to the current companies or might you have any other suggestions?

Q: Greetings 5i team,
I hold these three securities (one mutual fund and two ETFs) in my RSP for global (non-Canadian) equity exposure, total 17% (approx 150k) of overall portfolio and am looking for 5i analysis and possible replacement recommendations. Among the three I have some active management which has been successful, but expensive (EDG), some div income incl 50% US (CYH), some global non-NA exposure (XIN). I primarily invest in international securities for the diversification and growth and not nec income.
I would like to:
- possibly trade off the div income (CYH) for greater international growth
- understand if the active management component is worth the squeeze (cost) for this particular and only MF I own (EDG)
- reconsider the mix of international exposure among the three securities

What combination of ETF(s) would 5i recommend as potential replacement (or sustain as is) for these three securities that meet my goals?
TY for your work

P.S. Good webinar today on Portfolio Analytics.

Q: Peter; I’m aware of the Chinese ban on our pork but with the swine flu spreading across Asia and parts of Europe is it possible that China will have to reverse this ban, somehow saving face, and if so which Canadian public companies would benefit ? Thanks.
Rod

Q: HI 5i team, recently you mentioned couple companies with a growth rate of 50%. Do you mean revenue or earning or some measure ? Will you please list top 20 Canadian companies with such growth prospect. Thanks.

Q: Hi Group - I am getting a bit concerned about the US dollar verses CAD, I hold 50% of my portfolio in us funds. If I believe that the US stock holdings I presently own are way more solid than Canadian companies but am concerned about the US dollar dropping significantly what defensive strategy should I consider? PS I trade with RBC direct investing Thanks

Q: Hi

My question is about structuring and managing a portfolio across multiple registered and unregistered accounts. Please forgive if this question has been asked before.

Between 4 family members (including two young children) we have 11 trading accounts on the go, including 5 unregistered (3 Cdn and 2 US), 2 tfsa’s, 2 rrsp’s, and 2 resp’s. My approach to date has generally been to try to diversify within each account and try not to duplicate between accounts, with an eye to overall diversification.

This results in three problems (at least): sub-optimal diversification within and across accounts, too many holdings (which are difficult to monitor) and a low average $ value per holding. For example, 11 accounts times ten positions per account is 110 holdings. As for low value, a 10% holding on a $50,000 registered account is $5,000, which represents only 0.5% of an aggregate $1,000,000 value (example).

I have been thinking of treating all of the accounts holistically rather than individually while accounting for tax considerations of course. My goal is to try to get the number of holdings down to 20 - 30, with an average value of 3% - 5% of aggregate portfolio value. I find the main difficulty to be in structuring the lower value accounts.

Two approaches I have been mulling over:

1) Scrap the individual account diversification approach and perhaps only hold 1 - 3 positions in lower value accounts. This approach would probably mean that no account on its own will be diversified but the aggregate portfolio will be (hopefully).
2) Try to maintain the account diversification approach by investing in only one etf per account until the account eventually reaches a size sufficient to hold more positions (then I suppose the approach would flip to the first approach). The idea being that each account would hold a different etf (and at least be somewhat diversified) that would contribute to the overall diversification of the aggregate portfolio.

Do you have any comments or guidance on managing multiple accounts? How do investment professionals manage their own family accounts? Any best practices that you are aware of, or good articles that you can direct me to? Any considerations besides tax; for example, how do you apportion risk between family members and accounts?

Thanks
Derek

Q: Peter, do you think the Bank Rate will change on July 10th? Do you know what the consensus is?

Q: The Canadian dollar has risen two and a half cents against the US dollar in the last month or so. Is this likely to continue? Should I be thinking about transferring into hedged ETFs for American exposure?

Q: What stocks would you focus on acquiring if a recession is around the corner?