Investment Q&A

Q: Hello Peter and team,
A friend asked me my opinion about his LIRA account (which he won't be accessing for about 25 years). For a few reasons he is not interested in transferring to a self-directed account, wishing to keep this part of his portfolio with his financial adviser. She believes that Edgepoint Global Growth and Income (EDG180) is the best option for him. I have never heard of Edgepoint, so after a cursory glance at their website and Morningstar looks fine, I thought I would ask you. Do you have any feedback about Edgepoint as an investment company and EDG180 as a fund that I could share with my friend?
I appreciate the excellent service you provide.
Thanks in advance, Rory

Q: Hi Guys, I have taken over a few accounts from my financial advisor thanks to your guidance. Now, I have an Income mutual fund ($15,000.00 value, 5% weighting) that has a penalty of $ 600.00 if I cash it out early (matures in Sept 2016). My thoughts are, cash it in now, if I can earn between 7% to 12% within your equity portfolio I will be ahead of the game.
thanks,
Jim

Q: Hi, one of my friends was asking what I thought of the Allegro Moderate Portfolio A mutual fund. First, the performance is rather mediocre. Second, the MER (2.54%) is fairly high, but non uncommon in the fund industry, for a balanced fund. It is a fund of funds, which are all Investors Group products. Not that all their funds are not worth owning, but this product seems obviously designed to be most beneficial to that company. I was not impressed with this feature. I also noticed that many of the funds included in this product are of the "A" class (based on GlobeInvestor). Does this means that there are also MERs of 2%+ that also apply. If so, it is outrageous. I told her she need to find out from her advisor, but I was wondering whether my read of this last feature is correct.

Q: if a person was to choose betweenthe fairly new mawer global balanced fund and the mawer canadian balance with a very good track record. I am thinking the global fund might be a better buy.considering they both started with a net asset value of about 10$ per unit. is it reasonable to think that the new global fund has more upside potential in spite of higher mer for a long term hold . your opinion greatly appreciated. thanks Larry

Q: RBC Canadian Dividend Series A mutual fund has been a double for me but the mer of 1.78% is quite high compared to that charged by etf funds. Could you suggest some etf products that would work as well as the mutual fund but are cheaper?
Thanks,
Dave

Q: Hi Peter, currently have both in my portfolio and done well YTD,21 and 18%. Should I take profit or add to? Also, considering RBF274 with a little higher MER. Can you suggest a life science or health related one?

Q: 2.5 total investments . In view of. Current problems get out? Better monthly income funds? 80 yrs old.

Q: Hi Peter
What is your opinion of Harbour DSC 890 fund? My daughter has been contributing to it for many years and I would like to see her set up a self directed account with ETF's. She has no other investments at this time. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks for all you do.

Q: H guys,

For 2 years I've been trying to get my conservation 50 year buddy into buying good Canadian blue-chip dividend companies without luck. Ultimately he decided to move his investments from a local under performing asset company to dundee wealth. Here is the email he sent me:

"I pulled the trigger and pulled my money out of the investment company I was using and put it with a new guy. I was honest with him and said I would like to be as modern as possible and he seems quite flexible so far. I have my money in transit right now but next week I will be meeting with him and reinvesting most of it into mutual funds that he and agree to.
I am also going to invest a small portion into some kind of ETF(s) or stock(s).

Right now I am gathering any information or opinions of what are people's top 5ish successfully performing mutual funds in their portfolios that have performed well over the last 5, 10, an/or 15 years. And that they are sticking with in the future so far. I have heard of two mutual funds that sound good so far: Mawer (Keeps receiving a lot of awards) and Edgepoint (Is run by the old Trimark gurus. They left Trimark and started Edgepoint)
As it stands now I may be investing in both of them and their Canadian Equities and Global Equities funds equally. Example; Mawer Canadian Equity and Global Equity and Edgepoint Canadian Equity and Global Equity
Any opinions if this is a good idea or not?

I am writing to get your opinion and/or that of your Investor Manager friend.
Is there some better Mutual Fund options out there?

I am also looking for your opinion of your top 5 stocks and/or ETFs (long term) that you have invested in and plan on leaving it for 5 -10 more years. I will be dabbling a bit in these areas.

If you don't have an opinion or don't feel like sharing it, no problem. You are welcome to pass this email on to anyone that you feel may give me their opinion.

I understand that you would only be sharing your opinion and would not be recommended anything so you should not feel responsible if something turns into a dog.I would take your opinion and then research it and see if I liked it or not so it could become my own."

Any thoughts? Thank you. I appreciate you time and effort on this one.

Brent

Q: PMO005....Pimco Monthly Income... I had this transferred in from my wife's "fired" advisor account. Is it worth keeping? and,if not, could you suggest an ETF. Very hard to find any info on this product. Thank You Ron

Q: Could I please get your opinion on the. emerging market fund RBF 1099 with a mer of 1.5. As always thanks so much for your valued opinion.

Q: Good Morning
Quite a few years ago I began investing through full fee global mutual funds. I graduated to purchasing individual stocks through a discount brokerage account but held on to the mutual funds which now comprise about 15% of my portfolio. The mutual funds have performed OK, nothing spectacular, returning a little over 9% annually and have doubled in value. The MERs are high at about 2.75%. I would dearly like to switch into global ETFs. If I sell the mutual funds over a number of years, I will limit the capital gains tax bite to about 15%. I calculate that going forward if the mutual funds average 7% then the ETF should average 9.5%. I arrive at this by adding the 2.75% MER back onto the 7% gain and then subtracting .25% for the ETF MER. At this rate it will take 8 years to recover the 15% lost to capital gains tax and achieve the ongoing benefit of lower fees. Is this a valid strategy or am I missing something?
Thanks
David

Q: Peter,
What is year end date for Mutual Funds, and for Etf's (if any specific date for those)
Thank you
CDJ

Q: Instead of bonds I have 2 mutual funds (I know dirty words!) that I consider fixed assets. I think they are both excellent but I would like your opinion. NCE617 Sentry Canadian Income and NCE621 Sentry Small/Mid Cap. I have about 1/3 or my portfolio in these funds as well as 40 stocks. I have about $5,000 in each of your growth portfolio stocks.

THANKS FOR YOUR WORK! I WOULD LIKE TO BUY YOU A BEER! (or TWO)

Q: Good Morning Peter and Team,
For the global / international equity portion of my portfolio I have looked at ETF's and mutual funds rather than individual stocks. In my view the best global / international equity manager that I have found, so far, in terms of performance, low fees, people, and process is Mawer Investment Management located in Calgary. They appear to run equity portfolios much like you (albeit less concentrated). In other words they only own the really good or great companies and completely ignore the many "cigar butts" and "value traps". Would you agree that their style has some similarities to your own and what is your opinion of their firm and are they a good choice for global / international equity exposure ??? Thank you very much for leaving Bay Street and helping the retail investor. DL

Q: Hi.What is our opinion about FXM-T (first asset management Canada value fund)Thank you and have a good day.ebrahim

Q: Could you tell me why ET is in your income portfolio?
Is there still a change of a take over?
Also if you had a choice which 3 stocks would you put in a tsfa?

Q: I keep a hefty chunk of cash in my online account but the Broker pays no interest!! What in your view would be the best way to get interest on it and yet have it easily available for stock purchases at the appropriate time?

Q: Hi Peter and Team:
My self-direct RSP account still has the following mutual funds:
AIM925/924
MFC838/837
I am able to sell the mutual funds this year without penalty. It was recommended by our previous financial planner (bought in 2007)
My question is should we keep it or sell it now? if we sell it, what is your suggestion to replace mutual fund at this moment?
thank you so much.
adriana

Q: hi folks:

regarding carole's question of should she dump a fund (cig786) and buy a stock

believe me when I say that I am no big fan of mutual funds, yet if you look at that particular fund, internationally balanced, with a below average mer of 1.6%, and one that has crushed the index over most periods, I wonder if your dislike of all funds has over taken prudence

with this size account, with the goals noted, I am very surprised you would not at least acknowledge the quality here

along with the international diversification carole alsohas had....

10.4% p.a. return over the past 15 years (fifteen years)

inception was dec 1996 and since then has an 9.78% annual return

(all net of fees)

I think your service is second to none, yet in this case I believe you are offside

(no, I do not work for CI funds, and my total fund holdings are 15% of assets, mostly international)

Robert

ps. this fund has out-performed many (arguably most) hedge funds which you recommend and they all have far far greater fees

robert