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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: I have a portfolio of 25 individual stocks (diversified among most sectors) with no ETFs. Within this portfolio I own companies that trade in CAD and the US but have operations and/or varying degrees of revenue in other countries such as CLBT, AXON, TOI, VHI, UBER, BKNG, WSP, TRI, BN and some of the MAG 7 with their worldwide reach such as GOOG. I often wonder if this is adequate international exposure for a healthy portfolio or should I have a specific international ETF?
I have not been a fan of ETFs due to the often wide exposure that can include "the best along with less than the best" (and they are boring, :), haha). But for long term growth and healthy diversification I often consider opening a position in an international ETF such as VIU.
But then I face my conundrum. In the past 5 years the return on VIU has been 41.4% (Yahoo Finance). Perhaps my expectations are out of line, but I would not be happy (and I would be bored, :), ) with the same return from VIU in the next 5 years. Even a conservative Canadian bank with some international operations such as RY has done 90% in the past 5 years (Yahoo Finance). It seems to me that I must give up too much possible growth in order to achieve a healthy level of international diversification through the instrument of an international ETF.
Perhaps this is a conundrum that need not be solved, but do you have any thoughts that may lead to a wiser investment perspective or a needed tempering of my expectations?
As always, thank you for your excellent service.
Cal
Read Answer Asked by Calvin on July 17, 2025
Q: I'd like to either start a 4% position in TRI or bring the other 4 positions up closer to 5%. Also I could just start a smaller position in TRI and bring the others up a bit, distributing funds across the names. If you could rank order these names, it might help me decide. As is, now MSFT and AMZN are quite small positions. Would any be affected by Tariffs? Just not sure how bullish you are on TRI vs the others. Thank you very much for continued great investment analysis.
Read Answer Asked by Gordon on July 16, 2025
Q: We're taking some profits from my wife's position in TVK, and I'm looking to establish a new position for her.

For what might qualify as tech/AI, she has DSG, AMZN.ca and Goog.ca. On the AI theme, I'm considering Avgo.ne (I'm overweight Nvidia), ASML.ne or AMD.to. She also lacks in Communications and tech generally, so I'm also thinking NFLX.ne. and Uber.ne.

This is intended to be a long-term holding with growth in mind, so can you rank the five companies -- AVGO, ASML, AMD, NFLX and UBER in order of preference please in terms of long-term growth.

And thank you for your service over the last decade-plus, because retirement certainly wouldn't be in sight without 5I's help.

Pete, Calgary.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on July 15, 2025
Q: Hello Team,

I have held the Canadian Google Hedged Stock for about 3-4 years and it makes up about 5.8% of my portfolio. Would you suggest keeping it or switching to the US stock. This is a Canadian RRSP so I would have to pay 1-2% fee for the US stock.

Also wanted to know if the US dollar goes up over time will help my overall return?
Read Answer Asked by Kevin on July 09, 2025
Q: Hello all,

I am helping aid my young adult children in developing a portfolio of strong companies that pay a dividend. They were not comfortable buying during the VIX 30-50 range so they have not benefited from the recent rebound.

They are looking at holding any of these positions for 5 years (when they may need to liquidate a bit for a down payment on a property)

Please note, the American equities would be CDRs and hedged.


Here are my questions:

What entry point/range would you be comfortable buying any of these securities listed?

Do you recommend half positions in any of them at this time? Please list.

Taking into account the time frame, are there any companies you would recommend not buying?

Are there any sectors (with a particular security) which perhaps I should consider that is not on my list?

Please mention if there are other securities that might be better in satisfying the stated objective.

Do you forsee any problems with this approach and do you recommend something else to help offset anything?

I know that you don't have a crystal ball but your opinion is appreciated.

Please take as many credits as required.

Respectfully,
Arturo
Read Answer Asked by Arturo on June 11, 2025
Q: Hi group i own the above stocks and have some cash to deploy. pick out 10 core holdings c/w with order to buy and entry price. I am in no rush but want the buy list ready for any opportunity that pops up. Thanks for your help
Read Answer Asked by Terence on March 19, 2025
Q: Hi group the above stocks i sold 1/2 of my folio about 3 months ago/ yes at a tidy profit. My question is I am 75 years old and have $100,000 to reinvest (20% of my total portfolio)...(dry power) i do not need any cash to supplement my income for at least 5 years unless the market falls of a cliff because of Trump/Tariffs. I would say I am a sleep at night investor So the question is what to do now wait or start nibbling now. These stocks make up about 70% of the total portfolio
Read Answer Asked by Terence on March 14, 2025
Q: Assuming the current selloff continues, VIX goes up to 35+, and recession is almost certain in the US. Regardless of sector, what US/CAD stocks YOU would buy for capital appreciation if you have CAD$ 100,000? YOU plan to hold these stocks more than 3 years and you believe these companies will survive the economic downturn no matter how hard it will be.
Read Answer Asked by Ahmed on March 11, 2025
Q: I am getting ready to DCA into these stocks in an unregistered account with higher than average risk profile. According to me, these stocks had a bit of a pullback with possibly more on the way.

In what order would you DCA into the stocks mentioned above? Is there any stock that you think should be excluded from this list?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Anca on March 07, 2025