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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: Good morning 5i team!
I have a joint RESP account for my children who are 11 and 9.
At this time I have approx $85k in the account distributed as follows
$23 bond 2.10% mat June/2018
$22 k in VDY
$32K in VFV

I have a remaining $7k+ and wanting some growth, dividend with stability so I won't lose as it is a more short term time frame.
What do you think of the overall weighing of the portfolio and what would your suggestions stock wise be for the $7K.
Read Answer Asked by Sarah on April 03, 2017
Q: A couple of years ago I hit upon the idea of giving each of my grandchildren $500 on their 16th birthday to establish a first investment and, I hoped, learn something about investing by direct experience. I gave them 250 shares (still in my name since one cannot open a brokerage account under the age of 18) of Surge Energy then trading at $2.00 and paying a dividend of $.0125 per month yielding $3.13 in the first month, enough to buy one more share in the DRIP brokerage account. Working beautifully until last May when SGY halved the dividend (also instructional, but disappointing)

I have another grandson turning 16 and would like to do the same for him but do not know of another security with the same feature of paying enough dividend (possibly quarterly) that provides enough to buy one more share with the dividend generated from a capital base of close to $500. If you have a way of mining for such opportunities, I would be most grateful to hear your suggestion(s). (I do not have any experience with ETFs but perhaps there is a possibility in this sphere?) If you have another suggestion for an intro investment, I would be glad to hear your thoughts.

Thanks very much, Bob.
Read Answer Asked by Lynn on April 03, 2017
Q: Last February you did a portfolio review for me and it has served me very well. At that time ETF ZUH was recommended for healthcare exposure. Subsequently, I have recently subscribed to ETF & Mutual Fund newsletter. I noticed ZUH is not in your list of recommended healthcare ETFs but XHC is on the list. It has probably been so for a while and just did not notice. Should I switch out of ZUH and into XHC?
Read Answer Asked by Danny-boy on April 03, 2017
Q: GRC is down 3.85% today, with heavy trading volume. I see no news. Is there any hope for a recovery for this company? (I'm 80% in the red.)

On Feb. 13, the CEO made this statement below. Is it credible?
"The portfolio continues to generate strong royalty income on a consistent basis. The operating cost reductions we implemented earlier this year and the conservative approach we continue to ascribe to both Contract Buyouts and underperforming investments in the portfolio position us to exit 2017 stronger than 2016," said Steve Parry, Chief Executive Officer of Grenville. "Our pipeline is stronger than ever as it relates to both the volume and the quality of the opportunities we are reviewing. In our review, we place an increased emphasis on companies with strong growth, recurring/predictable revenues and the ability to raise capital from multiple sources. We intend to return to a more consistent pace of investment in 2017 with the support of our two joint venture partners who have already co-invested in three opportunities with us since October."
Read Answer Asked by Helen on April 03, 2017
Q: Further to th question asked by Mayur. The new Chairman came on board as a director with four others in Jan last year, after Oxford Park Group disclosed a 5% in EXE. A change of leadership was also disclosed in Jan 2016 when the company stated the then current chairman Mr Hutzel would step down after the AGM this year. The downgrade is something I missed but would love to understand the rationale behind it as EXE seems to be finally getting it's house in order. I know 5i prefers CSH and SIA in this industry but do you have any insight into the downgrade.
Kenn
Read Answer Asked by Kenneth on April 03, 2017
Q: I have more than doubled my initial investment in Savaria and I haven't sold any shares yet; however, I was wondering what the current forward P/E ratio is and if you would ever sell because it got too 'expensive' in the short term?

I understand buying strength and that hitting new highs is a very good sign, but say Savaria went 50% higher than it is today in a short time frame, would you ever sell purely because the valuation was too high or would you tend to ride it out and risk a pullback because after all, it is still a solid investment and a growing business?
Read Answer Asked by Arthur on April 03, 2017
Q: In the last few months I have been rebuilding my "taxable" portfolio modeled on your balanced portfolio with the addition of some growth names. I am happy with my overall balance of equities and am now going to change my TFSA from an ETF to stocks. What are your top five picks from your balanced portfolio at this time. Similarly the top five picks from your growth portfolio. I realize you often hate questions like this but I do find your answers interesting. Thanks you for your excellent service!
Read Answer Asked by Paul on April 03, 2017
Q: CSU makes up 7.2 percent of my portfolio. My other tech holdings are a minuscule amt of ET, and a little less than 2 percent MDA. Would I be better served by reducing my CSU(held in TFSA) and adding to the other 2? Are there other tech stocks that would work better? I'm retired, but don't yet need $ from investments. On the other hand, I'm loath to lose any!
Read Answer Asked by M.S. on April 03, 2017
Q: This is a follow up to a question I submitted a few weeks back that I should have been more specific about. I had asked about transferring our investments from the financial advisor we have been dealing with to a discount brokerage so that we can manage the funds ourselves and the relative pros/cons of transferring the investments "in kind" versus in cash. The transfer will involve a couple of RRSP accounts, a couple of LIRA accounts, a family RESP and a non-registered "in trust for" account. Any benefits/drawbacks of in kind versus cash transfer based on the type of account being transferred? We do plan to sell the bulk of our current holdings and start from scratch, but is that best done at the start or end of the transfer process - or does it really matter one way or the other? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Bruce on April 03, 2017
Q: I own both these IT companies and both are below my full position of 4%. Which one would you choose to add to at this time. I am a long term investor, to be perfectly honest I tend to marry my stocks and am reluctant to give up hope. I still own MCR Macro Enterprises. Could you also advise me on if there is any hope for this stock if there is an energy recovery. Thank you for your service.
Read Answer Asked by Cheryl on April 03, 2017
Q: Gentlemen,
Portfolio question on repeat selections,

In the 5i Portfolios there are some equities that are found in several of the portfolios, eg KXS, ENB, GUD, BNS etc.

Instead of repeat are there no other stocks in Canada that you can add that you like as much/more.

Surely another bank might add more variety on North American economy than the international as Scotia does. Is there no other healthcare opportunity than GUD who seems to be a little slow in deploying its capital?
Are there no other utilities that could diversify ENB? You always mention FTS very favorably.

Why repeat and not diversify with unique selections?

Thanks

Sheldon
Read Answer Asked by Sheldon on April 03, 2017
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