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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 am helping my 82 year old father-in-law to do some self-directed investing (after talking him into selling some higher MER mutual funds). He is risk adverse and has always been in bond funds for safety. So I have him only in bond ETF's CBO, CLF, XBB, and a REIT ETF: ZRE. All held in his RIFF, TFSA and unregistered accounts (the majority unregistered). Is this strategy considered 'safe' with interest rates threatening to rise -or does he need more diversity? Would some small allocation in solid stocks increase risk or increase safety through diversity? Other ideas for his mix? These are pretty well his entire assets other than CPP and OAS income?
Thanks for your excellent site!
Paul
Read Answer Asked by Paul on April 21, 2015
Q: I see that you have included DHX in your growth portfolio. I bought at $2.25 and sold around $8.60. What is your view of DHX now that they have lost the Disney contract? Is it a good time to get back in and what are DHX's growth prospects? A couple of years back, there was speculation DHX may be a takeover candidate by, eg. Netflix. What is your view on possible takeovers? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Ron and Irena on April 21, 2015
Q: Hi. I have some money to place until i want to but some stocks please couldyou tell me where i CAN place this money in some etf canadian or us whit relative l'y some sécurité should i try Hedg or not Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Denis on April 21, 2015
Q: With oil prices stabilizing or increasing, what are the implications of the reduction in the high fuel margin tailwind that resulted from falling fuel prices? Is recent weakness just profit taking or is this part of the reaction to high multiples in the consumer staples sector. I have reduced my position from 28% to 17% over the last few months. Would you recommend reducing some more? To what level?

THanks,
Hans
Read Answer Asked by Hans on April 21, 2015
Q: To Denis' message about the Verizon spin-off from Vodaphone, I am in the same situation. He would have received a T5 covering the dividend 'amount' as I did.
The same thing happened the year before with my Abbott shares when the company spun off Abbvie. In that case, Abbott actually offered shareholders the Election option to defer the dividend but I got a T5 anyway and the CRA taxed me accordingly. I'm still trying to contact them about that since I submitted all the relevant paperwork with my return.
Perhaps another member with accounting expertise would care to comment?

Sorry I didn't post this sooner.

Molly
Read Answer Asked by Molly on April 21, 2015
Q: Thank you for the article on Preferred Shares. My former advisor at RBC-DS did not explain 90% of what was in your article. I lost a significant amount on the preferred shares he sold me. My question is this: Generally, at large brokerage firms, what kind of behind-the-scene commissions or "incentives" do advisors earn for flogging preferreds?
Read Answer Asked by Helen on April 21, 2015
Q: I am looking to diversify my holdings outside of Canada as we are told we should.I am looking for ETF's for U.S. as well as other world markets.It would be best if you could start other model funds for outside of Canada or recommend a clone of yourselves.
Read Answer Asked by Brad on April 21, 2015
Q: Your recent article on preferrers only alluded to resets, which are now over 60% of all preferrers issued. So, I don't know how much I can take from the article. For example, I would like your opinion on efn.pr.e. You have recommended fen several times recently, and this preferred yields north of 6.5%. I believe I get my 25$ back in another four years, as long as the company is solvent, right? And the reset spread is around 4.5%, so I either get my money back or i get a very good yield when this five year term expires, right? I realize I am not participating in the cap gains, but I traded that for a 6.5% yield that seems quite safe and getting my money back in the end (i.e. 5 years). Am I missing anything?
Read Answer Asked by arnold on April 21, 2015
Q: What % range would you consider acceptable ( min to max ) for financial stocks for a middle aged dividend investor with 7 years to work and a goal of building up a portfolio that will pay dividend income upon retirement. I invest in all sectors with ETFs, individual stocks and a small number of mutual funds ( Chow etc ). My portfolio includes small mid cap and large cap, both in Canada and worldwide. I find even non industry specific ETFs are on average 20% in financial stocks. Tough to keep under 20% when you start buying PWF, BMO, BNS, SLF etc.

Many thanks

Paul
Read Answer Asked by paul on April 21, 2015
Q: Just wanted to make sure I am thinking straight re hedging principles related to the U.S. dollar denominated securities. One option is to buy ETFs that are hedged. The other way is to buy U.S. denominated securities in U.S. dollars and then some unhedged ETFs that invest in U.S. dollar securities , but invest with Canadian dollars.

Thank you.

Paul


Read Answer Asked by paul on April 21, 2015
Q: Atd.b has not had strong technicals lately, coupled with what I would call heavy inside selling, in excess of 29m. Could I please have your further thoughts
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Rick on April 21, 2015
Q: Hi team, How do you feel about Cat? Do you think it might be dead money for the next couple of years? I have held it for some time but now I have found it to be lagging, I assume due to the oil situation.
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on April 21, 2015
Q: PAR Technologies (PAR.us): Looks like an interesting microcap that appears to have its shares under pressure. I would appreciate your thoughts on investing in this company. Appears undervalued but I don't see any info of substance on it. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Adam on April 21, 2015
Q: I read in the Globe and Mail that the Hydro One IPO will have 20-30% of the IPO allocated to retail investors. If it is true, can clients using discount online brokerages accounts participate in the IPO? What do you think is a fair price for its IPO and would you recommend it? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Roy on April 21, 2015
Q: Keith Richards at Value Trend Wealth Management who appeared on BNN Market Call Tonight is of the view that S&P500 could see a 20% plus correction this summer. His reasoning was primarily based on Technical Analysis. He also mentioned that at present, retail investors (dumb money) are twice as much bullish as sophisticated investors like pension fund managers (smart money). What are your thoughts on this prediction for an imminent market correction?
Read Answer Asked by RAJITH on April 21, 2015
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