Investment Q&A

Q: Hi there,

A few weeks ago you had suggested to maybe add XAW to my portfolio (which follows your Balanced Equity Portfolio) for outside Canada exposure. In a portfolio of 100% equities - how much would you recommend being put towards the Balanced Equity Portfolio and XAW?

Thanks!

Q: Hi Peter and Team

I own most of 5I balanced equity portfolio in my RRSP account and the following portfolio managed by Manulife / Standard life for RPP and TFSA.

19- Canadian Bond Index (SLI) 25%
344- Canadian Equity Growth (Connor, Clark & Lunn) 13%
26- Canadian Equity (Jarislowsky Fraser) 14%
49- US Equity - SSGA 14%
25- International Equity (SLI) 14%
11- Real Estate (SLIRE) 10%
677 - Global Absolute Return Strategies (SLI) 10%

I would like your opinion comparing these two portfolios especially in regard of risk, growth prospects, fees, and principle safety .Time horizon 5 to 10 years.
Thanks for your great service

Q: Can you rank the stocks best to worst in your opinion. These are the stock s that are in my Consumer Cyclical (Discretionary) sector. Would you add, swap or remove any of them? My portfolio holdings/thoughts are very similar to your BE Portfolio. Thank you and great job.

Q: Regarding the Balanced Equity Model Portfolio please explain the trade updates.If I sell 1% of PBH and hold 7,000 dollars worth, does this mean I should sell $70 worth? It doesn't make sense.

Q: Hello team 5i !
How important is the relative sector allocation in your different portfolio ?
For example: Technology is 21% in the balanced portfolio vs 7 % in the income.
Financial 13 % in the balanced vs 19 % in the income portfolio.
Do you expect to change eventually those sector representation ? If yes why ?
I am right in assuming that this sector allocation could a determinant factor in performance and volatility relative to Canadian ETF (always high on financial and energy) ?
Keep on the good work ! You're much appreciated !

Q: Hello 5i

My wife and I will retire in 6 years. We plan to take 15/yr out of our RRSP's at full retirement.

After pulling most of our investments from mutual funds we have the following:
- 250k RRSP to invest into non-CDN (most likely ZWE, VUN, EXC, and a few stocks or XAW)
- 100k RRSP Mutual funds in bonds (transfer to ETF's or stocks over time to reduce fees)
- 100k RRSP for CDN investment (VCN or portfolio stocks?)
- 25k for TFSA now + 20k/yr to add to TFSA

We are not sure if purchasing 100k of VCN is the right choice.
Would you recommend 100k into the balanced and/or income portfolio instead, or a combination of VCN and balanced portfolio?

If RRSP funds are allocated to portfolios, which stocks are best suited for an RRSP? We can purchase the remaining stocks through our TFSA (higher growth stocks).

Please take the appropriate number of credits for the question.

Thank you for your great service.

Jerry & Debbie

Q: I am just starting a new portfolio and would like to mimic the Beport portfolio. Are all companies currently in the model appropriate to purchase at market price or would you substitute any out for others when starting fresh.

Thanks in advance.

KC

Q: Hi Guys,

I was surprised to see that you sold the entire position of CXI in the balanced portfolio on May 1st, considering I asked April 19th which 5 companies I should start with as I built up the portfolio, and you included CXI in your top picks:

"AIF, PKI, MG, SYZ and CXI look attractive today"

In any event, I understand things can change quickly. Do you think CXI is worth holding still, I'm down 5%.

Also, I'm ready to purchase 5 more names in the portfolio, can you let me know which are looking most attractive today?

Thanks,

Jamie

Q: Currently building the BE portfolio. In Technology, I only own CSU, looking for a second name to add. Which company would you add for diversification? If you think I should add two half positions that would be OK too. Thanks!

Q: Can you list the companies (looking for ~5 or more) in the BE portfolio that you expect would do best in a general market downturn. I understand that there is guesswork involved here but if you were try to overweight stocks in BE that had this characteristic which would you choose? Thanks.

Q: THANK YOU for the sector info on the Portfolios reports-good to have!

Q: I would like to know how I can unprotect the Excel file on the model portfolio. Some cells appear with #### because the number is exceeding the width of the column. I would need the protection password for the file please.
Thank you
Jean

Q: I have emulated the Balanced Equity portfolio as much as possible but the proportions don't max exactly. PBH and KXS are not yet at the 6% level (close) so I did not re-balance. Trust this in line with your thinking.

BTW...April numbers in my three trading accounts are: +1.54, +3.1 and +2.14. And my TFSA, begun in January, 2015, is almost doubled. Thanks for your genius. I tend to think of all three accounts as a single portfolio but iTrade can't combine them.

Q: Could you give a list of 5i's portfolio holdings that you consider provides a significant (partial) substitute for direct U.S. or International investment choices, along with a rough percentage of how much of each holding you feel would qualify for our "non-Canadian" portion ? Many thanks.

Q: The term Core Holding has come to my attention recently in both your Q&A and an analyst report. It makes me think is there a list in your head of companies that would represent a core holding in a portfolio of Canadian Equities? Or is this kind of your balanced portfolio?

Q: You have often stated that 20 equity holdings is about perfect and over that there is no real benefit to “over-diversification” and it actually moves a portfolio closer to just replicating an index. I like to follow your BE portfolio, but when you add on my US holdings, ETFs for international diversification, emerging markets, bonds, preferreds etc my portfolio (7 figures) is left with 58 different individual holdings /ETFs. I would like to cut it down a bit. My question is this: Your BE portfolio started with 20 names and has now grown to 25. Are there any plans to reduce the number of holdings back down to 20 in the near future?

Q: Hi There,

I want to begin deploying funds towards the balanced portfolio. Can you please tell me which 5 names you would add today, based on the current price of the individual stocks. I know it's not a great strategy to try and time the market, but I plan on adding 5 at a time over the next couple months, and figure there may be 5 that I'm better off starting with.

Thanks!

Q: Good day...I am lucky enough to have a fairly large portfolio that is 70% in your balanced portfolio and 10% in various growth and income stocks you have in the other two portfolios. I also have 20% of my portfolio in u.s. stocks. My question is whether or not I should have any emerging market exposure or are the companies in your three portfolios have enough already. I look forward to your thoughts on this...

Q: Does the rate of return (3.44%) on your balanced portfolio exclude dividends?

Q: Can you explain why some companies are included in your model portfolios, but have an NR rating ?