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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: In general over the last little while when asked about favorite stocks in your portfolio you include SIS, TOY, PBH, CSU and GUD. I fortunately own all of them and have profited handsomely. Thank you very much! If you had to currently add a stock from each TSX sector which stocks would you pick? One caveat, please do not pick any of the 5 listed above! Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Paul on October 13, 2017
Q: I noticed this month that with the exchange of ENGH for CG that it changed the tech sector allocation from 19% to 16% was this done to facilitate a sector rotation that seems to be underway or simply a function of one company with better prospects over another. I tend to complete the Balanced Portfolio and also have a number of your Income Portfolio stocks in my portfolio and was wondering if I should move my portfolio to that percentage in tech..as usual thank you for your great service...Eugene
Read Answer Asked by gene on October 04, 2017
Q: My 20 year old son has started a stock portfolio and currently holds 11 stocks and will add a few a year. We are following your balanced portfolio. He was overweight energy and sold a position today on the recent bounce. He only holds TOY in the consumer area, MX in the materials area, and SIS in industrials. We are looking at adding in one of these three areas. Any suggestions? also holds SHOP, CLS, KXS, ALA, BNS, ECN, GUD.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on October 02, 2017
Q: My daughter is just starting her investing journey and has probably 40 plus years until she needs the money. She has enough for 12 stocks and I have suggested she follow your balanced portfolio with a few growth stock added. Considering buying T, GUD, ENB, CCL.B, TV, BNS, TOY, PBH, SHOP, CAE. She understands SHOP as her mom was one of their early clients, but we are hesitant due to its incredible run up. Is this a good list and could you suggest two more stocks from one of the following areas. Tech, industrials or consumer. We are considering PHO, CSU, BYD.UN, KXS, OTEX, GC and SIS. Any other suggested changes would be appreciated. As a new investor I am sure she values some stability as she gets her feet wet but growth should be a prime objective. Of these stocks which one would you chose for her TFSA. Thanks for your insight. Please deduct appropriate credits.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on September 22, 2017
Q: A few days ago I read you dropped ENGH from your Balanced Equity Portfolio but now I cannot find reference to this on your model portfolio update page. Please remind us of which stock replaced ENGH at what weight and when was the switch made.

Thanks for your response,

Steve


Read Answer Asked by Steve on September 21, 2017
Q: I am slowly building the BE portfolio in my RRSP as funds become available. For instant diversification, would it make sense to own 20-30% ZDV for access to bigger names like BNS, ENB, MG, T, MX, CGX and SLF? Basically Financials, Energy and Utilities would be covered. I could then concentrate on adding the smaller names like SIS, PBH, GUD, ENGH, TOY for the remainder of the portfolio? Would it defeat the essence of the BE portfolio? Any other ETF would be better? Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Jean-Bernard on August 28, 2017
Q: Hello, I will have to liquidate a substantial amount of my portfolio in the near future and figured I may as well take the opportunity to rebalance my holdings. My goal is to build a fully invested portfolio based on the 5i Balanced Equity portfolio core, with a minor growth tilt. I have read through the Q&A section thoroughly and have come up with the following solution and wanted your opinion:

NON-REG: AIF, BLX, PKI, WSP, XTC (5 holdings)
TFSA: CCL.B, CSU, KL, KXS, NFI, PBH, PHO, SHOP, SIS, SYZ, TOY (11 holdings)
RRSP: ATD.B, BYD.UN, CAE, CLS, ENGH, GSY, GUD, MX, SJ, PEO, ZZZ (11 holdings)

I have 2 questions (please feel free to deduct more credits if necessary):

1) Are there any names you would remove and/or swap out for other names? (I am nearing 30 holdings which from what I have read could be getting too large and inefficient) and

2) Is the division of holdings across the NON-REG/TFSA/RRSP best spread for growth efficiency?

As always, thanks for your amazing service!!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on August 14, 2017
Q: I've recently changed jobs and now have access to funds that were previously tied up in a group RRSP. I would like to start building the balanced equity portfolio, and at this point in time believe I have enough cash to buy about half of the portfolio now, with the intention of rounding it out in the new year.

Which 10 or so stocks from the balanced equity portfolio would you recommend starting with at this point in time? I'm in my late 20s so therefore have a long investment horizon.

Thanks in advance.
Read Answer Asked by Michael on August 10, 2017
Q: I am retired and living on dividend income. 80% of my funds are in my income portfolio, which is focused on dividends and yield (approx. 20 stocks) and meet my income needs.
So I am considering investing the remaining 20% of my funds in your balanced portfolio for more capital appreciation. How would you recommend I go about this? If I also mirror your balanced portfolio, I would have 40+ stocks in my portfolio.
Would you therefore recommend 5 stocks that look most attractive at current valuations and invest equally in each?
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on July 20, 2017
Q: Hi 5i,
Just a comment. For anyone looking at historical returns to evaluate the future prospects for a balanced (equity + fixed income) portfolio, it is extremely important to consider that the next 30 years of fixed income returns are virtually guaranteed to be significantly different than the past 30 to 40 years. Bond yields (interest returns) were in a generally declining trend, originally from nosebleed levels, for about 35 years from approximately 1980, during which even government bond yields dropped from double digit peaks to the negligible rates available over the past couple of years. The portfolios of investors who held bonds of significant duration early in that period reaped high interest rate bond returns while they watched the paper value of their bonds increase with each downward tick in interest rates. The fixed income component was potentially a tremendous contributor to very good portfolio returns over much of that extended period of declining interest rates.
Looking out over the next 30 years, the prospect is vastly different. Bonds don’t have anything remotely approaching the same kind of return potential. Current interest rate returns are still very low as rates are recently just beginning to move off what may later be viewed as ‘the bottom.’ The prospect for people who hold bonds of any significant duration while rates rise is that their holdings become less valuable. Low interest instruments may need to be held to maturity in order to avoid a loss of principal. In the meantime, those low interest bond returns will be a drag on any better portfolio returns that may be generated by equity holdings. If you have 50% of your portfolio in bonds that pay 2%, and you hope for an 8% overall portfolio return, you have to generate a return of 14% from your equities. Maybe bond yields will return to levels where they are not so detrimental to significant portfolio returns over the next 5 to 10 years but maybe they won’t. If they do, then holding bonds while the rates are rising can be painful. If they don’t, then they may go through an extended period where the chief value in bonds is the secure return of capital at maturity but the return prospects until maturity are relatively dismal.
The fact that someone buying a 10-year Canada Bond in 1982 got a 16% annual rate of return on it is not an indication of what anyone putting together a bond portfolio or balanced portfolio today can expect it to realize. It is completely irrelevant.
To assess the return prospects of a balanced portfolio today, you need to consider the relevant details and prospects for today's bonds, not the irrelevant details and portfolio contributions of bonds that have long since expired.

(Please print only if you think doing so may be helpful.)
Read Answer Asked by Lance on July 19, 2017
Q: Where can I find past model portfolio updates? I am a new member and would like to review the historical trades in the portfolios along with a brief description but I can't find anywhere that has past trades unless I open up every monthly report.
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on July 13, 2017
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