Investment Q&A

Q: I don't know who else to ask on this one. I trade on both TD Waterhouse and NBDC. On occasion, I find them giving quite different stock readouts. For example, right now, it's 12:52PM on Jan 19. NBDB is showing VXM at 49.80 -08% with a bid/ask of 48.77-50.92. TD is showing it at 50.79 +1.84% with a bid ask of 50.25-50.92. How can they have such widely different quotes?

I realize NBDB doesn't show live quote on its main page, but it does when you bring up the buy/sell pop-up. So these quotes should be identical. But this is not the first time I've found such wide ranges.

Q: Regarding Dawn's problem with transferring/contributing USD to TFSA/RRSP accounts with TD:

TD won't transfer USD cash into registered accounts like TFSA or RRSP, but *it will* transfer US assets in-kind . Actually, as far as I remember, you can do it yourself.

So, all you need to do is to buy a money market fund. I used at the time TDB2915 recommended by TD Direct Investing staff (worth confirming if it's still the best to use for this transfer) because there are no fees when buying/selling TD funds.

So, buy as many units of the fund as needed in your USD margin account , and then after a day or two you can transfer online the fund units in-kind into your *CAD* TFSA/RRSP account. Here, I don't remember if you have to move the units into your *CAD* margin account or not first, in order to be able to do the transfer in-kind online by yourself. Anyway, once you have your fund units you can ask the TD staff to do it for you, if you prefer.

Once into the CAD registered account, you can transfer them into your USD TFSA/RRSP account and then sell them for cash. No buying or selling fees should apply.

Hope this helps. Best regards.

Q: 5i has been a terrific resource for many things, including recommendations for great stocks that I would never have owned otherwise.. But... I now have too many 'favourites' and need to reduce the number of equities in each of these 3 sectors : Financial, Industrial and Tech. Your suggestions as to a rational approach to the decision making process would be appreciated . I assume there will be different factors for different sectors as well as adjustments to be made depending on whether the preference is for growth, income or a balanced approach. I have reached decision making paralysis - HELP !!

Q: Hearing the "options based ETF" category as a means of hedging against equity risk. Could you provide some comment and any specific favourites. Thanks.

Q: Hi Everyone!
It seems to me that Quantum computing is of great interest , having read the following: “ …last Nov. Photonic inc, Xanadu and Nord Quantique advanced to the second stage of the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, led by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a military backed research program that aims to build a useable quantum computer by 2033.”
Are any of these companies considered investable by you or are there any others, or are things premature at the moment? It would be nice to get in early in a company with good potential.
Cheers,
Tamara

Q: A question regarding portfolio construction.
Currently, my RSP portfolio includes 25% CAD financials, including (in roughly equal amounts) BAM, BNS, CIBC, GSY, POW, and SLF.
The balance of my portfolio is pretty well diversified and includes both CAD and US equities and ETFs, with no one sector accounting for more than 15% of the total and no one holding being worth more than 5%.
My question ... would you consider my financial sector concentration too high (even though it consists of a variety of types of companies) and, if so, in what order would you reduce holdings?
What general guidelines can you recommend?
Thanks for the help. Rick

Q: Hi,
You’ve mentioned a lot of small caps that have already had significant growth in share price. What are some small cap names that have not yet landed on everyone’s radar?

Q: Dear 5i
If i was to buy 10k worth of a US stock with CD dollars , would the Fx conversion costs be significantly more then if i bought the same US stock as a CDR considering a CDRs embedded fee`s ?
Thanks Bill C

Q: Undervalued sectors, I think the CAD banks are on the high side now, thinking of rebalancing with the gains I had, but looking into what sectors are now undervalued. Any suggestions.

Q: What does your crystal ball say about US inflation heading into 2026? With equities looking vulnerable as they bouncing along the top, bonds also seemed poised to drop if prices rise more. In a conservative portfolio, what would be your equity/fixed income mix...and I assume you would stay short on most bonds.

Q: Looking ahead to next year’s CUSMA negotiations, could you provide best- and worst-case scenarios and how each might affect markets?

Q: For an income seeking investor who has built up a modest portfolio and wealth using institute financial advisors considering doing investing on their to save fees to create more wealth and income, how many hours/ week would one have to spend to monitor, research and buy/sell investments for their portfolio?

Second question/questions what basic investing knowledge should one have or perhaps a better way to ask this question is can you name a few investing courses one could take to be more comfortable investing without the assistance of a financial advisor?

Thanks and seasons greetings to all.

Q: Would appreciate your advice for RRSP - 15 to 20 concentrated ETF/stocks quality plus growth Portfolio for 3-5 years hold.

Q: I believe last April U.S markets entered a corrective phase. Do you think we are entering one now?
How often do they normally occur during a year?

Q: Dear Peter et al:

I enjoyed your article , "This December, free up some time by ignoring these investing issues". A timely article. Well written. As a long term subscriber, I know that you live by these "principles" even when we pepper you with questions on target prices! :)

You didn't mention about what would make you "sell"! In other words, what are your exit strategies other than trimming your position sizes in those multi baggers!

I ask this b/c of my experience with Knight therapeutics, Payfare and a few others. Do you look at "opportunity costs" in your portfolio construction?

I value your words of wisdom, always!

Q: We're approaching January, many of which have a lot of turbulence as fund managers sell winning stocks/sectors from this year to buy into what they think will be the winning stocks/sectors for 2026. Do you have any insight on what we should expect from them this time around? Canadian banking has been insanely good this year. Will they bet on that continuing or sell off to buy tech? Or will they go for gold or the long neglected healthcare or real estate sectors?

I presume there will also be a lot of retail selling of winners this year from people who put it off so the taxes would be delayed. Though I'm not sure how much retail moves the needle compared to funds.

Q: Hi 5i team,

I would like to hear your take on these three points:

1. AI is a low margin business like energy/manufacturing

The idea is that, unlike software, AI has high marginal costs per query. Serving 100M queries costs roughly 2x as much as 50M. So as models get more complex, computing costs (electricity and water)scale up linearly. Doesn't this trap AI companies in a CAPEX-heavy, OPEX-intensive, and low-margin game instead of the high-margin SaaS story everyone's betting on?

2. Anthropic has a better business model than OpenAI

OpenAI relies heavily on consumer subscriptions (ChatGPT Plus), which are volatile. Anthropic gets 80+% revenue from enterprise/API deals much stickier. So Anthropic's actually in a stronger position long term?

3. $1 trillion OpenAI IPO doesn't make sense

Above reasons plus they're burning $14B+ annually by 2027, mostly going to Microsoft for cloud credits. Plus, the circular logic of their investors funding startups that buy OpenAI credits. Sounds like WeWork all over again?

Best,
Matt

Q: I came across SMX stock. It shows 52 week from 3 to 66k. Is this worth investing. Can you please give your opinion.

Thanks for the excellent service

Q: Which website would you suggest to look at RSI?

Q: A young gas attendant was admiring my brand new Harley, he said he would never have enough money to buy one. I told him how I did, investing in stocks. He asked where is a good place for a guy that knows nothing about stocks to start learning?