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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: According to the experts in seasonal investing, September is statistically the worst time for markets, but then things start to pick up again later in October and into November. Would you let this consideration influence your investment decisions? I have capital to deploy but I'm wondering if I should wait another month or so before I start new positions. Also, are foreign markets (Europe, EM, Japan, etc) subject to the same September curse, on average? Thanks very much.
Read Answer Asked by Brian on September 13, 2017
Q: Hi, I'm not sure of you do Tax questions or not. I am a new DIY investor (March 2017). I currently have Cash, RRSP, and TSFA accounts, all with CAD and USD capability. I did not do much tax research before I started building my portfolio. Currently I hold all my US equities and us funds in the USD Cash account (about 15% of portfolio). Now it seems to me from a tax point of view this is the worst possible place to hold US securities. Of course if I want to use the US cash then it's the only place I should actually put it. But I don't think I will need to use the US cash any time soon. So it seems to me that despite the 15% withholding tax the TSFA would be the best place for US equities, since the US gains are much higher than Canadian, and I could get the money if I do need end up needing it. Does that make sense? Would it be prudent to put a portion of both RRSP money and TSFA money into US funds accts with the CAD relatively strong right now? I have cash available in both accts to do so, but would be raising my overall US funds to about 25%. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by John on September 11, 2017
Q: I currently hold a significant amount of U.S. cash in my US dollar RSP. With the latest
surge in the Canadian dollar vs the US dollar can you recommend any strategy that can
offset further decreases in the value of my holdings in Canadian dollar terms in the short or medium term? I am 71 this year and I will have to convert to a RIF by the end of this year. Given the current geopolitical environment and extreme weather in the southern US the likelihood of any US dollar appreciation or strength appears dim in the near term. Would holding gold or gold producers help to hedge my US position?
Thank you for your advice.
Read Answer Asked by Oleh on September 07, 2017
Q: Hi team, what is an income investor to do in a rising rate environment? What are the sectors and equities that will be most impacted and what are the best sectors to invest in? Do you have any specific stock recommendations for income? I currently have many of the canadian banks, utilities and telcoms which have all taken a hit.
As always thanks for you advice.
Nancy
Read Answer Asked by Nancy on September 07, 2017
Q: Good morning Peter, Ryan, and Team,

Could you give two or three Canadian stocks in each of the following sectors that look to be compelling buys today?

-Consumer Discretionary
-Financial
-Health Care
-Industrial
-Information Technology
-Utilities

I may already own some of your suggestions but would be comfortable adding to positions if my weighting is reasonable. (my call).

Thanks in advance for steering us through turbulent times!
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on September 07, 2017
Q: Hi, This question is also triggered by the sharp rise in Canadian Dollar over past 2 months. Canadian companies which trade on both CDN and US exchanges have seen their share price lag on TSX. Shopify is an example, which has seen a spectacular move in US Dollar terms but not so much in CDN Dollar terms.

This disparity in dual listed stocks was so pronounced on Wednesday after CDN Dollar shot up to 0.82 Cents at 10 AM after BOC Rate hike was announced.

Which are the prominent dual listed stocks that come to your mind which have fair share of trading on US exchanges ? I guess, I am trying to position and manage my expectations for price movements of some of my holdings in this category.

Also I have some US Dollar cash balance. Does it make sense to buy/add these stocks in USD instead of CDN Dollar ?

Thanks


Read Answer Asked by rajeev on September 07, 2017
Q: This may seem like an odd question to some but I would like to make sure I actually understand what is being said rather than assuming I do. On business shows guests say, in different ways, they have increased their cash positions or decreasing their equity exposures. Although such statements might seem rather straight forward, can they actually have different meanings depending on who is saying it? All kinds of guests appear from pure 100% equity fund managers to individuals actually managing diversified portfolios for clients.

Assume one is operating with a vision of a fully invested portfolio having 40% fixed assets which includes their cash portion and 60 % equities.

When guests generally talk of decreasing their equity exposure or increasing cash positions is there a standard meaning? Say someone cut their equity exposure by 10%. Would that typically mean their equity position has decreased to 50% (60%-10%) or does it mean they reduced it by 6% (60% X 10%) to 54%? Conversely, how might one interpret a 10% increase in cash?
Some managers talk of maintaining gold positions. If a balanced portfolio manager referred to a 5% weighting in gold would that generally mean 5% of the total portfolio or the equity portion (60% X 5%=3%)?

Needless to say, substitute a higher number and it would make for meaningful differences depending on how you calculate things? Listening to some business show guests, I get the impression it does not always mean the same thing but no elaborations are ever asked by interviewers.

Could you please clarify what is generally meant? Thank you.

Mike
Read Answer Asked by Michael on September 07, 2017
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