Investment Q&A

Q: Hi, I want to Invest some of my cash outside of Canadian and US markets. I would appreciate if you can suggest a few markets with good valuations and potential. I do not want to pick individual stocks, but instead would buy an ETF.
Thanks

Q: I am confused. The 30 day rule for buying a stock you sold only applies to a cash or margin account and only applies to losses not gains on that stock. The 30 day rule doesn't apply in an RRSP, RIF or TFSA account. Is this true? Thanks.

Q: Would it be possible to include whether the dividend of companies that you cover qualify for the dividend tax credit or contain foreign income or return of capital? This information is a lot harder to find on company websites than I thought it would be since I think is quite important information. I appreciate it might be hard to include provide this info for every question asked (thought it would be nice when the question does pertain specifically to the dividend) but the Reports should include it, I think. It may also help to cut down on the number of questions as to which account stocks should be held.

Thank you.

Paul F.

Q: I bot a warrant several years ago for $3.00. It will run out in June of this year and is now worth two cents. Can I do nothing and just this run out or do I have to sell it. Money from the sale will not cover the brokers fee.

Q: Recently a member suggested The Cerbat Gem as a free investment news and recommendations site. May I advise caution as concerns this site.

Yes, they aggregate press releases, broker reports, and trading monitors in an impersonal (robotic?) style, and perhaps this provides a useful service. But there is little to distinguish The Cerbat Gem from (for example) The Stock Rover, Buckeye Business Review, Chaffey Breeze, Rockville Register, The Markets Daily, Community Financial News, Key Gazette, etc., etc., etc. - all of whom print variations on essentially the same information.

Still not put-off? Consider, then, that the site's Omaha, Nebraska street address can't be located via Google maps, and that it shares a Florida phone number with Sports Perspectives (another address-unfindable investment-news site.) Indeed, we might wonder whether its real purpose were to generate webpages which, subsequently, show-up on news-based search results, thereby creating click-bait for the site's endless pop-up ads.

Q: Your readers may be interested in a couple of free investment sites that I use.
The first is Globe Investor/My Watchlist which publishes daily
(before the market opens)-Analyst upgrades & downgrades and Small cap stocks to watch.Then the next day some of the selections are reported in the Globe & Mail. For instance Cirius Trust was an upgrade yesterday and was covered today in Eye on equities in the Globe & Mail. This morning before the market opened Shopify was upgraded .
The 2nd is The Cerbat Gem ,a U.S. site that covers investment news and recommendations from numerous investment houses in Canada & U.S.
Recently they had reports on Crh,Sis and Zcl.

Q: CAN YOU PLEASE PROVIDE SOME INFORMATION ON THE ABOVE NOTED SECURITY?
The yield exceeds 7%.
Is it suitable for a conservative income investor?
Thanks

Q: I don't usually like market timing and don't really believe in this "sell in may..." stuff, but this year is a little different. What are your thoughts if the Trump administration is unable to come up with a concrete tax reform plan by may/june? Would they have time given congress goes into break shortly after? I would expect there would be volatility ahead, but have you experienced similar events like this in the past where there's been bets on policy changes that don't materialize?

Q: We have two RESP's one with ages 9 and 13 and the other for an 11 year old. Both RESP's are currently 50% cash. The largest single holding in both is ZLB. Please suggest 5 good company growth stocks with positive momentum and good valuations in your opinion. Thank you.

Q: April 11/17 ? asked by Terry re large block
trading:
'Dark pools' are private networks which do not have to report trades to the consolidated volume till after completion. In the US, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Citibank and others have them and apparently account for as much as 40% of the volume. What is the situation re 'dark pools' in Canada? Also, what is the situation with TSE trades reported as 'anonymous' broker?

Q: Hi,

I contribute monthly to my family's RESP, but as the value of the family plan grew I've started to question what happens with the money if they don't go to school.

Turns out both myself and the gov't get our capital back (no taxes) plus the earnings on the investment (taxable), plus 20% tax (the gov'ts share, I suppose).

My concern is that I'm prioritizing my RESP contribution over my TFSA contribution (thus not maxing out my TFSA). In your opinion, should I be prioritizing TFSA contribution over RESP?

Q: I have heard that at higher incomes dividends can be taxed more heavily than capital gains. If true, at what income point does it make more sense to hold dividend paying stocks in a non-registered account instead of in an RRSP?

Q: TFSA
I should only put Canadian investments in it.
If I put in US dividend stocks I will have an issue with the 15%
withholding tax.

Q: Hi,

We have a HELOC with a rate at 2.70%. We are planning to invest a portion of it ($100,000) using the smith manoeuvre strategy. Just want to ask your recommendation on 5 solid dividend yielding stocks that can give a good return and can benefit using this strategy. Any member in this group using this strategy?

Your thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

Q: Hey 5i,

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the Toronto housing market as a whole. Do the valuations make any sense relative to our incomes? Or does that even matter anymore?

Thanks

Q: Under the heading miscellaneous there are questions about a particular stock but the stock's name does not appear. On April 7th the following question was asked “Q: Our financial advisor has exposure to other countries with this mutual fund (3%). This is in my RRSP. Your thoughts please.” Your answer refers to the stock but never mentions its name. Could you please explain why that is. Thanks.

Q: Are you aware that Ryan Modesto is on Market Call on BNN at noon today--watch and support.

Q: Hi 5I, I need some clarification on time horizons and when to switch out and/or sell a company. If one says that they are holding long what time frame are we looking at? Sometimes I hear 3 to 5 years, other times 5 to 10 years. But in all of your portfolios what is the design factor? If one is long term investor and a stock has gone up 40%+ why would you need to sell it if the time horizon has not been completed? Timing has not done well for me. So I know that re balancing a portfolio means not going over a certain weighting per stock or sector for safety but what are you usually looking at to get out of a stock. Sometimes you say you are comfortable in people getting into a stock for long term but then you might turn around and move it out of the portfolio. So should I follow a multi-year hold, or follow the portfolio with the recommended in's and out's as you try to make the model better. Thanks for your advice.

Q: Peter, as a former portfolio manager, how do you buy large volumes of shares? Would you execute the order yourself or would you have a team to do this? My personal portfolio is over 8 digits so I always question myself on how to execute positions. I currently only buy companies greater than $400 million and always calculate the average daily volume multiplied by the current price to see if my trade will change the market. I take a current price and discount it by an educated guess % and enter the whole trade in and let it sit and the market move into my buy. This way I am not bidding up the stock. The bank has offered block trades, but I am not in control. In your experience what is the best way to enter and/or exit a large position?

Q: Hi there, I am an investor in my early 30's and follow your Balanced Equity portfolio and understand that it is an excellent mix of growth and stability names. I am curious to know what adjustments you would make if I were looking to substitute the more stable, less risky names with names with higher growth torque - names similar to KXS, NFI, PBH, SIS etc (so maybe not as small and volatile as some names in the Growth portfolio). Thanks for your awesome service!