Investment Q&A

Q: On this Thanks giving day Thank you peter and all the staff for your wonderful service and advise.

Q: Hello & Happy Thanksgiving to all.

I’m considering lending my 18-year old daughter some money at 3% so that she can invest in securities that yield 6-7% (preferreds, etc). The favourable dividend tax credit, and other tax credits (personal exemption, tuition etc) should keep her tax bill close to zero.
Would you suggest an etf, like CPD, or would you pick a basket of individual names like ENB, BCE, NPI prefs?
At this stage in the cycle, would you go Rate Rest or Perpetual?

Any website you can suggest that rates the various preferreds? The TD monthly Preferred Report is the only one I know of.

Thank you

Q: I am attempting to enter some Vanguard U.S. $ ETFs into my watchlist. It will take VGG , but not VOO, or VTWO or IWR or VIG.

Any thoughts

Thank you

Paul

Q: I just realized that the 5i Research News that I receive by email updating the portfolios and their status is not on the 5i Research website.ie I cannot access those written reports off the website. Am I missing something or is this correct?
I like to print these written reports. I know that I can access the model portfolios from the website.

Q: At this point in time, what would you say is an opportunity to buy 3 stocks in each of the income and also balanced portfolios? Thanks for your suggestions.....Tom

Q: I currently hold fts and aqn and down about 8% on both.With a us rate hike possible in Dec. Should I hold or exit my position. Further why would a small .25 increase have such a down effect on these stocks.This increase has been in the news for a year?

Q: There is something I'd like to share with your members. I've been tracking 3 portfolios in detail for the last 18 months. One of them is a "couch potato" self-directed account, one is a mutual fund account while the third is an RBC "wealth management" account. The top performer believe it or not is the self-directed account!
It would seem that the outrageously high portfolio management fees in Canada are indeed not justifiable (based on my limited findings at least).
I am writing this message to add my simple voice to the growing chorus of individuals managing their own financial affairs. It works! I hope this simple message will encourage your members to keep on the path that they're on.
Now for my question - in another response you mentioned that brokers add to their revenue stream by "lending clients equities held in brokerage accounts" to short sellers. What percentage of a typical brokerage firms's revenue would be derived this way?

Q: From Oct. 3 : Q: A headline article in Globe and mail " Why it feels like another financial crisis ----" gives a current p/e for the tsx of 23.6 Your macroeconomic report has it at 17. Is this a difference between trailing and forward earnings or am I missing something?/
5i Research Answer:
There is a difference between current and forward earnings multiples. For example, based on data from Thomson Reuters, the current P/E for the TSX is 17.2x and the forward P/E shows 16.7x. Some publishings do not distinguish between forward and current when reporting P/E so one may see differences from time to time. However, the P/E quoted by the Globe looks to be high regardless of the timing perspective. Different services also seem to use different sources of estimates; we do see 23X on some other services, but simply defaulted to Thomson here.

It seems to me that the difference between 17 and 23 is a significant distinction and would indicate the TSX is in overbought territory if the latter is true. A subsequent article in ROB on Oct 4 produced a chart (source Bloomberg) showing the PE ratio for the TSX "Composite" at 23.5 and the highest in 14 years with the widest gap with the US since 2009. Is it possible 5i Research data from Thomson Reuters is utilizing the smaller sample from the TSX "60" or another index to arrive at 17X?
How to know what the true number is for sure?

Q: I own a stock and i want to buy and sell in an attempt to average down my cost and eventually to get even. I would always use the new money invested to trade in and out. This is in a non- registered account. Can i do this without waiting the 30 day period.

Thank You

Vince

Q: I keep reading about this, but NO ONE can tell me exactly HOW to ENROLl in these DRIP Programs. I even dropped into the office of Agnico eagle around the corner, and they did not know.....telling me to see by broker. I also wrote to someone I respect very much at ROB, but to no avail. Can you please tell me how?

Thanks as always!

Q: Some time ago I asked about this fund TRIMARK GLOBAL ENDEAVOUR FUND. and you mentioned the MER is quite high.If I am thinking of selling this fund and would like to know what stocks or ETF would you replace this fund with?

Thanks
D

Q: I'm working on a TFSA.Which portfolio should I be using or what type of stocks.

THANK YOU KIM

Q: This is a general question on IPOs: my son works for a small laser company in the USA - medical lasers used for all kinds of cosmetic procedures that people pay for directly - mostly women. He is in sales and is doing very well. They are going to market with an IPO in the near future. Any general comments on buying IPOs?

Q: Hello 5i team,
I never held any gold or gold related equity; with today's significant drop in their value (don't know why), would it be a good time to get some exposure or do you foresee further drop?
Thanks,
Antoine

Q: Good Afternoon
After almost two years should I change my asset allocation? I have 40% of my portfolio in 3 High conviction equity funds, Canadian, U.S., and International. What % would you suggest at this time? Other holdings are mainly income with a few specialty holdings.

Thanks to the team

Q: Over the last few weeks a few precious metal experts have been on BNN and the majority of them predicting $1,400 gold by year-end. How could these professional people be so wrong on live TV?
Dennis

Q: When a dividend is paid, where can I go to determine the breakdown between the true dividend vs the return of capital?

Q: Hi Team,

When buying a stock, sometimes there is mention of "full position or half position". How much are these in percentage terms of a portfolio? Also how small a position can be in absolute dollar terms to be a meaningful contributor?

I really admire your ability for quick turn around and succinct answers to all the questions all day long.

RR

Q: I don't know if this question comes under your umbrella. It concerns money borrowed to invest, with the aim to claim the interest for tax back. I have done a Google check but i am not sure whether all loans can be used this way. currenly I use a small margin credit on my accounts, which comes to 3.75 per cent. I know that I can do much better than that, if i borrow on my house. But, would such a loan be seen as tax deductible for investing services.
thanks

Q: I have found that my best returns are when I reduce my portfolio size to 8-10 stocks.I know that according to almost all experts that my portfolio would not be properly diversified.I find that a investor such as myself can not spend the amount of time needed to keep up to a 20 stock portfolio.
The easy answer of course is to hire someone for my investments,but I have unfortunately been burned twice by investment professionals,and unwilling to strike out the third time.
Is there anything wrong with keeping a 8-10 stock portfolio, where I can keep a close watch on the news and the financials.
I personally think that is why your site is so helpful because the average investor do not have the resources and staff of a professional money manager.