Investment Q&A

Q: In response to Dennis question on Jan 9 I use my watchlist the Globe and Mail to get company info.
Of the 40 companies in my list there were 24 announcements between Jan 4 to 9th
Can I claim the cost of my Globe and Mail subscription as a tax write off?

Q: Your answer to Peter on Jan. 6 about when to sell stocks was that if something has changed and you list a numerous amount of reasons for these changes - where would a member get this type of information in a timely manner? Stocks of mine have dropped a great deal in a short period of time. Example, AT - I found out they have applied to issue more stocks, if need be. Seems to be a lot of terminology used in these types of cases, i.e. bought deals, secondary issues, etc.. Unfortunately, by the time I find this out the stock is already down considerably. Could 5i perhaps have an area where this type of information could be retrieved on stocks that 5i follows? Thank you again for your good information.

Q: How did the Financial Index perform, in Canada and the US in 2020?

Q: Are we approaching a point where we should be cautious about putting new funds to work in the Balanced Equity 5iPortfolio? Valuations are high and for some reason one of the world’s best investors is sitting on mountains of cash?

Q: What stocks within the Balanced Equity 5i Portfolio are best positioned for stronger returns in 2021?

Q: What sectors would decline if inflation and/or interest rates were to rise.

Q: Happy New Year and thanks for everything you do. This year has been by far my best year in the markets thanks to the patience i have learned through the daily Questions and Answers. Just a general question re the markets. I get asked by alot of people who can't get their head around that so many people have been out of work and the gov't continuously dishing out money, but the markets keep on chugging along like everything is good or going to be good in the near future in the world. In other words there seems to be alot of disconnect, thanks?

Q: Hi,
Is it a good time to start a position in ENGH? Half or full position? Long term hold in registered account.

Also, would you have some buy recommendations / favorites for mid to large cap names. 4 to 5 names, no specific sectors, 10 year+ hold. Thank you.

Best wishes to the team for the holiday season!

Q: Last year we sold the shares in all 4 portfolios and switched to the ETF's in your growth portfolio. Used your % weighting in each ETF. We also held 2000 LSPD.
Now that the growth desired has been achieved, we would like to switch to a more conservative group of ETF's. Do you have any suggestions as to how to go about this?
Thanks, Bill

Q: With Peter now managing a fund, will he still be spending most of his time with 5i answering questions, etc.? I see people wanting changes by way of having a separate advisory for US securities instead of them being combined as they are now. I had a paid subscription with another advisory and which were not combined and they had for example, small cap, large cap, income, US small, US large, etc. so you would be subscribing to half a dozen of their programs to get all of the information. I see now I receive emails from them and they are reaching out with another more inexpensive program where like Amazon - pick the program and put it in a cart. Your subscription is far superior to what I am aware of. Awaiting your response. Thank you.

Q: I was wondering if you have any recommendations for some Jan'21 bounce back stocks after late 2020 tax loss selling?

Q: Do you consider this is a good time to buy US dollars?

Q: This is a comment to your answer to Kapil regarding deductiblity of interest. I alawys thought that as long as the money that is borrowed be used to generate income "irrespective of it is a line of credit or a mortgage" then interest on this money is tax deductible.

Q: Hi,
I just came across the "Venture 50" list on the tmx money website. Please see link below. This is a good list of small caps that have had strong price appreciation and market cap growth (and that is all, there is NO other criteria to make it onto the list).
But 4 of the 5 venture-listed stocks in the 5i Growth Portfolio are showing up on this list which is a good sign (and WELL was there too, but has since moved up to the TSX).

Do you agree this is a solid list to use as an initial screen/filter for finding good investment ideas in the small cap space? For sure, more investigation is required because for example, I just looked at the #1 stock overall on the list (DYA) and it has no FCF, and expenses are rising faster than revenue, and it is just a 52-cent stock, and it didn't get the bump that others in green-clean energy/technology got from the recent positive market sentiment. It's worth watching but not ready yet..? Thx.

https://www.tsx.com/venture50

Q: In calculating the weightings of individual equity holdings, I use only my total equity holdings as the denominator and ignore bonds. Outside of Canada, my equity exposure is held in international ETFs, and I include these in the total equity when making the above calculation. Do you think that's the right approach? I go back and forth on whether to remove the ETFs from the calculation.

Thanks.

Q: Hello 5i team:
This is a suggestion and a question!
Not at all hypothetical or a thought experiment.
In the main newspapers G&M, FP and magazines like Moneysense there is a real case history of people who submit their stories and ask for suggestions. Names and identities are of course masked.
It will be nice to see such a feature say once a month in your blogs!

Question: If you were to construct a portfolio(s) with ETFS spruced with some stocks that generates 80k per year, how much capital one would need? You may want to apply your approach of Income/Balanced/Growth portfolio.
Your growth portfolio has done exceptionally well thanks to some highflyers like SHOP. But one can't rely on such phenomenon all the time! Hence my ETFs based approach.

Q: In your answer to a question concerning REAL you mentioned that the stock is cheap. Would you please explains what makes a stock cheap and conversely what makes an expensive stock. Thanks … Cal

Q: Dear 5i team:
I know that you have consistently and persistently been saying the portfolio construction and asset allocation percentages of sectors/stocks is very personal and therefore can't make suggestions.
Agreed!
May I request you to direct me/others to resources that will help us to structure a portfolio? Websites/articles/podcasts and such.
Thanks.

Q: Norbert's Gambit appears to work well to convert CAD to USD. However, this Gambit does not work for the reverse conversion. Do you have any suggestions as to how to limit your foreign exchange conversion fee, while limiting risk, when converting from USD to CAD?

Thank you for your insightful advice.

Q: With the possibility of the capital gains exemption being reduced or maybe even eliminated I am considering selling a few high growth stocks in my non-registered account and buying them back the same day in a TFSA where I still have quite a bit of room to contribute. First of all is this allowable under the Revenue Canada taxation rules. Secondly could you comment on whether this is a reasonable strategy to follow. And thirdly how likely do you think the capital gains exemption will be reduced or eliminated over the next year or so. Thank you.