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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: I would like to spend a credit to ask you to expand on your Nortel reference in an answer to a question asked on Feb 22nd. You said Nortel was a 'revenue scam'. Being a former Nortel employee & investor, with many under water shares, I am always interested in hearing & learning aspects as to why Nortel is no longer. So my question is what did you mean when you wrote Nortel was a 'revenue scam' for lack of a better phrase. Thanks … Cal
Read Answer Asked by cal on February 26, 2018
Q: I hold the following in my TFSA: dol, dsg, gud, kxs, pbl, pho, sis, toy and byd.un. I have cash to add another position or increase some of the current holdings. All current holdings are less than 5% of total equity holdings. According to TMX dol and dsg are the lowest rated as low moderate buys and pho is not rated. I expect TFSA holdings to at least double and without crazy volatility. Please advise what I should do. Any changes? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Richard on February 26, 2018
Q: Further to Lance's fine suggestion of using CanadaHelps for excess gains I can add TD's Private Giving Foundation as an alternative I've used since 2007. A twist is that contributions are endowed over a period, usually 10 years, with annual disbursements to chosen charities. Undistributed amounts are invested in TD's conservative mutual funds so some growth can be expected and a legacy is established. You get to name it whatever you wish eg: The Jones Family Foundation. Minimum $10,000. Details:

https://www.td.com/ca/products-services/investing/privategiving-index.jsp
Read Answer Asked by Jeff on February 23, 2018
Q: Hi 5i: Just a suggestion in relation to Elaine’s question about dealing with large embedded capital gains in a taxable account. If you are someone who makes charitable donations anyway, consider giving some of your highest percentage capital gains away by donating the shares instead of cash. For your own tax deduction purposes you get a tax receipt for the full value of the donated shares (capital gain included) but you don’t have to pay the tax on the gain to do it. An organization called CanadaHelps is worth checking out online as a facilitator. Before the New Year I was able to transfer a bunch of my PUR shares to them (after the takeout bid!), specify that I wanted the donation split in 12 different directions, and select the 12 different charities to receive individual donations equivalent to specific numbers of the shares. It was relatively easy for me given all the administrative work they looked after. And I got a bigger tax receipt than I would have if I had sold the shares, paid the tax, and donated the leftovers.
Read Answer Asked by Lance on February 21, 2018
Q: Hi,
I am wondering what would be a good template to go by in terms of how much of an overall portfolio should be Canadian ,how much in US,international and emerging markets.
For example would you Suggest 60 % be in Canadian equity or bonds, 20 % US, 10% international and 10 % emerging markets .
I look forward to reading your suggestion on this.
Thanks so much,
Susan
Read Answer Asked by Susan on February 20, 2018
Q: Hello
I have a 17 months and a 6 yrs old. I did very well on my 6 yrs old RESP and now wondering if I should get a separate RESP for my 17 months or switch to a joint account. Any recommendations? Any benefits having a joint account assuming only one of the 2 would reach University for example? If all things equal I would prefer to manage a single but bigger portfolio.
Thank you!

Read Answer Asked by Etienne on February 20, 2018
Q: Hello, I'm curious about the ex dividend date provided by my investment company. Is that the date - if you own stock on that date - that you earn the dividend dollars? Could i for instance a company with a dividend day of Feb 20, buy 100,000.00 of it on Feb 18, get the dividend and then sell on Feb 22? Not really a strategy I have in mind but I'd love clarification on how it works. I have some stocks I want to sell, some for tax loss purposes and some because they've gotten so high and am looking at this ex dividend date as something to consider.
Many thanks.
Dave
Read Answer Asked by David on February 20, 2018
Q: In general, do you think it is a good time to convert REITS & Energy mid-stream players to something like XTR or perhaps CPD? I hold HR.UN, AX.UN, RUF.UN, GEI, CHE.UN and KEY as candidates for the switch. I consider these as all fixed income proxy plays and am down in all instances roughly 15-20%. My bigger question would be: Do I have a better chance of capital recovery just holding them or making the switch knowing that XTR or CPD are certainly not big cap growth opportunities. Thanks in advance for your response.
Read Answer Asked by Carl on February 15, 2018
Q: Hello, with the Dow down more than 4% twice this week, can you comment based on your observations (volume, block size, leverage or other) and experience if the automated trading could explain this volatility and trigger this panic. Also, would you know if the level of leverage and use of derivatives has increased over the last few years or vs 2008 ? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Pierre on February 12, 2018
Q: I use an advisor and pay 1% annually on my assets under management. My mandate is for income and they have me in about 35 equities, a corporate bond ladder and a Govt. bond ladder.

A friend says I should use a basket of mutual funds and self manage. I'm considering switching to your income portfolio along with a few other holdings, but my question pertains to my current situation. What's better, a diversified basket of equities or a basket of mutual funds? I think I know you'll say a diversified basket of equities, but where do I see these statistics for myself? I would really like to be able to tell my friend (respectfully) that they are wrong...historically, a basket of mutual funds doesn't outperform a basket of stocks.
Read Answer Asked by Gregory on February 09, 2018
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