Investment Q&A

Q: I have been reasonably successful this year by carrying a large porfolio of stocks, no 1 very large position just because I THINK THE STOCK looks favourable Do you have sort of a rule of them as to when you might exit, subtract, or add to? thanx PS DO YOU EVER HAVE ANY LEARNING SEMINARS?

Q: This is more of an answer than a question. John spoke about being shut out of the Globe and Mail watch list, which apparently is now only for subscribers. As a subscriber I can tell him he isn't missing anything. They have 'upgraded' it and it is now a hot mess. The clean, crisp functionality is gone. It is slow, clunky and colorless, and you are no longer able to enter the number of stocks you have to track and compare them with other trial portfolios. They have a 'portfolio' tool for subscribers, but that is pretty simplistic and, for me, non-functional too. After looking around, the best free one I have found is at Morningstar. You'd have to pay to get the more complicated things, but the basic list of stocks you want to keep an eye on is there, and you can enter your stocks so that it will track how they're doing day to day without being charged.

Q: Good day,

For a long-term horizon including dividends into retirement (about 10 years away), what level of investments in banks, Canadian and foreign, would you consider to be the maximum for an otherwise diversified portfolio? My only foreign bank is ING.

Thanks for the help!

Derek

Q: Hi 5i,

When options are being written in a covered call ETF, what would be the contributing factors (ie. sector, interest rates) would effect the price of the options being written at a discount or premium and why?

Thanks

Q: How do I obtain a list of companies that are growing their dividend in excess of 10% per year?

Q: Another site about preferreds for Kim would be : investingforme.com
They have information under their "Data" section on all most all preferreds
John

Q: Do you know where I can find a cdn stock list that ranks stocks by total return (capital appreciation and dividends) for each year over the last 10 or more years?

Q: Further to Peter’s question this morning about passive income earned within a corporation, given the new punitive tax rules that are being implemented, limiting fair taxation to the first $50,000 of income, what stocks should he be switching out of to limit his annual income? He was asking for stocks that did not pay a dividend.

A note to fellow member Peter, which is that you still have to be very careful when realizing capital gains, because they too will be treated as income, just at the 50% inclusion rate. So if you have some dividend income still, and you realize capital gains of $100k in a single year, you’ll still go over the $50,000 threshold. I personally don’t know of a way around it, but the stocks you mentioned already have a preferential tax treatment, so short of removing funds from the corporation and investing outside of it, I don’t see a way around it. I’d be very curious to know how other members are handling this new tax. Any chance of writing an article about this, as I’m sure in your wide membership base, there must be a good number of people affected by this.

Q: What stocks would benefit from a higher interest rate environment?

Q: As part of my morning routine, I always check the Ink Insider Morning Market Reports on the TD Web Broker website for individual insider buying and selling which I have found helpful. Do you know of another source where this is available? With thanks, Bill

Q: What percentage of a persons portfolio would you currently recommend allocating to each sector?

Thanks

Q: How do you recommend holding various investments? I am self employed with my own incorporated company, I am 32 so also have a long timeline. With my accountant we have structured my income to be very low for personal income tax. Do you recommended first filling tfsa then rrsp (since I don’t really need the write off) then moving to non registered for whatever’s left? Or do you recommend a continual mix or possibly omitting the rrsp to save on tax later in life? How do you generally decide what to hold in which account? I know lots of this would be specific to the individual but some general advice/opinion would be appreciated.

Q: What is the FASTEST way for ordinary shareholders to get news about a company.. any news that's significant, but especially earnings reports.... it seems some get the news much earlier than others, and of course, i cases where it's bad news, have a considerable advantage over the ordinary investor
Thanks

Q: Hi Peter, Could you tell me where I would find PE history for companies listed on North American exchanges? Thanks.

Harvey

Q: I am considering adding a few of the following companies to my portfolio but would appreciate your advice. I am looking for a mix of both income and growth. Please rate in order of purchase. I realize they are different in sector and size and may not buy all. Just need rank. ( NA, RUS, FSZ, AGF.B and CHR) Thank you

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

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.

Q: I'm looking at retiring in about 5-8 years from now. Once retired I expect to make "less" money than I do now. I have been contributing the maximum amount into a TFSA since it started and about 1/2 that amount into an RRSP. In general, would I be better off reversing this trend since I'll be making less?
thanks for any suggestions,

Paul

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

Q: May I please have your opinion on OpGen Inc. I read somewhere that this company is trading below current cash levels. Thanks.