Investment Q&A

Q: I hate asking market timing questions as much as you hate answering them but...I have always been a bit light on real estate and am wondering if now is a OK time to add a position in either xre or zre. Second question: You have XRE in the income portfolio, today would you stick with XRE or I was looking at ZRE that has outperformed XRE recently. My concern about timing is with rising interest rates and the jittery markets that I might be better off just parking in the banks or consumer deffensive and worrying about real estate in a few years,

Q: In May,U made the right move in trimming Zre at $25.35 as it is now $21.50. The Fed & Powell are very aggressive to increase rate to reduce inflation to some 2% & possible increase rate to 4.4% by year end from current 3.31%. Majority of my Reits are near or/at 1 year low. Is it time to sell? Txs for u usual great services & views

Q: In my non-registered account, I have had small holdings in MRG.UN and NWH.UN for years, as well as larger holdings in ZRE and FIE. I was wondering if I should consider selling all four and splitting the proceeds between GRT.UN, CAR.UN, CPX, and SLF. I am looking for income but would also like some capital appreciation.
What do you think? Note that I also hold ZRE and FIE in my RRSP and plan to keep both in that account. Thank you.

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. Not a market timing question...ok maybe it sort of is.

Looking to potentially add to ZRE and just wondering where we are at in the investment cycle and if now is a reasonable time to be adding to ZRE?


Also, is there a seasonality to REITs? When looking at a 10 year chart, it appears to my amateur eyes that the last portion of the year looks to be trending down most of the time? It looks like the January to early fall period is usually positive?

Thanks for your help....Steve

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor, who normally buys-and-holds for years, with some trimming-adding to meet my asset allocation targets.

I've held CSH for years...starting to build a position in 2017 in my wife's TFSA (oops) and ditto in her RRSP (double oops). Anyway I have finally lost patience with it and wanted to check in with you...one last sounding board. I've also gone through all of the CSH questions.

Q#1 = your thoughts on CSH...any hope? RBC seems to like it (Outperform with a target of $13.50), but it just doesn't seem to gain any traction...just the opposite.

Q#2 = from an asset allocation perspective, I have CSH at 50% REIT and 50% health. I currently own ZRE (my proxy for the sector) and LIFE (ditto). What are your thoughts on taking the CSH proceeds and adding to both of these? My resultant exposure would be ZRE @ 4.0% and LIFE at 6.5%...even though I understand you can't personalize answers. I see you have ZRE at a 5% weighting in the Income Portfolio but nothing for health.

Thanks for your help...much appreciated...Steve

Q: Hi Peter
In May, 5i sold 1% of ZRE from the income portfolio. Is there a specific reason for this sale ? ZRE dropped significantly in the few months. Is the sale linked to the drop in value ? Do you still recommend purchasing ZRE ?

Q: In our unregistered, income account I recently sold LIF and have decided not to return to that stock after 30 days. Instead, planning to buy more of one or two of the existing stocks.

Since this is an income account, yield is important and also quite happy to see total account balance steadily increasing whilst tapping off the cash.


I need some help deciding which ones to add to, and have 3 criteria:
1. Best yield
2. Current portfolio weighting
3. Best value over next 5 to 10 years

1. From highest to lowest yield:
TCL.A, BCE, AQN, EIF, BNS, CPD, T, SLF, QSR, ZRE, RY, LNF, FTS, BEPC, NTR

2. From lowest to highest weighting:
ZRE, LNF, TCL.A, QSR, AQN, NTR, BEPC, SLF, CPD, T, BNS, EIF, BCE, RY, FTS

3. Can you please help me to rank these stocks from highest to lowest value / growth prospects, or if that is to big a task. Please recommend overall best 3 selections given my criteria.


Thanks,


Jim

Q: A question about ZRE in the 5i Income Portfolio. I would like to add more real estate to my non-registered account at Questrade. Would it be an accounting hassle to hold ZRE in a non-registered account or would Questrade automatically calculate the ACB? Or would it be best to hold TCN and/or other Canadian real estate holdings that would receive a dividend tax credit?
Thanks!

Q: I have an unregistered account which we use to generate long term dividend income. There are currently 9 holdings in the red, and 9 still in the black.
I am debating whether or not to sell some of the losers to capture capital losses. Then, in 30 days reasses - either repurchase same or redirect cash elsewhere.
In order of biggest to smallest loser, based on $:
LIF, SYZ, LNF, QSR, TCL.A, ZRE, AQN, BEPC, EIF

In general, I'm quite happy with the performance of this account in this declining market environment. Although the capital has declined a bit, the income stream has been quite stable.

Question 1: Please comment on the merit of this idea. Lose one or two dividend payments now for sure versus banking a loss for future tax benefit sometime. (retired, no earned income)

Question 2: Would you consider any of the 9 names above unsuitable for this account?

Question 3: Which of these 9 names are most likely to have further to fall?

Q: Could you give me 7 diversified income etfs for 200000 rank them in order which ones you would pick up first etc. thanks

Q: REITs are getting pummeled today with some like BEI.UN, DIR.UN and HOM.UN down more that 6%. Any thoughts on why such a big downturn.

Q: Hi, wow, REITs across the board got hammered today, thoughts please?

Q: Which ETFs trading on the TSX would you use for Real Estate, Materials, and Industrials exposure?

Q: Hello,

I own the whole list (weights 1% to 2%) thinking I was being diversified but maybe went too far.

1) I am on the right track to reduce to about 3 names?
2) Which names optimise income?
3) Alternative names that I might have missed?

Many thanks!

Q: Hi 5i Team,

I have held a balanced Canadian Couch Potato Portfolio with the above etfs in my son's RESP which i started when he was born in 2009. The portfolio has done pretty well (in my books at least) at 8% annual return. I am now looking at a 6 year time horizon for when he will need to begin to draw from the RESP. I am thinking of starting to rotate toward more conservative holdings as the timeline for needing the funds draws closer. Under "normal" circumstances from what i have learned this would mean moving more into bonds at this point but I am having trouble believing this is appropriate in the current market. With interest rates and inflation both rising i am wondering if low debt dividend stocks might be a better bet to hold onto purchasing power in this time frame? Maybe something something like CDZ vs XBB? I know you can not suggest specific portfolio recommendations but looking for suggestions/best bets for maintaining value and keeping up with inflation over this time frame.

Thanks,

Q: Hello 5i,

I purchased these four funds in an income account in the summer/fall of last year. To date ZRE and CPD have hung in there, while the other two are slightly down overall including divs. Are these funds behaving the way you would expect for an income investor?

Q: Retired, dividend-income investor who usually has ALL of my cash at work. I am currrently sitting on roughly 2.5% cash and am considering topping up the above holdings to achieve my asset allocation targets.

Q#1 = Assuming a diversified portfolio, if I wanted to deploy my remaining minor amount of cash, in what order would you spend it and why?

My view is as follows:
First = PBH and WSP (good value right now = fundamentals and technicals look good, if you ignore the death crosses).
Second = ZRE (should do ok in a rising rate environment?).
Third = XIT (wait until at least the first interest rate increase has happened?).
Last = ADW.A (may need another quarter or two to get past the Covid impact).

Q#2 = or should I continue to sit on this cash if you think there are better opportunities coming in the future. It's not as if this minor amount of $ is going to make a huge impact on future performance.

Thanks...Steve

Q: Hi Peter & 5i,
Wishing you and the staff a joyous holiday season!
Would you see any red flags in this portfolio for a conservative investor needing the dividends for cash flow. The portfolio would be 50% equities and 50% fixed income - 5 year laddered GIC's.
Here are the stocks and their proposed weightings:
Financial Royal Bank RY 5.7%
TD Bank TD 3.6%
Sun Life SLF 4.4%
Power Corp POW 4.0%
Utility Fortis FTS 5.7%
Brookfield Renewable BEPC 4.2%
Algonquin Power AQN 2.2%
Comm TELUS T 4.7%
Bell BCE 4.1%
Cons Staple Costco COST 4.3%
Loblaws L 4.0%
Cons Discr. Magna MG 3.8%
Restaurant Brands QSR 2.4%
Industrial CN Rail CNR 5.2%
Savaria SIS 3.6%
Energy Enbridge ENB 4.6%
Suncor SU 2.9%
Materials Nutrien NTR 4.3%
Real Estate BMO-Equal Weight ZRE 4.2%
Tech Thomson Reuters TRI 4.8%
Health Evolve Global Health LIFE 3.8%
ETF BMO-Low Volatility US ZLU 8.7%
iShares-US Equity-Hedge XSP 4.8%
Thanks so much for the fantastic service.

Q: Hi 5i;
Just a follow up to my question and your answer about IDR this morning, so that I can better analyze ETF's which I have to say I find to be a perplexing exercise.
You wrote that IDR has "fees" of 1.28%, but both CIBC and BMO indicate that its MER is .98% - approximately a 30% difference, so quite significant. Is there more to the cost of ownership than just MER which I should consider when reviewing ETFs that would account for the difference? If so, where do I look to find this information?
You also indicated that IDR 's "small size" is $61M while CIBC seems to peg it's value at $107.4M and BMO at $109.8M - again quite significantly different. Am I missing something in my understanding of the value as stated by the likes of CIBC/BMO that I should be aware of when looking at ETFs, going forward?
Thanks - I appreciate your advice.
Peter

Q: Hi 5i,
I gather from your answers to the few questions that have been asked about it that you are not great fans of IDR for real estate exposure, and my initial question is basically why and what should I be concerned about?
If I'm reading the information correctly, IDR's 10 year growth rate (2011 - 2021) is 167%, with YTD sitting at 29%. It's annual yield meanwhile is 5.60% (or more) and it is diversified through holding residential, industrial and retail REITs in Canada (67%), USA (24%) and the UK (2%).
Could one potentially do better and risk less through holding individual REITs instead of the basket afforded by IDR and, if so, which ones would you recommend for the real estate portion of a portfolio in the current economic climate?
Thanks!
Peter