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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: Hi,

Thank you for your valued advice and also fantastic job with the new site as well.

I am looking to diversify my portfolio to the SE Asian market through my TFSA account. I am unfamiliar with investing outside of Canada and am hoping for some advice. In order to alleviate risk, I am looking at the above mentioned 3 ETF's. If you could please provide your input on each of these ETF's it would be appreciated. If you have any alternative suggestions on how to enter SE Asian markets, please let me know. Your input is appreciated.

Thank you,

Paul
Read Answer Asked by Paul on January 23, 2018
Q: I have been watch Conifex for some time and it has been performing quite well. Its PE is under 10, its moving average continues to climb and the stock has almost doubled since July 2017. Conifex's sells to the USA, China, and Japan. It now has operations in bioenergy and started operations of its power generation facility in BC. Price / Book is .8 and they report next month.

How would you rate CFF in light of NAFTA and is this a buy? Can you suggest any other buys in this sector or shall I hold on until NAFTA is resolved one way or another?

Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Martin on January 23, 2018
Q: Good morning 5i,
There has been a lot of discussion lately regarding fixed income. Many, like me I suppose, are beginning to think about "de-risking" their portfolios. I would appreciate your thoughts on this de-risking venture. Would one, for example, be better to put all of their risky money in the stock market and in very save bonds such as like XBB and VAB. That is oppossed to something like PMIF, which may not be de-risking your money at all?
thanks as always
Read Answer Asked by joseph on January 23, 2018
Q: My husband and I hold a very small amount of Chartwell and Telus in our RRSP account. We are approximately 5 - 10 years away from retirement and have a good mix of stocks amongst all the sectors holding only about 15% in fixed income amongst our RRSP and TFSA's combined. Most of our 30 some dividend/growth stocks are ones you've recommended and we tend to be buy and hold investors. My question is when we have a couple of bonds coming due this spring (4%) would you buy more bonds or would you add to Chartwell and Telus? What do you think of Chartwell's high P/E ratio being over 100? We are still contributing to our accounts on a regular basis and could put future contributions towards fixed income if you think we're short in that area.
Read Answer Asked by Lisa on January 23, 2018
Q: Thank you for your answer on my question/comment on ETF.
I had missed to mention why I am uncomfortable with this passive investing trend. The markets over many years has been acustomed to this type of "investment du jour" but there is something special to ETF that I forgot to say and why I think it is important.
ETF are among many other qualities supposed to be providing valuable diversity . You did not provided a comment on my question about what I call the tail wagging the dog. If I am right and I do not know if I am (hence my question), then there is NO diversity about buying an ETF as it will behave like a stock and they will force down or up the undervalued securities.
Te ETF's that I buy have an extremly narrow scope and are more induced to react to the underlying ebb and flow value of the underlying asset they are suppose tyo represent than the other way around.
Your comment on this question (very important for me as one of my major belief is into diversification) will be appreciated and if it is too long or irrelevant, please simply keep it private
Read Answer Asked by claude on January 23, 2018
Q: Hello 5i. Just wondered if you had seen the article on this topic in the Globe & Mail over the weekend. What it suggests is that dividends from US-listed ETFs held in an RRSP account are not subject to US taxes. However, the article states that this is not the case for dividends paid by Canadian-listed ETFs that invest in US stocks. In this case, dividends ARE subject to US withholding taxes, even if the ETF is held in an RRSP account. The article goes on to say that these taxes cannot be recovered. (Same situation would apply to mutual funds.)

Assuming the article got this, I'm not sure that all ETF investors are aware of this nuance.
Read Answer Asked by Thomas on January 23, 2018
Q: Which of these do you think is 'better', in terms of dividend sustainability and overall long-term total return (I know you would prefer VGG/VIG to both)? I like the value tilt of PUD.B (P/E ratio less than that of XDU and broad US market), but it is an expensive ETF, with a MER of 0.67 compared to 0.14 for XDU. Do you think the extra MER is worth it? In a market downturn, of course both will suffer, but do you think PUD.B might perform a bit better? Currently, I hold a bit of both, should I continue to hold both or just pick one (and if one, which one?) This is for a longterm hold. I am comfortable with the relatively small (but growing) assets under management of XDU. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Walter on January 23, 2018
Q: 1. In a rising interest rate environment is a convertible bond fund better to hold than other bond funds like xbb, cbo or clf?

2. What would you suggest for the best combination of protection I.e safety and income?

Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on January 23, 2018
Q: just to clarify the question from Allan re CSU.db
I have owned since day 1 and there has always been a misunderstanding on how the interest rate each march is calculated.
It is NOT 6.5 plus the rate of inflation but rather 6.5 plus the rate of CHANGE in the inflation number at the end of the year. IF the rate is neg then it would be 6.5 minus rate of change. Never to go below zero ( as per csu. lol)
So if the rate of inflation is 2% greater then the yr before and is 3.8 % then it is 6.5+ 2
NOT 6.5 plus 3.8

Read Answer Asked by Leon on January 22, 2018
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