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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: Hello 5i Team
Further to previous comments this morning and apologies for the length.

Comments on the Brookfield family of companies, US $ dividends and tax implications.

From the Brookfield website:
Please note that the quarterly dividend payable on Brookfield's Class A Limited Voting Shares is declared in U.S. dollars. Registered shareholders who are U.S. residents receive their dividends in U.S. dollars, unless they request the Cdn. dollar equivalent. Registered shareholders who are Canadian residents receive their dividends in the Cdn. dollar equivalent, unless they request to receive dividends in U.S. dollars. Prior to the September 30, 2016 payment date, the Canadian dollar equivalent of the quarterly dividend was based on the Bank of Canada noon exchange rate on the record date.
Beginning with the March 31, 2017 payment date, the Canadian dollar equivalent of the quarterly dividend is based on the Bank of Canada daily average exchange rate exactly two weeks (or 14 days) prior to the payment date for the dividend.

What this means is the Brookfield entities "declare" their dividends/distributions in US$ and the transfer agent (Computerserve) pays the broker in Canadian dollars (as the broker i.e. beneficial holder is a Canadian resident ) regardless of whether the shares are held in a Canadian or US dollar denominated account. If the shares are held in a US$ dollar account the broker then "buys" US$ to pay the share owner's account. This results in a small under or over payment of the actual dividend/distribution depending on how exchange rates have moved. This is how my brokerage (RBC Direct Investing) explained it.

Further to the tax issues:
The limited partnerships (BBU, BEP, BIP, BPY) pay distributions which are recorded on a T-5013 (and not a T-3 or T-5). The distributions are a combination of eligible dividends, interest income, foreign income, return of capital and other items depending on the entity. Companies have until March 31 to issue each years T-5013 (similar to a T-3 issued for REITs) which results in delays in filing annual income tax. Therefore it is better to hold the LPs in a RRSP/LIRA/TFSA if you want to simplify your annual tax return, however if the entities are held in a RRSP/TFSA there may be foreign withholding tax that cannot be recovered. Previous years breakdown of the distributions can be found on the individual LP's web page. Each individual should review their tax situation with a their individual tax expert.

BIP and now BEP move to create a Canadian Corporation which will issue eligible dividends will make life much simpler from a tax perspective.
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on November 12, 2019
Q: Hello 5i,
I just sold POW to take a small profit as it always seemed that as soon as it stuck its head out of the sand it burped and slid back down. Now it appears that POW is on an increase due to sector advance. Is this sector advance strong enough to jump back in to POW now or wait until POW crawls back into the sand? The funds are sitting in Oaken savings at 2.3%.
Thank you for the great service,
Stanley
Read Answer Asked by STANLEY on November 12, 2019
Q: Hello 5i,
Not so much a question as a comment: I went on the SEC website (EDGAR?)and looked up the filing for the BEP split and printed off some of the Q&A. There is a huge amount of information there and it might help if 5i could perhaps do a Blog on some of the more salient points in terms of some of the benefits, mechanics and risks. They do make the point under the "Risk" section that this subsidiary company will only be operating in two South American countries from what I can tell - Columbia and Brazil, I think.
Also, they seem to reiterate that this offering is a Special Distribution and is over and above the regular distribution and will not cost the existing unitholders anything, other than any applicable tax implications.
Lots of info to digest on this one, so any help 5i might be able to offer would probably be much appreciated by any number of members. It also appears that the completion date is as of yet undetermined but will be sometime in 2020.
Hope this is of some help.....
Cheers
Mike
Read Answer Asked by Mike on November 12, 2019
Q: In his profoundly influential book, The Battle for Investment Survival, originally written in 1935, Gerald Loeb states: "Indeed, should some super-solvent agency agree to preserve the buying power of capital for a substantial length of time at a stated fee per annum, informed people would embrace the plan enthusiastically if they felt there was any real possibility of the agency staying solvent."

According to Bloomberg, 17 trillion dollars are invested at negative interest rates today. Surely, much of that is smart money. Is that money acting on Loeb's dictum?
Read Answer Asked by Milan on November 12, 2019
Q: I recently watched American democratic leadership debates and was quite surprised how anti-capitalist several of the main candidates were. Do you have any concerns of investing in companies subject to socialistic policies (I am assuming the democrats will possibly win the next election)?
Read Answer Asked by BRYAN on November 12, 2019
Q: Hi,

What would be your top 4 consumer discretionary stocks , with a slight growth tilt, at the current moment?
Read Answer Asked by Mike on November 12, 2019
Q: I asked a question about Gamehost on Fri. Maybe it got lost because I asked a 2nd Q on FSZ. I notice most q's on Gamehost were actually Q's on Guardant. Your last true answer on Gamehost was back in July.

I am looking over Gamehost for income with the very juicy dividend. I am assuming the fall in price has more to do with Fort Mac woes than base Gamehost earnings? What do you think of Gamehost for income?
Read Answer Asked by Gerald on November 11, 2019
Q: Good day team, I'm looking for a good dividend paying etf that I can contribute to weekly in a tfsa. Ideally I'm seeking a canadian focused eft so I dont have to pay withholding taxes.
Additionally (deduct credits as you see fit), how do you feel about NFI at this moment? I'm thinking about taking a position.
Cheers
Read Answer Asked by Seamus on November 11, 2019
Q: Hello. I'm currently sitting on a loss with ILMN and you've mentioned a few times in recent months that it will likely take some time to recover. I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to move the money into some other businesses that are likely to grow faster than the rate at which ILMN recovers.

Sector differences aside, would you recommend any of the following as good candidates for this?

AMZN
FB
PYPL
None of the above (i.e. You expect ILMN to recover faster than the growth in any of the above.)

Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Laxmyharan on November 11, 2019
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