Investment Q&A

Q: In some of your recent replies you are encouraging investors to harvest tax losses in this market. Why??

I have no capital gains to offset this year, nor do I have gains from the last 3 years that I can carry losses back to offset. I have been mostly a buy and hold investor.

Why should I sell some of the good quality companies that you hold in your BE portfolio or have strongly recommended in the past just to generate a loss? E.g. I am now down on all of these despite holding some of them since 2011: ENB, BNS, TD, SLF, FTS, BCE, T, CCL.B, DOL, PPL

Q: Goodmorning 5l team,
Thank you very much for your response to my earlier question regarding selling cocered calls. You mention focusing on dividend paying stocks in your current strategy. Is it possible to have a list of which companies you may be looking at currently for this should strategy?
Thanks

Q: Good day team. Re Granite; watched it reach a premium not long ago, now looks attractive for starting a position. Thinking of selling "some" Telus (still up after approx a decade hold & now 25% in one of my reg accts) and starting with GRT. How will cashflow be impacted now? Attractive on valuation now? Approx 5-7 year hold

Q: In this environment,Real estate is often recommended along with Gold.Most REITS like car.un lcontinue to drop with the market.Is there worry that rents won’t get paid?
Seniors need to live somewhere so why is csh.un down 50%?

Q: What is your favorite gold stock? Looking to invest $100K in Gold Stocks or ETF's. I think that stocks are going to take a much larger drop and I am looking for at least a little bit of stability. I don't hold any gold or precious metals stocks right now. I can handle the risk.

Q: Akumin is an US based company operating independent medical testing centres. They just announced to dedicate 10 test centers for Coronavirus imaging. Why is stock down sharply today with the news? Are medical testing centers beneficiaries under current situation?

Thank for your great services!

Q: What are your thoughts on this fund now that a lot of the bleak scenarios you referenced in past questions are now upon us? Also, how does Quadravest rate in your opinion of fund managers? Thank-you.

Q: Hi, Had the misfortune yesterday of buying NFI just hours before they announced the dividend cut and closure of plants for 2 week. Ouch.

Any views on the company? Any risks that they won't recover? My thesis was that they were in good shape with their order backlog and large public sector customer base...

Q: Good morning. Again, thanks for keeping calm and reassuring. My question relates to Canadian banks. I have positions in all five of the big banks and all are down. I’m thinking this might be a good time to sell some bank positions and increase my holdings in others. Does this make sense and how best to execute? Do you have a sense for which banks are likely to recover sooner than the others? Keep that crystal ball polished. A lot of us rely on your guidance. Kindest regards

Q: Regardless of the sector/size of the company what would be your top 3 RRSP picks for long term holdings?

Q: Hi, Grocery stocks are holding up well so far in this environment, Do you think companies like Loblaws and Metro can continue this trend?

Q: I have large positions in these two companies that I have held for a long time. Is the dividend safe? Should I average down into these names? If so, what entry prices would enter on?

Q: Do you have a break down how much did your model, growth and income portfolio went down from all time high in February compare to TSX and SP500.

THANKS FOR THE GREAT SERVICE

Q: I am in the process of switching my portfolio to Balanced Portfolio stocks only. Are there any which should not be bought at the present time?
I can buy full positions now in the rest of them. Is this a good approach, or are there some which should be bought over time and if so which ones and how? May thanks.

Q: BAM is down more than BEP in 2020.
Last year BEP outperformed BAM largely.
I know you prefer BAM for diversification, but I feel BEP will outperform BAM in the next recovery.
Which one would you buy if any ?
Many thanks,

Q: Hi Guys,
I wouldn't pretend to understand economics and I can hardly read a company financial statement, that's why I subscribe to your service for advice on that sort of stuff. My question is not stock specific but general in nature about all the money governments are throwing at the current problem. Aren't Canada and the US both carrying huge national debts and yearly budget deficits? Where does all the billions of dollars both countries are throwing at the current situation come from? I'm sure there's no pile of money somewhere that they are drawing from unless it's in China. Can you explain this to me in layman's terms. Is it as simple as printing more money?
Regards,
Charlie

Q: Hi 5i,

Thank you for the great work. My experience grocery shopping this weekend is that the stores are busier than ever.

Is it to simplistic to look at the current virus volatility as an opportunity to add to positions in the grocery companies?

Currently I have existing positions in Empire and Metro.

Thank you in advance.

Q: Wow, Boyd continuing to get crushed. Sure, people may be driving their cars less these days and therefore less car accidents, but once life returns to normal, I can't rally see Boyd's business taking that big of a longterm hit. Down nearly 50% from its ATHs. What are your thoughts why this one got hit so much?

Q: Hi Peter and Ryan.
This is an interesting time to invest. My current portfolio is down a lot but I decided not to sell it. I am in for a long term. I have been thinking about the changed world due to COVID-19. And I think about the world for a long term investment. In my personal opinion, the commercial real estate will be impacted because it is an opportunity for big companies to cut down office space and get employees work from home. The companies enabling people work from home will do well in short term and and long term.
I am going to contribute some money into TFSA. I hope to take advance of the market dislocation right now. I don't know how much more the market is going down. But I believe the good companies will come back. Can you please advise a few companies? Though my investment will be for a long term, it would be nice to see a rebound when the virus is in a control in the next few months.
Also, I have REAL (Matter). I am concerned if it is associated with commercial real estate. Please advise.
Thank you,
Yiwen

Q: My son has AC shares in an unregistered account which were purchased over time as AC shares rose but now the AC price is below all of his purchase prices. He has tfsa room.

I am thinking of suggesting that he transfer those shares now to a tfsa so that he will not be taxed on the capital gains if and when the shares rebound.

As I understand it, he won't be able to use the tax loss due to the 30-day rule but he will not have any unregistered gains to use the offset anyway so I'm thinking that's a moot point. (I don't think he should liquidate and re-buy the shares in the tfsa after 30 days in case he misses the rebound.)

Does the transfer to a tfsa make sense or I am I missing anything here?