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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,

Hello 5i. We hold some Bonavista in our modest energy sector holdings. To sell low after buying near its high (currently underwater by $20k) seems crazy, not to mention embarrassing. Yet, I'm mulling selling before end of year and replacing (probably also in energy?). My objective is a more reliable dividend payer to replace it with and one that should also respond well when the energy sector eventually comes back, as it always has. This change would be in our corporate account; please also advise if I'm right in understanding this loss could be carried forward and/or offset gains sold last year. Your thoughts and advice on these two points will be much appreciated. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Bill on November 06, 2017
Q: Regarding MDNA I would be cautious. I tried to contact them and was unsuccessful. They have various addresses and phone numbers listed on the web in Van, Cal and Toronto of which none seemed viable. I got no e-mail replies. I tried the number listed on SEDAR and got an message but no return call. A man did answer at one number who said he was an investor but then abruptly hung up on me when I began a conversation. At the moment I think its a scam.
Clarence
Read Answer Asked by Clarence on November 06, 2017
Q: Hi.
I keep my Telco at a 5% portfolio weighting. Presently I have 3/5ths BCE. How do you recommend I fill up the other 2/5ths? All in BCE presently with positive momentum. Telus to match the 5i portfolio recommendations. AT&T to take advantage of American Dividend and Share price drop? This will be held in a registered account. Thank you J
Read Answer Asked by Jeremy on November 06, 2017
Q: from my week end "musings"The Reality of Long Periods of Underperformance
The following is from Meb Faber.  I felt it worth sharing with you.  Please feel free to share it with your clients.
One of the biggest challenges of investing is long periods of underperformance, or outright negative performance and losses.  Cliff Asness has a fun piece out on his blog where he talks about 5 year periods in stocks, bonds, and commodities and basically how anything can happen.
Unfortunately for investors there are only two states – all-time highs in your portfolio and drawdowns.  Drawdowns for those unfamiliar are simply the peak to trough loss you are experiencing in an investment.  So if you bought a stock at 100, and it declines to 75 you are in a 25% drawdown.  If it then rises to 110 your drawdown is then 0 (all time high).
One challenge for investors is how much time they spend in drawdowns.  It is emotionally challenging largely since they anchor to the high value in their portfolio.  If your account hit $100,000 last month up from $20k ten years ago, likely you think of your wealth in terms of the recent value and not the original $20k.  If it then declines to $80k, many think in terms of losing $20k rather than the long term gain.
I thought it would be interesting to look at a few asset classes and ask how long they spend in each outcome – either all-time highs or in a drawdown.  Below is a chart of a basic 60/40 portfolio’s drawdown since 1972, REAL RETURNS.  Notice how brutal the high inflation 1970s were to the portfolio:he investor only spends about 22% of the time at new highs, and the other 78% in some form of drawdown.  A few values for common asset classes below….
• US Stocks 17% new highs, 73% in some form of drawdown
• Foreign Stocks 12% new highs, 88% in some form of drawdown
• Bonds 16% new highs, 84% in some form of drawdown
• REITs 16% new highs, 84% in some form of drawdown
• Commodities 9% new highs, 91% in some form of drawdown
• Gold 4% new highs, 91% in some form of drawdown
• 60/40 22% new highs, 91% in some form of drawdown
Meb concludes, “So if you’re going to be an investor, get used to being a loser!”
print ONY if you think worthwhile info for members
CDJ
Read Answer Asked by claude on November 06, 2017
Q: Please provide comments on Hanesbrands. Share price has pulled back in the last few days. I believe due to lower Q4 and FY expectations. Is the recent price drop over done. Currently HBI represents 3% of my portfolio. Should I consider this a buying opportunity or just hold. Are there other Consumer Products I should consider?

I like the new features of the website. At first I found the larger font size and line spacing difficult. Changing the zoom setting (from 100% to 80%) for the browser tab has improved it for me.

Thank you

Stephen
Read Answer Asked by J Stephen on November 06, 2017
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