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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: I hate to sound ungrateful to Mr. or Mrs. Google, as I have done very well with my purchase of their GOOGL (the Class A) shares about 6 years ago. HOWEVER, I paid a premium of a few dollars to acquire the voting shares (GOOGL) instead of the non-voting GOOG. Now, perversely, the GOOGL are trading over $100 LESS THAN the GOOG - even though they represent the same economic interest PLUS have voting rights (which are often worth 'something' or 'a fair bit' but never, to my knowledge, NEGATIVE value). This discount is a 20% hit on my original investment. Can you explain this bizarre situation? Would you expect this anomaly to right itself at some point? And if you have an address for me to complain to Mrs. Google, please let me know!
Read Answer Asked by James on June 28, 2021
Q: What are your current thoughts about which United States companies you would recommend in a growth oriented portfolio. Some risk OK. Could you list and rank five of your favourites (apart from the FAANGs) and give an indication of risk.
Read Answer Asked by Maureen on June 28, 2021
Q: A family member would like to build a US dollar portfolio with US stocks. My thought would be to do it along the lines of the 5iR Cdn Balance Portfolio. For example, JPMorgan would be the US stock for the BNS. With this in mind, and being able to tolerate risk and for a long-term intention, like 10 years, what would you suggest the 15+ position US portfolio would look like?....Thanks...Tom
Read Answer Asked by Tom on June 24, 2021
Q: Hi guys, thanks for the excellent service. Generally TFSA is the place for high growth but my highest growth has been in my RRSP. Is there any compelling reason I should sell anything in RRSP and rebuy in TFSA (e.g., NVDA)? I realize I will be taxed on RRSP withdrawals while TFSA withdrawals are tax-free - but - my RRSP has a lot more cash than my TFSA so there isn't room to move all my growthy stuff over. Because of the relative size of RRSP to TFSA, if I were to do equal weighting of all stocks, I'd only have 4 different stocks in my TFSA, which perhaps is fine? Are there any obvious adjustments that you would make to the following:

RRSP:
XQQ 13.68%
VXC 12.03%
NVDA 7.64%
AAPL 6.70%
JPM 4.73%
BNS 4.52%
GOOG 4.32%
ENB 4.13%
MSFT 3.98%
AMZN 3.86%
RTX 3.51%
COST 3.42%
PG 3.11%
DIS 2.82%
CASH 1.32%

TFSA:
GSY 5.28%
CRWD 3.31%
VEEV 2.50%
ROKU 2.44%
SHOP 2.26%
WELL 0.85%
XBC 1.08%

RESP:
LSPD 0.79%
BYD 0.76%

NON-REG:
SLF 0.51%
T 0.42%

thanks,
Read Answer Asked by Mark on June 23, 2021
Q: For my small growth portfolio and looking to buy these 5 techs now, would you avoid or hold off on any of these with the current conditions and prices??
Read Answer Asked by Danny-boy on June 22, 2021
Q: Hi 5i
Shopify share price has had quite an increase since yesterday....can you provide some insight as to what is driving this?

I get concerned with sudden increase in a shares price, if i do not understand the reason why.....

Would you continue to hold for 2yr -3 yr period ? Road bumps ahead?
Thx

jim
Read Answer Asked by jim on June 17, 2021
Q: My wife and I are each opening up a TFSA with 75000 initial deposit in each account. We are thinking of putting 5-8 ETF's into the one account and 10-12 stocks into the other account. Wondering if this is a good strategy or if you would suggest something different? The emphasis would be primarily on growth, but not at extreme risk. Can you recommend 5 or more ETF's (and percentage allotted for each) for good diversity for the one account, and 10-12 stocks equally spread out to cover the $75,000 in the other account.
Please deduct as many credits as appropriate.
Many thanks, Jake
Read Answer Asked by Jake on June 16, 2021
Q: Hi,
I assume that you will deduct question points as you see fit.
I am considering simplifying and 'conservatising' my RRIF.My wife andI are in our mid 70's.
Portfolio Analytical has again shown that my account is unbalanced with inadequate foreign content. I also need to increase my weightings in Consumer (discretional and defensive), Industrial and Technology.

Could you please suggest 5 names for conservative longterm holds in non Canadian Stocks or ETF's in the following categories?
a)consumer defensive
b)consumer discretionary
c)Industrials
d)Technology .

With many thanks,
David
Read Answer Asked by david on June 16, 2021
Q: What are you thoughts on using broad based ETFs as "cash" in a portfolio? It seems like that's how the ARKK funds operate, except they are using stocks (I think GOOG and AMZN). To give you some context, my portfolio is mainly VGRO/VEQT, with some 5i stock suggestions for growth mixed in. I dollar cost average into the ETFs every two weeks but I'm wondering how I should approach adding to some of my stock positions and/or start a new position. Thanks as always.
Marc
Read Answer Asked by Marc on June 11, 2021
Q: I was hoping you could go sector by sector and suggest some companies in both Canada and the USA which you think will attract investor interest partly because of their ESG-friendly tilt.

As one analyst explained, there are commodity producers whose costs will be reduced thanks to ESG-related government grants, thereby boosting profitability. Wondering what you make of that and if you can suggest any examples. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Brian on June 09, 2021
Q: I recently asked about TAN and thanks for the reply. I understand that you think the sector still has legs. I realize (as you say) one stock will carry much more risk than an ETF but I am seriously thinking of switching from TAN to PLUG. What are your thoughts on this move and your current thoughts on PLUG? Does anything better in the sector draw your attention? Thanks as always.
After thought question: Or just say ... you can't lose with GOOG and go with that?
Read Answer Asked by Danny-boy on June 02, 2021
Q: How would you rate these companies for growth and safety.
Read Answer Asked by don on June 02, 2021
Q: Just thoughts...First background -  I have an income, balance and growth portfolio that's invested in trade, TFSA and LIRA accounts...all similar to 5iR's...and also a US balance portfolio with a definite growth tilt...and I like to stay within the portfolio framework, aka add to existing stock positions which now total 100 positions. With cash on hand, I'm muddled about what to invest in, aka Cdn and US stocks?And here is the tug...there seems to be many other good stocks but from my reading of 5iR, it's better to stay with the ones you have or totally drop the existing position and move onto a new position. With that in mind, what are the Cdn 5iR positions would you suggest are a buy today or watch it for a buy? When it comes to the US, the draw for me today is to add to existing positions 'cause of the strength of the Loonie and the expectation that it will decline over the next few years relative to the Green Back. What would you suggest are US stock buys now for a longer term hold, like 5+ years. Thanks for the assistance.....Tom
Read Answer Asked by Tom on May 28, 2021