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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
I'm trying to reduce the risk in my TSFA with the intent of using ~$60K towards a down-payment for a new home in mid-2020. My plan is to sell most of the current investments and invest the money instead in a much safer income generating ETF, though I'm open minded to where I could invest instead. I've done pretty well on (some) of these investments, but am prepared to sell the winners and losers and cut my losses to move forward and decrease my risk. I'm most concerned about having to sell at an even greater loss when we are ready to buy next year. I've listed my current investments.

Are any of current investments worth holding into for the next 16 months instead of selling now and which ETFs you would consider buying?
I'm planning to sell:
BBU.UN (no loss/gain), CM (up 3%), EMA (up8%) IAN (up200%), XEC (down 5%), LB (no loss/gain)

I'm planning to buy instead XTR.

Please take as many credits as you think fair.

Read Answer Asked by Michael on February 25, 2019
Q: I am looking for dividend income of 5% or more with dividend payment date quarterly in Feb. May,Aug.and Nov. What companies could you recommend? I already have EMA, PWF. I had BMO but sold it as I am quite heavily weighted in financials owning BNS, TD, PWF, GSY,SLF
Many thanks,
Jen
Read Answer Asked by Jennifer on February 25, 2019
Q: With a 20 year time frame, my daughter has some money to invest in her portfolio which consists of:
Canada: PDC (25%) ZAG (30%), Money Market (10%).
US: XUS (20%), ZQQ (5%),
Europe: XEU (10%)
If the US and China reach a trade deal she might move 5% from Money Market to ZEM.
Given that the bull market is long in the tooth, would it make sense to move XUS to VGG? The composition of VGG appears more defensive and the reduction in technology stocks is compensated by her position in ZQQ. Growth has been similar, the dividends and BETA are about the same, and VGG's MER is lower (.08 vs. .11). Your advice would be appreciated.
Read Answer Asked by Ken on February 25, 2019
Q: A couple of recent question have referred to portfolio allocations. In particular, the reduction for SIS from 4.2% to half that amount causes me some concern as that is a fairly serious adjustment. I tend to follow your BE Portfolio and with 25 holdings, my average weight (full position?) is 4%. So with that in mind, my question is should I adjust my allocations to match those in your portfolio and secondly, are there any positions you would be comfortable either underweighting or underweighting at this time?
Read Answer Asked by Michael on February 25, 2019
Q: Elysis is not traded publicly but it is a joint venture between Alcoa and Rio Tinto. I wonder what the best way is to get exposure to Elysis. Should it be through Alcoa or Rio Tinto, or both?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Rona on February 25, 2019
Q: Any suggestions on the best approach to separating out China from emerging markets exposure? I own XCH in both my RRSP and RESP accounts, but want some control over how much emerging markets international exposure is in China vs elsewhere.
There are US ex-China ETFs but haven't found anything comparable in Canada. Canadian ETFs seem to have 20%+ of Chinese exposure, which I'd like to avoid holding XCH already.

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Yasin on February 25, 2019
Q: Morning Peter and Team,
I found it interesting that Peter chose Micron as one of his top picks on a recent visit to a Canadian TV program. As it is a bit unusual to choose an American company I assume you are very positive about its future. Could you please give me more detail as to why you think this is an excellent American company to invest in. Thanks again for your continued appreciated guidance.
Read Answer Asked by Les on February 25, 2019
Q: ..given growing expectations of a Canadian recession, i'm thinking of moving away from utilities into fixed income. how do you expect XBB, XSB and HFR to perform in comparison to ZWU if a recession occurs. thanks, great service.
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on February 25, 2019
Q: Hi,
I noticed that AG has issued 75 mil unsecured cd's this AM. The coupon is 5.40%, vs their shares dividend of 4.17%. My question is how does one go about assessing this particular type of investment instrument? I have had success with cd's in the past, but still feel I'm not fully understanding how you determine whether or not they would be good value. I get how they work, but have trouble with rating them. Any light you can shed on this would be very much appreciated. Thanks for always being the voice of reason in an industry that seems designed to confuse!

Dawn

Read Answer Asked by Dawn on February 25, 2019
Q: Hello Peter,
I like your response from the previous question on Canntrust but I would appreciate it if you can provide comments as to why this company which has been touted by analysts and BNN guests as one of the better players in the cannibis space, yet it has performed poorly when compared to most of the mid and large cap players. When you look at the chart from inception to now, Canntrust has not done well. Their fundamentals and strategy appear to be sound but why such a gap (comparing to weed, acb, cron, hexo, ogi, etc).
Also, on another note, KSHB, Kush holdings is bascially a picks and shovels play in the US for cannibis packaging etc and only trades over the counter (not on your list). It plans to list on nasdaq or nyse. If this happens, what would happen to my shares if they were bought over the counter. Would i be able to sell same shares on nyse or nasdaq. Apppreciate it.
Read Answer Asked by umedali on February 25, 2019
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