Investment Q&A

Q: Follow your balanced and income portfolio I am wondering what order would you add today Included RY and DOL also because of their growth over the last year. Please include rationale of the top 4. Thanks as always.

Q: Is there any reason for RY to be dropping , should I sell while I still have gains or hold.

Q: Why do companies do a stock split and do you think any of the banks will do a stock split in 2026.

Q: Between the big 5 banks, please rank in order of
a. biggest dividend increases average over the last 5 years.
b. your impression of most likely to perform in the next 5 years
c. least likely to be affected by american geopolitics

Q: My daughter is starting her TFSA. I have suggested a couch potato strategy to start - can you recommend a good all in one ETF that rebalances and any suggestions for 1-2 buy and hold Canadian stocks if she wants to try that out too.

Q: Sold my full position in RY in open div account in Nov to ink some nice gains over several years.

Of course, this timing was perfect to miss the nice Dec bump. Out at 213, now around 235.

I also have BNS in this account of 10 or so holdings and was planning to get right back in to RY after the 30 day period. Now have sellers remorse. What to do?

Thanks

Jim

Q: Good afternoon,

I feel that I have constructed a well balanced equity portfolio of between 20-25 stocks, thanks in large part to you and your team.

I have identified the following as core positions, where each one represents between a 3-5% weighting:

RY
GWL
ENB
FTS
AEM
BN
NVDA
GOOG
AMZN

I know that there could be many additions to this list. But assuming I hold my "top picks" to these names, do you have any immediate concerns?

Thanks as always.

Q: As a retired investor I am looking for dividend income. Please rank the buying order you would have for the above stocks with the emphasis on rising dividends, dividend stability, and safety of dividend. My holding period is 10 years plus

Q: I am a buy-and-hold total return value investor. I have a concentrated portfolio of eleven stocks. I don't worry about asset diversification. I hold FFH and BN in the financial space right now, but I'm considering selling BN and replacing it with a Canadian bank (not an ETF). What do you think of that plan? Which Canadian bank would you think would best fit my strategy? Could you please list three banks, in order of preference?

Thanks.

Q: I’m doing a fairly major portfolio clean-up and account optimization exercise.
Specifically, I’m removing dividend-oriented and income-generating stocks from my TFSA and RRSP that are better suited to a non-registered account, and reallocating TFSA/RRSP capital to assets that benefit most from tax sheltering.

At a broad level, I’d appreciate your perspective on:

• Which CAD and USD names are best suited to an RRSP (e.g., U.S. dividend payers, global compounders, cyclicals, etc.)
• Which CAD and USD names are best suited to a TFSA (long-term growth, compounding, low income leakage)

I’m less interested in yield optimization and more focused on long-term after-tax efficiency and proper account placement.

If helpful, feel free to answer at a category level (e.g., “U.S. dividend aristocrats,” “Canadian compounders,” etc.) or with specific examples you think are particularly well-suited.

Thanks — looking forward to your thoughts.

Q: We are looking to inject more growth into our TFSAs - can accept reasonable degree of risk. Looking for concentrated list 10 stocks for 3-5 year hold.

Q: Good morning,

If one wanted 15% exposure to Canadian banks, would you buy TD and RY for 7.5% each, or would you buy TD, RY and ZEB for 5% each?

Thanks as always.

Q: These stocks are held in my wife's RRIF - just turned 71 - start withdrawing 2026. QSR, NTR ,GSY & GRT.UN small positions. GSY added this year. Thinking of selling GRT.UN - stock has not done much & very small dividend increaser, QSR (500 shs) small position - not big dividend grower - thinking of selling, NTR held fora while - up a fair bit 44%, 500 shs - sell? Comments if you agree with my analysis and if so, what should buy or add to this account?

Q: How would you define a "core holding" in a portfolio? The above listed companies I consider to be core holdings. Does this list broadly match your definition of what type of companies should make up core holdings in a portfolio? Are there names in that list that you would NOT consider to be "core holdings"?
Thank you for your work and please deduct as many credits as you see fit.

Q: For a leveraged account could you suggest 1 or 2 additional Canadian dividend stocks to add.
With the ROC distribution on VEQT is it best to re invest in more shares of the ETF with the funds or does it need to be transferred back against the loan to keep it fully tax deductible.

Thank you!

Q: Any comments for the earning report. Do you think now is overprice?

Q: The Big 5( now 6) have always benefitted from an oligopoly with minimal competition. Now that CWB, HSBC and Laurentian have been absorbed does this change the competitive landscape enough to justify even higher valuations for these juggernauts? Or could AI opportunities also justify higher valuations? Interesting how in a week where dismal numbers from the housing market, car market and employment market don't affect current or projected results for the banks.

Q: I have owned all the Canadian banks at one time or another, and currently own shares in Royal Bank.
All of the banks seem to have done quite well just recently, but the dividend on the Royal Bank is not as high as the TD for example.
Is it time to change? Which do you think looks best going forward for a total ROI?

Q: Good morning,

I'm trying to help my daughter (who is in her late 20s) with her portfolio which is a bit difficult because she is morally opposed to several lines of business (crypto, oil/gas, AI, defence to name a few) however I did notice she doesn't have any major CA bank equities at the moment. Some of my co-workers use a different research company who I think recently advised their clients to sell TD. I didn't see any recent questions on here about the CA banks lately so could you please tell me what your preferred bank is at this time (regardless whether I listed it or not.) It will be for a long term hold in her FHSA.

Cheerio,
Zara in BC

Q: Hi. I have tried a couple times to submit this question now...

My kids have a family RESP. Oldest child will be starting post-secondary in 9 years.

Currently have GLXY, BN, SIS and T.
What will be good holdings to add to this? If sector diversification is not taken into consideration, what will be good to add?

Thank you.