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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: Good morning. As a new member I was wondering if you could comment on the equities I have in my TFSA. It's value id approximately $45 K. I have been retired for 10 years on an educator's defined benefit pension and would consider myself a medium risk investor.
The equities are ZUB, CRH, HXQ,RY, SHOP, ZCL (with values of $4-6K) and CPG and NPC ($2-3K values).
Can I feel confident with the growth opportunities of these? Do you have other suggestions to look into?
Thankyou.
Jim
Read Answer Asked by Jim on January 12, 2017
Q: I keep reading that there has been a great rotation away from income/dividend stocks into growth though I dont see much evidence of it. My TD, RB and Telus are not down at all.

Can you explain this belief and if there are examples of beaten up dividend stocks, CDN or US, can you recommend a few for long term holds?
Read Answer Asked by Graeme on December 16, 2016
Q: Your response to Brian on Dec 15 included the following comment: "if you own 85% of your portfolio in high dividend stocks, then this is more of a concern".

I am a retired, conservative, dividend-income investor, with a pension, CPP, annuities, the above listed stocks and 3 income producing MFs (RBC Cdn Equity Income, Sentry Cdn Income, Sentry Global REIT).

I fit the 85% easily. I believe my portfolio is diversified by sector and by security. I also believe the securities have, for the most part, sustainable and growing dividends. I am a "buy-and-hold investor with reasonable tolerance for volatility.

Your comments and concerns please, along with any recommended improvements. Thanks...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on December 16, 2016
Q: My "advisor" is encouraging me to switch out of Telus and buy Royal Bank instead. Rationale: Telus "is a defensive stock and will not do well in a rising interest environment".

Telus is my only communications holding, and I already own National Bank in the financial sector, in a portfolio weighted to as-secure-as-possible dividend income stream with DRIP wherever possible.

Your thoughts on this switch? I'm reluctant.
Read Answer Asked by Lotar on December 11, 2016
Q: I own PWF.PR.L, RY.PR.O, BMO.PR.Z about equal amounts for a total of $150K which is about 5% of my holdings. They have been softening recently, is it time to sell and what would recommend? I have about 20% in bonds and balance heavily skewed to finance, utilities, infrastructure.
Read Answer Asked by Pierre on November 23, 2016
Q: Please comment on this preferred share issued by RBC. It is one of the new nvcc preferreds. It is currently trading at a premium to its par value at a current yield of 5.18%. Is this preferred a better choice to deal with changing interest rates as compared to previous types of preferred shares? Other than the fact that the bank can convert the preferred to common shares if the bank has financial problems, what are the risks? Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Richard on July 20, 2016
Q: Recent news of mass closures by Caribbean customers of their Royal Bank accounts due to sudden imposition of service fees suggests to me that Royal Bank either doesn’t know or doesn’t care what its customers want. It sounds like an idea generated by greedy head-office bean counters with no knowledge of what is going on in the field. If retail banking is all about service, then once the reputation for customer service is lost, won’t the business inevitably suffer ? In your opinion is this event a “tipping point” for the Royal Bank, presaging a similar abandonment by Canadian customers ? Or will Canadian retail customers simply shrug and carry on with business as usual ?


Read Answer Asked by Don on July 01, 2016
Q: 9:53 AM 6/29/2016

Hello Peter:

Today you made this distinction between "Safe" and "Secure" dividends in your answer to Grant asking about Superior Plus : "We would consider the dividend 'secure'. 'Safe' is a different category completely".

1. I am looking to concentrate on companies whose dividends you consider to be in the "safe" category, and which yield over 3.5% as these should/must be at least the main core of any pensioner's holdings for reliable income. This can be confusing to sort out since I presume that you will not consider all banks, utilities, telcos, REITS, Pipelines, etc. qualify as "safe".

2. So if you could sort out a short list of the few that qualify for the "Safe Dividend" category it would be most appreciated. I do understand that disasters do occasionally happen, and any company no matter how safe can get into trouble.

2. This brings up the problem of portfolio concentration caused by owning only a few names or sectors. Is it better or "ok" to just own a portfolio of only "Safe" dividend stocks, or are we advised to dilute the quality of our portfolios and own some less safe dividend stocks to supposedly "diversify" risk? This harks back to the people whose portfolio consists of only the big five Canadian Banks and who have done brilliantly for the past 50 years!

Your considered opinion on this issue will be most appreciated........ Paul K.

Read Answer Asked by Paul on June 30, 2016
Q: I was thinking that there would be some negative news regarding oil and gas loan losses and also consumer loans. With this as a backdrop I was wondering if you think the banks will see another sell off next week during their earnings release ? I see no real catalyst to drive them higher. Would appreciate you thoughts. Thinking about the last quarter and the money that could have been made by selling and coming back after the hit the banks took.
Read Answer Asked by STEVE on May 19, 2016
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