Investment Q&A

Q: My daughter's mortgage is up for renewal and she is getting calls from the bank with early renewal options?

What are your thoughts on the direction of mortgage rates? I am reading, from here, they might go down another 0.25% once or twice during 2026.....or not, depending on future inflation data. So no more big rate moves.

Which would you prefer....fixed or variable rate mortgage?

How long a term would you sign up for?

Thanks for your help....Steve

Q: I am looking for a list of dividend paying stocks that you feel will do just fine in the next 2 to 3 years and that will likely continue paying dividends. Besides continuing to pay attractive dividends it would be a bonus if the price would not take a significant hit with a correction. I have listed 2 of them to consider. Please comment on those 2 as well as some of your picks.

Q: SMHX doesn't come up in your data base. What are your thoughts on it VS the SMH for more focused semi design exposure? How do they compare?

thx, M

Q: Hi Team,
Watching silver and gold rocket up like this....is this not a tell tale sign the market has something wrong with it? I am feeling like we are watching the tell tale signs here of a market collapse on the way and doing nothing about it. Or, the price move of silver and gold will prove to be un-warranted and destined to fall back down. I know we are led to believe the market "should" be ok here still but this move by the precious metals is getting to be alarming to say the least. Thoughts?

Shane.

Q: In your answer to Scott Jan 23 26 about the CIRO data breach you say "We would not be concerned here"
It is not clear to me whether you advise just ignoring it or registering for 2 year free credit monitoring.
Or is this a trap to start charging me a fee for monitoring after the 2-yer "free" period? These day we get so suspicious of everything.

Q: Follow-up question to Scott's question on Jan 23/26. I too received a letter from CIRO regarding their system being breeched on Aug 11/25.

Your response was " We got one as well; such procedures following a breach are very standard and we would not be concerned here."

Your answer may have been crafted exactly as intended, although it did not specifically say that we should follow through with the two recommendations contained in the letter. Should we just file the letter and not waste our time following up....or....should we follow the directions in the letter? I am guessing you probably intended any follow-up action to be an individual's choice.

I've made this question private on purpose, so as not to flame any potential fire. Make it public if you think it would help.

Thanks for any clarification you can provide.
Steve

Q: You may not have recent information on this company but if you do, I would like to know if the reason for its drop over the last few months is solely due to the class action. Regardless of the reason(s) for its drop, it has been volatile in past years and recovered, so wonder if you think the current downtrent is significantly different and low investor interest would mean a slow recovery? No new questions have been asked here recently. If you don't think the class action will create long term damage then can you please evaluate the company?
The lead plaintiff deadline is 17 Feb 2026.
Thanks your your valued insights.

Q: What after your top growth picks for base metals? Copper? Uranium? Do these have legs and will they follow the rally that silver and gold are on? How would you rank the commodities? Thanks! Only holding AEM and PHYS currently.

Q: I invested in the 4 railroads, based on the thesis that dividends , finances ,and future were safe,the objective being here: capital preservation + "some growth". .Considering the valuations on a significant downtrend, should each of those stocks be kept ( or sold) accordingly to this vue ?

Q: Hi, I was made aware of a gap (The "Korea Gap") in my international ETF strategy based on your ETF Update model portfolios that I believe is worth sharing.

The "Korea Gap" occurs when an investor mixes ETF providers that use different index benchmarks (specifically MSCI and FTSE). Because these two providers categorize South Korea differently, an investor can inadvertently end up with 0% exposure to the world's 10th-largest economy.

MSCI (Used by iShares XEF): Classifies South Korea as an Emerging Market. Therefore, it is excluded from XEF (Developed Markets).

FTSE (Used by Vanguard VEE): Classifies South Korea as a Developed Market. Therefore, it is excluded from VEE (Emerging Markets).

The result is if you hold only XEF and VEE, South Korea effectively disappears from your portfolio!

In 2025, this meant missing out on the massive "HBM (High-Bandwidth Memory) Craze" led by Samsung and SK Hynix, which drove the KOSPI to record highs.

Portfolio Combo | Provider | Where is Korea? | Avg. MER
XEF + VEE | Mixed | Missing (0%) | 0.24%
XEF + XEC | MSCI | XEC (Emerging) | 0.25%
VIU + VEE | FTSE | VIU (Developed) | 0.24%

I'll personally be replacing my VEE with XEC to hold the MSCI Blackrock combination.

In the XEF + XEC combo, South Korea makes up about 12-13% of the Emerging Markets (XEC) slice. In the VIU + VEE combo, it makes up about 5-6% of the Developed (VIU) slice. This means the iShares combo actually gives you a "heavier" bet on Korea.

Q: You've discussed declines in the CSU family as a potential opportunity... Many software companies are in a similar position. NOW and INTU come to mind. What would be 1 or 2 each of your fav. Large and Smid companies suffering from a similar fate and why and do you think it's time to invest or not. We've been discussing this scenario for some time now with ADBE and waiting has proven the best course.

thx, M

Q: I just received a letter from CIRO (Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization saying that their system was breeched on August 11, 2025 and my personal data was compromised. They suggest 1) I call Equifax and TransUnion (although the phone numbers they provide don't match the company's contact information online) and 2) access a website to register for 2 years of free online credit monitoring and identity restoration services.

Before I take the recommended action I thought I would check with you to see if you heard of this and if it is legitimate.

Thanks

Scott

Q: I have rgld shares from the SSL sale. I would like to sell and buy reinvest the funds into a Canadian listed gold royalty co. Franco, Nevada or or Wheaton precious metals which would you suggest? Or do you have another alternative? Thank you.

Q: Anything to worry about with APP. What is driving the price down over the last month? Is this still one of your top picks?

Q: Celestica is down significantly in the last few days since the Digitimes report regarding the fact that Google's tensor processing unit servers may be assembled by another supplier. Please comment. Is this an opportunity to pick up additional shares?
Thanks..Glenn

Q: Have you had any change of sentiment since October?

Q: Can you please give me your thoughts on ISRG, for a continued hold. I am a longer term hold investor but do wonder if this position wouldn't be best elsewhere in the health care sector. I have ABBV already, thanks to a 5i suggestion a couple of years back. Many thanks

Q: Peter; Gold up - VMET down- would you add some here ? Thanks.
Rod

Q: Do these still have some room?

Q: I am wanting to sell most of our equity exposure in spouse's RSP and my RRIF (a lot of equity exposure in TFSAs and cash accts). Looking at various fixed income/less risky options. Have perused your past income questions. For various reasons I like HUTL, ZWU and XEI for CAD, and ZMI.U for USD. Would prefer another one or two USD options. Could I get your assessment of the options I have indicated, and if you folks have other options (particularly for USD) I would welcome those. TIA.