Investment Q&A

Q: In March 2020 I did a lot of tax-loss selling (and proxy re-buying - thank you, I wish I had known to do that in 2008). I sold two Canadian banks and bought two others, BMO and CM. I did not sell them after I got my money back but let them recover. Consequently I have BMO up almost double and CM up 70%. Is there any reason to sell them to re-buy the original banks which will trigger a capital gain? I have no capital losses in that account.

Q: For growth and potential dividend increases, would you please rank the six Canadian banks (the ‘big 5’ plus National) in order of preference to buy now?
Thanks!

Q: I am trying to maximize income In my LIRA before I convert it to a LIF. I hold a good weighting of ZEB from several years back when I was a novice investor. Now I am looking to shed the MER by going with the individual financial stocks. Would you please rank the above financials and others you think are worthy for a hold and forget steady income stream?


Thank you


Steve

Q: Retired dividend-income investor. Short term (weeks to months, not years), which stock do you think will produce the most Total Return...Sunlife or CIBC? When I compare their charts over various timeframes and look at their fundamentals, I don't get a clear picture. I am leaning towards SLF.
Thanks...Steve

Q: Good afternoon,

I am looking to investing into a bank for a long term hold. Which would be your favorite for long term growth

Thanks

Q: All the big banks have had very encouraging financial results. Is now a good time to add in preparation for big dividend increases once the regulatory hold comes off.

Thanks.

Q: Would you please advise the approximate amount of excess capital (or equivalent) each of these five Banks are holding based on their year end results.

Thanks

Q: I am looking to "trim the fat" from my TFSA, which currently holds 20 stocks: ATD, BCE, BMO, BNS, CCO, CM, ENB, FFH, PDYPF, INO.UN, LAS, NXE, NWC, NA, NTR, PEY, PZA, MJJ, TRP, WELL. Are there any positions that raise red flags with you? In addition, could you suggest 3 or 4 value picks suitable for a long-term hold (20 years plus)?
Thank you!

Q: Doing a year end review of all of my holdings. I would like to reduce my position in several stocks (or eliminate entirely in the case of HR.UN and CPH) in order to raise some cash for increasing my position in several other holdings. Fairly large question, so I will divide it into 2, this for the potential reductions and a further question about the potential adds. Would you please rank these stocks in the order you would reduce or eliminate to raise some cash, starting with the one you would be most inclined to reduce/eliminate. Sector, or large cap/small cap not a concern, as I have a broadly diversified portfolio with a lot (too many, really) of names. Thank you for this, and also for the very good service. My 1st year as a client, and I will certainly be renewing. I have recommended the site to a few friends who also do investing.

Q: For my financial sector I currently hold ZEB and while the monthly dividends are nice on a timely basis, the MER is relatively high. So I am looking at breaking in down into 3 or 4 individual stocks. Would please rank the financial companies listed above for performance. Please include others I may have missed.


Thank you


Steve

Q: I invest in companies that have a track record of growing dividends. A chunk of my portfolio is invested in Canadian bank stocks which up to this year had a nice record of increasing dividends. In 2020 TD and RY did increase early in the year - but Covid brought a halt to increases from BMO and BNS. When do you think the banks will begin to think about increases - is 2021 too early and does OFSI (or whatever they are called) have a say and will they disallow.
Thanks

Q: Purely in terms of dividend sustainability could you please rank TD, RY, BNS, NA, CM and BMO and briefly why? Thanks.

Q: Dear 5i team,
NA, CM and RY have seen recovery to an encouraging extent.
BNS, TD and BMO much less so.

I do bear in mind that not all banks were/are uniformly exposed to risks precipitated by the virus; those that needed to increase reserves against losses have done so I believe. I’ve not sourced reports indicating any bank is not prudently shored up with loss provisions.

Would it be too soon to start a monthly purchase of BNS, TD, and/or BMO - small amounts, say $1k?
If it is too soon, what are you looking to hear, read about, or see happen that would tell you buying can begin?

Thank you so much!

Q: good morning,

I have been reading that RY and TD are more full valued at present than are BNS, CM and BMO. I own all five banks and am wondering if its a good idea to sell RY and TD and buy one or more of the other three banks. If this makes sense to you, which bank(s) would I buy, in order of preference.

as always, your advice is appreciated.

Q: Hello Peter, I am intrigued after reading that a Canadian can earn about $50,000 per year of dividend income without paying any income tax. I know about your income portfolio of course, but with a view to maximizing just Canadian eligible dividend income, what would you think of the following portfolio of 14 stocks. Equal weighted, the stocks would yield 5.3%. (Disregard lack of market diversification; this can be achieved in one’s registered accounts.) Also, if one wanted to pare down the list to 10, which 4 would you delete?
BCE, CM, ENB, FTS, CNQ, AQN, CPD, FSZ, MG, KBL, POW, ALA, BIPC and NTR. Thanks!

Q: I own all of these (similar amounts) and bought LB to boost income. Now its yield is less than the other two do you think it makes sense to switch into the other two? Thanks.

Q: Can you please comment on CIBC and its juicy dividend.

Would you be a buyer at these levels?

Thanks in advance.

Q: Can you please explain the losses in the big five Canadian Banks shares. I can’t for the following reasons so would appreciate your thoughts before I start to increase my exposure.

Their mtge portfolios are mostly insured , ultimately by the govt. the balance of their mtge loans are normally at significant discounts to the property values.

The new loans being made by the government will likely be backed by the government , not the banks.

They all have a long history of not cutting dividends, BMO has not in 190 years and BNS in 188 years and I expect the other three banks to be in the same approximate time frame of no dividend cuts . Unlikely you will find a US back or an Insurance company that can say the same.

They also over reserve their loan loss provisions in order to keep their profits from the wild fluctuations we see in the US.

Thanks

Q: I depend on the big 5 banks and, to a lesser extent, the telecoms , for income reliability.
For example, I read recently that BMO has a 191 year (?) record of uninterrupted dividend paying.
Are you able to list the payout records for the other listed above.
Thank you

Q: Given that my Margin account has the 5 big banks and 2 Telecoms paying dividends on a periodic basis and that I'm not "too" concerned that these will cut their dividends, would it be wise to implement trailing stop loss orders for these in case there is another retest of the lows of March. Had I done that at the beginning of the year, I could have picked up the above at much reduce prices with resulting greater dividend yields. And would using the same procedure for my RIF account (which has mainly REITs) be beneficial to capture the current values to avoid further losses there.
Your comments. Thank you