Investment Q&A

Q: Hello 5i,

Tom asked about timing to transfer portfolios. IF you were informed it takes a month, add one more month as a minimum time. We have transferred 2x over the last 7 years. SLF is a nightmare. It took 9 months to get the funds from SLF to RBC. There was a hidden fee from SLF too. Even if you don't add to your RRSP, they used dividends to buy stocks, therefore they said the 7-year rule was not valid (not adding new money to a portfolio exempts you from withdraw fees) and tried to charge us 9k in exit fees.

We changed to Questrade this year. It was too expensive at RBC and their investment site is garbage. That process took 11 weeks. We had purchased GIC's through RBC which Questrade could not accept. Unfortunately, the transfer started a week before the market turn down in March. By the time funds were in place the market was already going up BUT, some stocks that fell 60%-80% have still not recovered today. Luckily, we had put 50% into cash before the transfer. Cash is your only protection from delays.

Our two bad experiences though should not deter a transfer though we would suggest going into a lot of cash as one stock, ETF, or GIC that can't be transferred can add weeks or months to a transfer.

Hope that helps.

D&J

Q: Hi 5i team,

Are there any interesting and investible stocks that are showing up on your radar that are close to turning a profit (maybe a quarter or 2 away) or have just turned profitable? Similar to a company who just initiated their first dividend, these types of stocks tend to get noticed quickly in the investment community. I assume these would be small and/or mid cap and thus higher risk but that is fine.
I/we sincerely appreciate your sage advice throughout the year and especially in the difficult weeks ...keeping us calm.
All the best to your entire staff and families during the holiday season and into 2026!!!

Cheers,
Steve

Q: Almonty seems to be gaining traction with the imminent mine opening in S Korea. It has purchased another mine in the US and is moving its head office to the states. With the price for tungsten doubling in the last year and the demand growing, this appears to be a small cap with lots of upside. Thoughts?

Q: Morning and Happy Holidays to the 5i team,
Can you give your thoughts on these names and if the are a buy for a 3 to 5 year hold?
What would be a good entry point for all three of them and in order of preference.

Thanks
Joe

Q: I have full position of both Telus and BCE, both at substantial losses in a margin account. Should I leave them be, reduce, or get out? I do not have much in the way of capital gains this year. If reducing these stocks is a good idea, what would you replace them with in today's very expensive market, not worrying about sector, more about regaining the losses? Could GSY be a replacement or would you consider this much more high risk? Thank you!

Q: What happened in 2024 that drove down ESP for that one year? The number of shares went down and total revenue went up and gross profit went up. Was it some one-time non-cash event? Thanks!

Q: I sold PRL for tax loss reasons and I can buy it back now. However, your opinion on PRL has gone from hot to cold over 2025. Should I even bother putting it back in the portfolio or move on to something else? If something else, what please?

Q: How are these ETF's created, and do they degrade as would a leverage ETF such as TQQQ? What would you suggest to be an equivalent on the Canadian markets?

Q: Further to my prior question re Canadian dividend tax benefits, would HDIV qualify?
It holds both Canadian & US securities.
Thanks again.

Q: I have taken advantage of tax loss selling and have sold all my Canadian telecommunication stocks. At this time I don't feel any pressure to buy them back after 30 days. However, I would like to have exposure to the telecommunications sector for diversity and for the dividend. Could you recommend some non-Canadian alternatives for a long term hold? Many thanks!!! All the best for the holidays!!!

Q: NFI has announced a Recall against its battery supplier XALT and my guess is that resolution of this issue, which does not seem to have made the front pages(?), along with your own comments on Chinese competition might make a significant difference to NFI prospects. What do you think?

Q: AI related spending/margin concerns have hit the market over past week and CLS has declined to below $400, again.

Any concerns ? Do you still expect the stock to trade to $500 over 12-18 months ?

Is it safe to add now or wait for a further pull back ?

Thanks

Q: KKR are very bullish on Canadian infrastructure opportunities(see article in globe) can you list some Canadian companies that KKR might buy or invest in partnership with thanks Richard. ps please exclude PPL. ENB TRP and BIPC from your list

Q: Hey everyone, I’m developing a Canadian portfolio with XEI as the core. XEI is heavy into energy and financials so as part of my core it will only be 40 to 50 percent of the entire Canadian portfolio. If you could help me by picking stocks from your three portfolios to round out the portfolio it would be greatly appreciated! It really doesn’t matter how many stocks you pick as it’s $10 a trade and will be in the portfolio for a long time (hopefully). The only consideration is that it pays a dividend.

Q: I am changing providers for my RRIF. My understanding is that the process takes roughly a month, during which time thre account is frozen. I am presently about 65/35 equity to fixed income. Would it be wise to make my portfolio more conservative during this period. Conserving capital would be my main concern

Q: I am considering selling my ARX and TOU and replacing them with a gas stock(s) with better total return potential. Do you have a couple of suggestions that you would consider better alternatives?
With appreciation,
Ed

Q: Everytime PPL issues a press release the stock drops ! Was the guidance and business update that bad ? Why not just not do the release, and let the stock do its thing.

Q: Government is about to announce a methane reduction announcement according to CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/methane-regulations-canada-9.7017132

Will this help QST and if so, by how much? Is it worth picking up a few shares?

Q: Follow up on a recent question on FCCM and WXM. FCCM has the lower MER. Other differences I see in a simple comparison from my online broker: FCCM is large cap while WXM is mid cap. 5 year returns for WXM is higher, but 3 year, 1 year, and less favor FCCM. Dividend from FCCM is 0.64% paid annually and WXM is 1.26% paid quarterly.

I own WXM in my TFSA (up 55%) along with a selection of stocks from your portfolios. I also own VMO in another account.

How do you view these investment style ETFs (growth, dividend, value, momentum) vs geographic ETFs vs sector ETFs vs others for DIY investors trying to diversify within an account?

Q: Don't have any mineral related stocks in my portfolios. Suggestions for mid to long term hold.