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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: 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!
Read Answer Asked by James on August 27, 2020
Q: Would you please rank these companies in descending order of dividend security.
Thanks; also BRF.PR.C:CA
Read Answer Asked by David on July 20, 2020
Q: Which of these insurance companies would you buy today? Five year hold.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Lawrence on May 29, 2020
Q: Hi. Can you comment on Power Corporation's Q1 results? I am thinking of reducing my weighting on banks by 2% by taking a small tax loss on CM and investing in POW for the dividend and hopefully some decent growth.

I understand that weightings are a personal decision, and refer to the following for context for my position in Financials. I currently have a 9% weighting in CDN banks (TD, BNS,CM); 6% with CDN insurers (SLF, MFC); 2.5% with FSZ, and 4% with GSY. I am up significantly on GSY and am looking to trim it back in the future.
Read Answer Asked by Cory on May 19, 2020
Q: In the financial sector, which is more likely to cut a dividend, the big 5 banks or the insurance companies SLF, MFC, POW ?

I am assuming it is ok to count POW as an insurance company or should it be viewed separately all together.

Kindly rate the likelihood on a scale of 0 to 10 for banks versus insurance and any differences you might see amongst the insurance companies.

Zero being less likely to cut a dividend.

I am asking this as a dividend investor who doesn't like buying a company that cuts dividends.
Read Answer Asked by Ernest on May 06, 2020
Q: Hello 5i Team

I have an equal number of shares in both Great-West Lifeco (GWO) and Power Corporation (POW).
My average cost for GWO is $22.00 per share and for POW is $21.90.
Since POW owns 70 % of GWO, should I purchase more shares in POW and sell my GWO position? This would result in a slightly higher yield going forward on the POW shares. Or should I consolidate my position in GWO and sell POW?
I have matching dollar positions in MFC and SLF, so I want to stick with GWO/POW.

Do POW and GWO share price move in tandem (i.e. same percentages) because POW holds 70 % of GWO or is POW restrained by its holding of IGM Financial?

My last purchases of POW/GWO was on April 13 and 15 respectively. Do I have to wait until May 13/15, before I sell either one, if I want to claim the small capital loss?

Thank you for the great service.
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on April 27, 2020
Q: Thank you again for this great service.
I am down about 25% on BNS (and I have no losses for tax purposes and will have more offsetting gains from other holdings). Thinking of selling BNS and buying POW which in my view has more upside. I would appreciate your advice on what to do with proceeds from BNS sale i.e., other suggestions please (I am very well diversified).
Read Answer Asked by Dan on April 27, 2020
Q: My question is regarding POW. It seems to have been hit harder than a lot of others in the financial sector. I figure IGM's low growth is likely a drag on the stock, and low interest rates aren't exactly helping GWO.

Would you be concerned about POW's lofty yield and whether or not the current dividend can be sustained in this environment?

Do you have any issue in bringing my portfolio weighting up to 5% in this stock at today's price?
Read Answer Asked by James on April 17, 2020
Q: My question on these two companies performance during the past month.
They usually goes up or down together in the past. But the last month or so, POW decline and PWF goes steady and up a little. Any particular rationale for that?
Which one is a better hold in these turbulent times. Thank you
Read Answer Asked by DAVID on April 08, 2020
Q: Do you like POW long term? Is the reported payout ratio of 60% accurate? It doesn t seem to show a lot of growth, should it be a concern? Do you see the Europe exposure as positive? Or would you just buy GWO? Generally speaking, are the lifeco / financial services companies less risky than the banks? I already have a full position in SLF. I am looking for another core holding (financial) for my rrsp acount. Thank you for your help!

Read Answer Asked by Pierre on April 07, 2020
Q: Power Financial has merged with Power Corporation. The dividend is over 8% and just recently raised before this covid virus. But when they were two companies, combined the dividend would be much higher for two companies so do you think they would still cut the dividend?
I know they haven't created much value over the years but now being a merged company, do you see more upside? I know you prefer Sunlife. I just think Power Corporation has more divisions they could spin off once this downturn is over. Do you agree?
Read Answer Asked by Helen on April 07, 2020