Investment Q&A

Q: Good Morning
Quite a few years ago I began investing through full fee global mutual funds. I graduated to purchasing individual stocks through a discount brokerage account but held on to the mutual funds which now comprise about 15% of my portfolio. The mutual funds have performed OK, nothing spectacular, returning a little over 9% annually and have doubled in value. The MERs are high at about 2.75%. I would dearly like to switch into global ETFs. If I sell the mutual funds over a number of years, I will limit the capital gains tax bite to about 15%. I calculate that going forward if the mutual funds average 7% then the ETF should average 9.5%. I arrive at this by adding the 2.75% MER back onto the 7% gain and then subtracting .25% for the ETF MER. At this rate it will take 8 years to recover the 15% lost to capital gains tax and achieve the ongoing benefit of lower fees. Is this a valid strategy or am I missing something?
Thanks
David

Q: Hello, Peter
When a company grant stock options, do they have by "law"to:
1/Disclose the price granted
2/ Disclose the strike price
3/ announce within a certain limit of time after the said grant

And if I may, when insiders of a double listed(US and CAN)buy or sell shares, do they have to "press release" the operation and if yes how much time are they are given to announce the operation.
With much appreciation for your answer.
CDJ

Q: Good morning,

I have been looking at selling Badger(BAD) and purchasing Canyon Services(FRC) Great service from 5I

Carl

Q: "We are considering adding a growth portfolio; but at this time are not sure of the timing on such."

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Peter, can you elaborate on your thinking per your comments above? I too am in favor of seeing a growth model portfolio (for the ones willing to take on more risk). Thanks.

Q: Hello Peter - We are considering buying either Tourmaline (TOU) or Paramount Resources (POU), or maybe half of each? Which do you prefer? or can you recommend something else.
Thanks for your advice.

Q: I would like to invest in four Canadian companies for my 90 year old mother. The investments need to be quite safe and pay a dividend, monthly or quarterly for month to month living expenses. I would prefer 4 different industries to avoid turndowns in any given sector. What would you suggest?

Q: Peter; With this mornings GM recall could this filter down to ACQ.? Im not sure how many of their dealerships are GM. Thanks. Rod

Q: what is the best choice for a company with a dividend in excess of 4% with good growth prospects for a 3 year or more hold? Sector not impt. Thanks

Q: Good luck with your recovery,I will be making a contribution towards your ride.Thank you for excellent service.
Would like your thoughts on EFN Element Financial.
Thank you Doreen

Q: I wish to move a major portion of my US$ and $CDN portfolio into safe, defensive, securities such as bonds, preferred shares.ETF's or solid common shares that give me a reasonable yield. Please give me a few names to consider for each currency.
Many thanks
L

Q: I am looking at deploying some of my trimmed Amaya profits within my TFSA into a new small / micro cap name. It will be a small weight in a fairly balanced portfolio of mostly mid and large cap 5i endorsed companies. I have 20% of my portfolio earmarked for a basket approach of riskier names (ie. SYZ, LSI, MCR, E, WAN, ATHN etc).

Going through past comments, it seems you are positive on all of PRW, CXS, KLS, HWO and QST. For new cash deployment today, can you rank your top 5 small / micro cap companies to buy today (whether its the 5 listed here, or any others)? What is your absolute favourite right now?

As always, thank you.

Q: INKM is the SPDR Income Allocation ETF for U.S. funds. It "seeks to provide total return by focusing on investment in income and yield-generating assets." It holds about 20 SPDR etf's with global representation, and offers a dividend yield of over 3%. It's only about a year old with total net assets of 100M. It looks good to me for my U.S. funds but I don't see it mentioned on 5i and wonder if you would make your initial comments on it. Thank you.

Q: hello Peter:
last question about 2 months ago, last report in 2012.
PKI: I have a small postition (about 2% of portfolio) and was looking at deploying some cash. How does this look from a GARP perspective, and how does it look to you from your perspective? The dividend is attractive and I am of the belief that dividends will mean more and more going forward, in a lower growth environment. Do you agree with the latter statement?

Q: I would appreciate your opinion on the outcome of the Petroamerica (PTA) battle to buy Suroco Energy (SRN)and if I want to own PTA which one should I buy, PTA or SRN?

Thanks and I would like to complement you for the great service you providing to investors.

Q: Hi,

Can you please comment on the ETF HHF in Toronto. It seems to have some good holdings like TOU, VRX, GIB.A etc.

Q: It'll be interesting to hear your opinion on the Canada Housing Market. This isn't regarding a particular security, but just interested in know how this trend plays out in terms of REITS if you had to recommend a particular sector of REITS where do you see the most value at the moment?

Q: Hi Peter & team, you still think that Valener Inc. VNR is good investment for income? MN

Q: Speedy recovery Peter and a Happy Canada Day to both Ryan,you and your families. My Model Income Portfolio weighting is a bit out of sorts but rather than try to balance now I am retiring at the end of September and will getting a substantial amount of cash that can be used to rebalance then. Are you comfortable with this time frame? Thanks for all you do and also on a side note can you post a map of your journey in the fall so we can follow you as you pedal across Canada.

Q: Good morning - what are your thoughts on MMP.UN (Sentry Precious Metals and Mining Trust)? Might this be a good way for an income investor to participate in the gold and silver sectors and get a decent dividend and a bit of growth?

Q: BAR seems to be very hot with little reason. What's your opinion of it as an investment?