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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: I am not invested in the market right now with the exception of a couple of multi family REITs in my RRSP. I have a lump sum that I would like to start investing gradually. Looking for stable names with good dividends that will not reduce or cut their dividend. I am thinking of starting with ENB, TD and BCE. Do you like these three and can you recommend a couple others. I would like these names to be the foundation of the portfolio and then I will add more growth oriented names as opportunities arise.

Thanks,
Jason
Read Answer Asked by Jason on October 20, 2020
Q: What 3 Cdn and 3 US equities would you currently select (without regard to sector) as your best picks for an investor seeking both a) the six "safest" equities over the next 12 months as in lowest downside risk in your opinion, and b) the six most likely to provide at least a 5% total return over that period? Tough one but perhaps very helpful for part of an overall portfolio - Ken
Read Answer Asked by Ken on October 19, 2020
Q: I am just getting started in DIY investing and have been introduced to 5i by family members who have had great success. I am looking for five-ten really solid Canadian dividend paying stocks to form the core of a balanced portfolio. In my TFSA, I have BCE, TD, ENB, BNS, SLF. Should I be looking elsewhere? Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Christopher on October 08, 2020
Q: I started an RESP for my 2 grandsons about 3 years ago. Only 5 stocks in the account: 3 Cdn. banks, BAM and an energy company. It is doing much worse than my RESP or TFSA. I wanted safe, dividend paying stocks. Obviously the lack of diversification has hurt. I have some cash in account I would like to deploy. Please give me a few suggestions of companies I should add. Thx.
Read Answer Asked by Penny on September 29, 2020
Q: We have 300K which we want to use to build a portfolio of Canadian dividend payers in an open account.
This forms a significant chunk of our semi retirement portfolio. We have growth stocks in registered accounts and also some cash in a HISA.

1. Would you think that 10 companies offers sufficient diversification?
2. Which companies would you recommend? (we are thinking 2 x financials, 2 x telecoms, 2 x utilities, 1 or 2 materials, 1 or 2 energy)
3. Over what time frame would you recommend purchasing these companies? (TD charges me $10 a trade)

Thank-you,
Jim and Sharon

Read Answer Asked by Jim on September 09, 2020
Q: I am trying to identify one and only one Telecom co. to invest across the US or Canada. According to Morningstar data, Verizon has the best ROE, ROIC and interest coverage metrics (and the lowest P/E apart from AT&T). Would you consider VZ the best overall for a long term investment? Thank you for your excellent service as usual.
Read Answer Asked by Christian on September 08, 2020
Q: Looking to deploy excess cash, mainly for dividends and some growth. I have room in both utilities and telecom sectors. If I compare the Utilities and Telecoms listed, it would seem from current valuations (Fwd PE versus historical PE average) and looking at share appreciation the past 5 years ( history of generating shareholder value) , 5yr dividend growth rates and expected revenue growth, the utilities group easily wins on all counts. Based on this analysis, I should be buying from my list of utilities before I start buying from the Telecom list. Do you agree with my conclusion? Should I add any additional analysis? Thank-you.
Read Answer Asked by Albert on September 02, 2020
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: Good morning, Portfolio Analytics suggests we (as elderly seniors) lower our Utility holdings by 6.32%. Currently, we have:
AQN 3.9 %, BEPC 3.5%, BIP.UN 4.6%, H 2.2%, SPB 1.8%. Firstly is there a holding I could eliminate? If not should I just lower the larger percentages? All are in RRIFs.
Second suggestion from Analytics is to lower telecom by 3.54%. Currently have BCE 4.2%, T 3.5% and GOOG 4.2%. T and BCE are in RRIFs. GOOG is in an unregistered account. I have always looked at GOOG as technology sector. Any comments. Thanks for your expertise.
Ted
Read Answer Asked by Ted on August 21, 2020
Q: Ifn the event we are seeing a shift from growth to value stocks could you identify five value stocks in Canada and the US that would make good investments at this time?

Thanks for your advice.
Read Answer Asked by Ken on August 12, 2020
Q: With a 5-10 year time horizon, can you recommend any dividend stocks which have stable dividends and high yields due to current market conditions? I think that RioCan and Enbridge both fall into this category and would be interested in similar stocks that have a yield in the 8-10% range.
Read Answer Asked by Jamie on August 06, 2020
Q: I bought shares in this company many years ago in my registered account primarily for income. Would you recommend that I continue to hold them? If not what would you replace it with assuming I want to have a company that provides a dividend yield of at least 3% ?
Read Answer Asked by Robert on July 28, 2020
Q: Hi, could you please rank the Telcom companies from best to worst over the next 1-5 years with brief rationale. Also, how do you see the general outlook for the industry over this period? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Gary on July 27, 2020
Q: Please rate the above for the following criteria (best first):
Safety, valuation, dividend sustainability,long term strength,
thanks
Read Answer Asked by JOSEPH on July 17, 2020