Investment Q&A

Q: You discussed ETF liquidity in your September 22 reply to Brian. Are you aware of any sources of information on the liquidity of particular ETFs? If not, what general guidance can you offer? Thanks.

Q: Peter and Team,

What index funds do you recommend for the following:
TSX
NYSE
DJIA
NASDAQ
S&P 500
FTSE
Nikkei
HangSeng

- James

Q: Do you think it wise to sell all securities until this US Korea problem gets fixed one way or the other. If hostilities do break out I imagine the world stock exchanges are going to break down.

Thank You
Craig

Q: I am becoming more interested in debentures as part of the fixed income portion of a portfolio.

1) Doing the math on CSU.db it would not pay to buy them if they are called in 2020. What things do you look at to forecast whether or not a company would ever call them. Is calling them a rare or regular occurrence? I realize each company has different needs.
2) Are debentures normally fully explained on the company's web sites re terms and conditions?
3) Are there any other websites, publications etc you would recommend so I can learn more.

Thanks

Paul

Q: Does previous day activity in foreign markets offer any clues as to the activity one can expect on North American exchanges or vice versa? For example, every morning I read about how the major foreign exchanges have performed and I wonder if they are reacting to North American news or do North American markets react to Europe/Asian news or neither? Although I don't trade frequently and usually don't worry about a couple of percent change in a share price before buying, does a really poor day on the DAX, for example, suggest that I should wait to buy on the TSX because our prices would likely drop as well (realizing that sometimes the drops are sector specific and sometimes they are overall drops).

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: In your response to Brian about ETF and market panic, you say that in a market panic an ETF might have to sell a stock to meet rememptions (kind of guess you meant redemptions !?). Could you explain further? I thought if individuals panicked and sold their ETF, some other individuals would be the buyers, rather than the ETF having to do anything re holdings, and that the total shares outstanding would not change. Isn't this part of what separates an ETF from a mutual fund?
Thank you

Q: Hello;

Do you agree that oil has turned the corner and is heading up? for example USO is up, DTO is down

Q: I am retired with no pension. I invest primarily in Canadian Dividend stocks and have in effect created my own "pension income" that is taxed at a "low rate" thanks to the Dividend Tax Credit. With our current Federal Government's massive deficit spending and their recent plan to implement "tax fairness" measures directed at private corporations I am very worried that there next tax grab will include elimination or reduction of the DTC despite the fact that the DTC compensates for taxes paid by the corporation and that dividends are paid out of retained after tax profits. If this were to happen, I think there would be a significant negative market reaction since I think the DTC creates considerable demand for Canadian dividend payers. Do you agree and if so which sectors or type of companies do you think would be most impacted? Thanks

Q: To clarify your answer to my Sell side question:
1.When you say dropping a company(stock),do you mean dropping from the different portfolios you have or not?
2.When you say dropping coverage, do you mean when the company (stock) goes below C plus or what is your indicator for you in dropping coverage?
Thank you, Herbert

Q: For a portfolio in excess of $1 million, can you articulate any general principles for when you would opt for diversification within a sector rather than a single, concentrated holding? I tend to gravitate towards diversification in most instances, but as a result I have considerably more holdings than any of your model portfolios, and would like to reduce my positions and be more strategic in my approach to diversification.

Q: This is the YOUTUBE that seems to explain it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqD8T4aXBIk

Q: Would it be a good idea to grab a few shares of Sprint ahead of whats look like a possible merger between the 2 companies

Q: Jim Rogers is calling for the worst bear market ever. In a recent interview, he said the following:

“When we have the bear market, a lot of people are going to find that, ‘Oh my God, I own an ETF, and they collapsed. It went down more than anything else.’ And the reason it will go down more than anything else is because that’s what everybody owns…”

“… If somebody can just take the time to focus on the stocks that are not in the ETFs, there must be fabulous opportunities in those stocks because they’re ignored… Some of them have got to be doing very, very well. And nobody’s buying them, because only the ETFs buy stocks.”

I’m curious to know what you think of these comments. Is he right that ETFs are bound to fall much more than stocks? Are some more at risk of a plunge than others? Also, if “ignored stocks” are better investments than the ones in ETFs, can you name a few examples? Thanks.

Q: I am a trader by obligation rather than by choice as I spend an important part of my time trading micro caps.
For obvious reasons these companies mostly have little or none revenues, expectations is all what is left.
However, there is another way of being sensitive to the balance sheet is expenses, and i am particularly sensitive to burn rates because that may be a key to future share offering with or without the dreaded warrant.
I just read this document: http://avc.com/2017/09/some-thoughts-on-burn-rates/?utm_source=Daily+AR&utm_campaign=871270e2bd-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c08a59015d-871270e2bd-140326233
Would you give me your opinion on its value for future reference.
Thanks
CDJ

Q: How much do you rely on technical analysis for making buy recommendations...do you you consider buying a strong stock on weakness...a pullback to a moving average....pullback to major support levels?

Q: Could please tell me your newest additions to each portfolio in the last 2 months
I do not see where to find the date of entry ( although I see the start price)
Thankyou

Q: Could you suggest advisory like 5IResearch with focus on US stocks. Thank you

Q: I refer Richard's question of Sept.19th
Would this work for a RRSP as well, combined my wife I have $877,000. Sell our stocks and buy equal amounts of these etf'e.
This would give us a nice income should we take it out.
Also have a larger amount in cash and TSFA based on your portfolios.
We are 60 and also have pensions and no debt
Thank you and have a great weekend.
Mike

Q: Since, you are having a Webinar on Thursday on Money Saver. My question on Money Saver and 5i Research is on the Sell side. I do not remember any recommendations of an outright Sell on any Stock or ETF. There have been between the lines avoid and do not buy, but where have the words for Sell on a lousy Stock or ETF? Herbert

Q: I am amazed at how closely the D.J.I.A. and the SP 500 track each other.
The stocks in the Dow are picked by editors of the Wall Street Journal and are share price weighted so Proctor & Gamble has 4 times the weighting of GE.
The SP 500 is market cap weighted so Amazon which never makes money has 5 times the weight of Morgan Stanley which made $6 billion last year.
How can you explain this? Thanks
Derek