Investment Q&A

Q: I have numbe rof companie on my watchlist.and number off companies I own not tracked by 5i-
byd bam aqn ecn kxs atd ccl gib .a. recently I deleted number of companies however I don't know how to add.
i am tech illiterate can you tell me how i add

Q: Are there any tsx listed medium and large cap companies that incur most of their costs in Canada but most of their revenue in the US? I ask because those companies may get a bump in revenue and profit because of the low cdn dollar/high us dollar.

Q: Dear 5i,

Can you provide some ideas where one might invest some cash if we have negative interest rates.
Should we be borrowing money to take advantage of negative interest rates?
Do you think negative interest rates would inflate the Canadian real estate market prices?
What observations have you made from European negative interest rate policies?

thanks

Q: What is your opinion of the mortgage rates which are rising as the Bank of Canada cuts rates down to .25% and bonds are also losing ground ? We are due to renew our mortgage in 3 weeks and are very concerned that the current pressure from mortgage deferrals re covid19 is causing the banks to raise rates for those of us that are financially strong to offset the costs of covid19 costs. Will the government allow the banks to not only refuse to pass the reductions in interest to consumers but also raise them ? Please advise what your thoughts are.

Q: Hi Guys
a bit of a conundrum here, i came into the crash with 45% cash hoping to buy some U.S. stocks, but the low CDN dollar is making me question whether it's worth it. I'm usually a long term holder, buy U.S. stocks for their dividend growth over time. Whats the most you would be willing to pay for a U.S. dollar when buying U.S. companies, my thinking is around $1.40/ $1.41 is this to high?
thanks Gord

Q: Hello Peter
Has the covid 19 fully or near fully priced in the market? I look at the log graphs for new cases and deaths and it is still on the rise.
Is the market in North America forming a base or is there another sharp leg down coming? What is your opinion?
Regards.

Q: Hi hope your can help - when the btm fell out of the market I had $1.3 million in stocks presently sitting with $800 (90 % cash) - did not start selling until the market hit 20,000 on the Dow then it was a race to the btm needless to say I also missed last weeks rebound question is how to go from here to start to rebuild. I am retired so too much risk would not be desirable PS I have enough in another retirement account ($500,000 to last 5 yrs Any help you can offer would be appreciated

Q: I had trouble explaining tax loss selling to my sister. If I sell a company for a tax loss and buy it back in 30 days and it goes up I have a capital gain that I will have to report sometime that I would have to use the capital loss to cover offset. Tax-wise wouldn't that be the same as not doing anything? That would also be the scenario if I bought a parallel company that went up in a similar manner to the one I sold.
I always hope to have a capital gain on something so the capital loss may come in handy but in this market I probably won't be using the capital loss anytime soon so the tax savings is a bit theoretical. As near as I can see the only way to come out ahead is if I sell a company that is down and buy a similar company that is also down but likely to recover more or faster than the one I sold. In other words, sell a lousy company and buy a quality company. But then should I be doing this all the time anyways. I'm not too sure that I can reduce my taxes in the long run. So I am just standing by in a holding mode hoping for better times because I liked the companies that I had before all this craziness although I don't like the losses. Only if I have or recently had a capital gain is the tax loss selling worthwhile Does that sound about right or am I missing something.

Q: Follow up question on Depression
Do the interest rate and unemployment goes up or down.

Thanks for your great service

Q: Thank you for Portfolio Analytics. I have found it a quite helpful. Last year it was a very timely wake up call for me to make adjustments to the portfolio and allow for higher fixed income exposure and better geographical exposure. Thanks again in your guidelines

Q: Hi there,

The market has rallied hard over the last 3 trading days. Still it is far off from the all the highs when looking back. In your professional experience and years of investment experience, can you comment on where you think the market goes from here? Do you think this is a head fake / bull trap and we are heading lower in the coming months and there will be better entry points over the next 6 months? I've heard more people say U shaped recovery, and a couple saying V shaped. What is your positioning on this? It would great to hear your perspective on the current market and where it might go over the next 12 months.

Thanks!

Q: Does this have the look of a bear market rally or a sustained push higher. Stocks have moved really quickly off the lows...it seems overdone in the short-term given remaining headline risks and possible future waves of the virus? Hard to determine, but what are your expert opinions?

Thanks,
Jason

Q: As North American jurisdictions begin, finally, to transition to halfway-decent testing regimes, will investors begin to discount the economic cost of social distancing? Yes, the pandemic will continue to grow, and yes, there seems to be excessive optimism in the market's response to government interventions, but are we now past the point where events or results could cause investors to panic as they did last week? I've been trying not to buy into what smells like a bear market rally but now I wonder if the cost of recession has already been baked-in.

Q: We are all hearing this is a once and lifetime (maybe twice ) to buy stocks quite cheap. Would you advocate using some margin in this environment to torque the portfolio or is it still too risky?

Q: During this downturn in the market I believe 5i said it could be a V recovery. At the rate we are going we should be back to normal very shortly. I read 5i questions and write a lot of answers pertaining to me over the years. Do you see this recovery going at this rate or will there be a noticeable pullback? Thanks Dennis I really rely on your service

Q: Hi everyone,

I hope everyone at 5i and their families and friends are healthy and getting through the quarantine period.

I have a question about building positions. I assume its generally accepted that a full position is a 5% weight. Do you recommend sticking to full positions (5%) and half positions (2.5%) or can you build positions at 1%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5%. Assuming a 1% position might be a junior gold miner, a 3% position would be something like Suncor, which is a good company, but volatile because its based on the price of oil and a 5% position being a stable, blue chip like BCE? Is it ok to look at it this way or does it make things too subjective and its best to stick to full positions (5%) and half positions of (2.5%-3%) and perhaps avoid some of the more speculative investments that would be a 1 or 2% weighting. If you're not comfortable holding 3%, maybe its not worth the investment?

Thanks,
Jason

Q: If you hold the same stock in both a registered and a non registered account and sell both positions within a day of each other, does the superficial loss rule apply to the registered account if you want to repurchase that stock in the registered account?

Q: I thought this link was a pretty good picture of what historical collapses have look like. Post if you think it might help those concerned about what the market is doing.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/how-the-current-stock-market-collapse-compares-with-others-in-history/ss-BB11FfpW?li=AAgh0dA&ocid=AARDHP#image=2

Q: Can you please advise what happens during the depression. Which sector performs the best.

thanks for the great service.

Q: I have few questions regarding preferred shares. Many solid companies ''before covid19'' have preferred shares over 8% div. If that rate is OK for me for long term even without price appreciation, how safe will you quote them in general? What is the risk associated with that investment? Will you favor ''retractable'', ''rate-reset'', ''perpetual'', ''fixed-floating'' or ''floating rate''? How to find the term of a specific share?
Thanks a lot