Investment Q&A

Q: What do you mean when you refer to a stock as a good/not-good "trading" stock (as for instance in your reply to Robert's May 19 question about CHE.UN)? Thank you.

Q: As always, thank you for the great service you provide.

Could you provide a few potential high flyers for a speculative position in a balanced portfolio?

Thanks!

Q: Good afternoon,

Can you please comment on DRM, today's news and its implications?

Thanks and have a great long weekend

Q: Hello 5i;
There are several ways to buy bond etf`s that are better during possible rising interest rate environments .
Those being;
1- Laddered maturity schedules
2-Floating rate bond etf`s
3-Preferred shares with a minimum reset provision .
Which of the 3 would you consider best , 2nd best etc .and what would be your top 2-3 choices for each .
Thanks
Bill C.

Q: Would you swap BAM for BEP ? Why, why not? Thank you.

Q: Now that Europe's economic ship appears to be turing around, ( Do you agree with this thesis?) can you suggest a few ways to play Europe? ---I recognize this isn't your bailiwick, but respect an light you can bring to the subject. Thank you.

Q: I note that I can buy an ETF that is in Canadian funds but that holds exclusively, for example, the US$ ETF as it's only asset. In this case am I paying the MER for both the Canadian ETF AND the US$ ETF?

Q: I would like to ask a question about mutual funds that take a global approach. (Sorry I am a ETF Newsletter subscriber and I do not know where to post a question there so I did it here). According to the high-profile consulting firm, McKinsey & Co., the expected return on NA and western EU will be far worse than 30 years ago. See the link for detail.
(https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-05-12/millennials-don-t-worry-you-ll-be-able-to-retire).
If it is for the long term, I personally agree with the global approach combined with active management, what do you guys think?
I would like to also ask you for a list of global-approach funds. I remembered you mentioned "Trimark Global Endeavour Fund" in the newsletter. Can you give some more names here or please do it on the next issue? Thanks, Tony.

Q: Can you please recommend a Balanced ETF for my account?

Q: I need to convert my RRSP to a RRIF by Dec 31. The portfolio is all GIC and bond ETF's. I want to add an equity factor to increase the total return that will cover the early minimum withdrawal requirements. For each sector I want to pick one larger stock that is stable and fairly valued vs an equity etf. I picked BNS.NFI,MG,ATD.B,OTC,BCE,BEP.UN,ENB,GUD and CCL.b.

What do you think of the selections and any other thoughts you may have? Thanks

Q: Hi, may I please have your opinion on the National Bank of Greece? It seems like there is more than just blood in the streets. It looks like the carcasses are starting to be cleaned up with further bailout talks. Good risk/reward? I'm okay if it goes to 0 if there is equal chance it can be a 10 bagger.

Q: Is there a publicly traded company focused on animal health such as pharmaceutical or general medical services. I think the pet industry is hugh but not sure where to invest.

Q: I am thinking of purchasing a 2 year GIC. Would you consider CWB a safe investment considering what is going on with Home Capital?

Q: Hi 5i: I find the behavior of Bond ETF's quite mysterious. I bought CLF some time ago, in the belief that a short term ladder protected to some degree against the effect of rising rates. Canadian rates have not risen and those in the US have gone up only a little. Nevertheless, CLF has gone down steadily (linearly until recently) over the last two years. The chart suggests they may recently have bottomed. It may be that the decline in price is because the underlying bonds are bought at a premium. If so, is this effect likely to be negated as rates go up? Bottom line: what can I expect of CLF over the next couple of years? Thanks for your always valuable advice.

Q: my question is one I have been puzzling with and that is I hold your balanced acct in its entirety and have had great success - better than ever in my investing career. Having said that with the exposure outside of canada of many of the companies in the portfolio is there a compelling reason for a retiree to hold exposure to other countries. If so to what percentage of a total portfolio would you undertake and would that be with etfs such as xeh or vt or possibly some other mechanism. Thank you for your expertise and great service...

Q: I am very pleased with performance of SIS. I have a double past 12 months.

Question is what other Canadian Companies will benefit from the aging of Canadians. I read that 10,000 Americans a day reach the age of 65 ( The Baby Boomers ) and this will continue for the next 18 years. That is a lot of people that will need some form of assistance. We must have similar demographics in Canada.

What U S Companies fall into this category as well as Canadian Companies Thanks very much. bob

Q: Hi,

I'm currently only holding XEF(1.5%) and VEE(1%) for international and EM exposure. I'm looking to increase it a bit more maybe to 5%, as the rest of my portfolio is in US or CAD equities. I know you have talked about VXUS as a good international ETF to hold and the expense ratio of 0.11% is hard to beat. When I look at the regional allocation for VXUS, 19.3% is EM, so if we just hold that, would we even need to hold VEE? What do you think would be best to hold to have international and EM exposure? How about VI and VIU (exposure excl. North America)?

Was looking at one or two good quality ETF's to hold. Your thoughts on how they compare?

Thanks!

Q: Has 5I looked at this company? I would be curious to hear any thoughts or general comments. Symbol AXE.V, thank you.

Q: Your current opinion on CARA please. It continues to under perform. Would you recommend selling it and buying something else in the Consumer space? Thanks.

Q: I keep seeing this thing go up and up and up. I know you don't really cover the US, but could you please give me your quick take on IRBT - Irobot?