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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 retired, age 65 and I am constructing a portfolio for dividend income which my aim is to have monthly dividend income for cycles 1,2 and 3 for dividend payments. This will be my main portfolio for income.Here is the portfolio I have put together for a unregistered account :
cycle 1: BNS,BCE,SU,TD,GSY,TRP,T
cycle 2: BMO,EMA,RY
cycle 3: FTS,ENB,MFC,SLF,TRI,SLF,NFI,CU-T,AQN,ATD.B,CCL.B
I would appreciate your opinion on this portfolio.Also, I'm sitting in cash in my TFSA and I am looking to possibly put some of these stocks in that account and would appreciate your recommendation on that as well.
Read Answer Asked by Jennifer on September 20, 2017
Q: I am a fan of covered calls. I am retired and like the income, tax treatment and downside protection. In addition I like the diversity an ETF brings.
I hold all the above but am looking for more diversity. Are there equivalent US offerings? Does BMO have competing products that are more diverse?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Don on September 20, 2017
Q: Could you elaborate on your answer today to Alan regarding CSU debentures. I am not familiar with debentures...Am I correct in understanding they are like bonds but have no rights to any of the Company's assets if things go wrong ? Other downsides?
Would you recommend the CSU debenture as part of one's fixed income ? You mention liquidity, but not sure how poor that is ? How would I find out more information about the CSU debenture - length of term, etc. I use a discount broker - is it possible to buy through them ?
Any other information that you think would be pertinent would be most appreciated. Many thanks as always.
Read Answer Asked by Alexandra on September 19, 2017
Q: I am considering converting the holdings in our investment account from the couch potato to a dividend portfolio consisting of the 4 etfs listed. In both cases cash replaces the bond component. I want to draw a larger dividend from the portfolio. Do the 4 etfs provide satisfactory diversification and how do you see the pros and cons of implementing this change. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Richard on September 19, 2017
Q: Hi 5i,

I sold EMA in my RRSP last week just before it dropped.
I want to replace it with 2 Utilities in my RRSP and 1 in my TFSA. What Utility stocks would you pick today?
These are income portfolios with approx 5% per position.

I look forward to your answer..



Read Answer Asked by Stephen on September 19, 2017
Q: Just a comment to Nino's earlier question about CDZ: at the end of February 2017 Aimia was the largest weighting at 3.15% of that fund (according to iShares website). With the loss of the Air Canada contract and subsequent cancellation of the dividend it would have been delisted from the index (can't find a link to that on S&P though). Seems to me there would be recent losses and distribution cuts to the fund especially from Aimia's fall plus any other changes in holdings. Fair to say situations like that make yield-driven weighting riskier?
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on September 19, 2017
Q: I am holding Mosaic at a loss, and it represents well less than 1% of my portfolio. That being said, the business of agriculture is here to stay, and farmers need companies like Mosaic to provide them what they need to grow food. Is this company worth hanging on to, or is it time to move on? Should I sell, my first plan to reallocate this capital would be to increase my position in VLKAY: it is a small position that I would not mind increasing, as it would help my portfolio allocation. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your response.
Read Answer Asked by Domenic on September 18, 2017
Q: I am thinking of putting a fairly large sum of unregistered money into Altagas just to get the dividend. I am not overly concerned about the share price unless something catastrophic happened to the company. I realize that sometimes the strongest of companies can go out of business so before committing I am wondering about the chances of something really bad happening to this company. Perhaps I am safer with a covered call etf strategy (but getting less of a dividend)? Your thoughts?
Read Answer Asked by Bradley on September 15, 2017
Q: I bought WEC.us a couple of years ago, thinking of it as a bond proxy. WEC appreciated modestly in value this past year. I just looked at updated financial metrics and WEC struck me as expensive –but I am not sure.

Is WEC a good proxy for bonds? Should WEC be sold and a 'growthier' name bought? For this question ‘growthier’ mean to me means a security that is expected to have reasonably good dividend growth, consistent with industry, interest-rate and other risks.

If, in your opinion, there are other, better bond proxies, I would be thankful for your suggestions. US and ‘Europe ex-UK’ preferred but I am also open to Canadian names you care to suggest. (If you want, disregard tax aspects. The Cdn and US Governments own 60% of me; I finally accepted that resistance is futile.
Read Answer Asked by Adam on September 15, 2017
Q: Hello 5i,

Would you have interesting companies on your radar screen that are either in the renewable energy, water, or waste sector that would be eco friendly?

Please exclude BEP.UN AQN, BLX, and INE.

(aware of market cap risk and sector risks)

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Elliott on September 15, 2017
Q: I am overweight Tech, as well as a high allocation in small cap. With no Utilities or Telcos, I think selling GPS and ITC to buy ENB would be a prudent move. My problem is usually being prudent has cost me, over weight and high allocations has served me well for the most part, I'm sure I'm not alone here. Thoughts?
Read Answer Asked by Charles on September 15, 2017