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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: In your answer to the question from Denis regarding how many stocks are required to own a diversified income portfolio of $125K and what weighting you would give for each stock, your answer was 20-25 stocks with an equal weighting of 5% to 4%. I have three questions:

In general, is this number of stocks also the optimum for a portfolio of $300K assuming the weighting is similar?

At what value would a portfolio be considered too small to hold individual stocks and should hold ETFs instead?

Finally, how should one calculate the optimum weighting of ETFs if they are already in a portfolio that also holds individual stocks?

Thanks so much for your excellent service and I hope that you all had a great Canada Day weekend.


Read Answer Asked by Jerry on June 29, 2013
Q: I was wondering if an index such as XMA ever changes its stock focus? For example would they focus more on agriculture rather than gold. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Mary Jean on June 27, 2013
Q: I'm looking at VUS-Vangard Total US Market to get more US exposure. Is this a wise choice or can you suggest something? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Mary Jean on June 27, 2013
Q: You have mentioned that you favour US industrials and tech. Which ETFs would you suggest for that?
Read Answer Asked by Maria on June 27, 2013
Q: Re: CPD question posed today. On the TSX web site it says the dividend is 5.75% which is not bad. My question is when is the fund fee taken out of the earnings? Is 5.75% pre-fees or post-fees.

Derek
Read Answer Asked by Derek on June 26, 2013
Q: Good afternoon 5i,

In the summer month usually Consumer staples do fairly well. What are your thoughts on XST an Ishare ETF?

Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on June 26, 2013
Q: Peter - can you please provide your thoughts on CPD - IShares Cdn Preferred Share Index? I would like to add this to my fixed income portion of my portfolio - 5% position. What are the risks in this name regarding rising interest rates? Thank You!!
Read Answer Asked by Luigi on June 26, 2013
Q: I'm happily up about 12% in 3 months on BRK.B. Do you think this would be a good time to sell and switch to IWO?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Jim on June 24, 2013
Q: I'm down 8% on ZUT during this latest sell-off. Do you feel this latest sell-off in utilities and interest sensitive stocks was overdone or is there more pain coming?

What sectors would benefit from higher interest rates and inflation?
Read Answer Asked by David on June 23, 2013
Q: I purchased BMO equal weight utility index etf zut about 18 months ago. It has dropped steadily. It is about a 15 % allocation of my dividend portfolio and the only utility holding. What should I expect from this over the next few years? Is it worth keeping?
Read Answer Asked by Bob on June 23, 2013
Q: About fixed income. Should I sell my corporate bond CBO, HAB and XCB etf ? They gave me 5-6% for the last 3 years but now are in a serious downtrend in 2013. At this point would GIC, or individual bonds be better ? Also, same question about CPD ?
Read Answer Asked by Martin on June 23, 2013
Q: Hi Peter and 5iresearch team,
I know you are very knowledgeable regarding US exchange traded funds. The Global X Top Guru (GURU-N) was introduced on BNN market call and I would appreciate your thoughts on this ETF. GURU is comprised of Hedge fund top picks. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Linda on June 22, 2013
Q: Peter (IWO)
I am thinking about purchasing IWO but with the Canadian dollar dropping lately and with the exchange needed to convert to US dollars is it a good idea. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Bruce on June 21, 2013
Q: ZUB: ZUB is the biggest holding in my portfolio; With Bernanke's statements, should I start taking some profits? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Rita on June 20, 2013
Q: PETER AND TEAM should I keep holding onto xhy for the long term or dump it now thank-you mel
Read Answer Asked by Mel on June 20, 2013
Q: Hi 5i team,

My wife's portfolio is heavily overweight on BCE. Given the recent sentiment on dividend paying stocks from the potential for increases in the interest rates, I was thinking about bringing the weighting down and reinvesting in VIG. Would you recommend this switch based on the potential upside between the two or would there be another stock that you would recommend in lieu?

Thanks as always.
Read Answer Asked by Jonathan on June 20, 2013
Q: This is for a fixed income component of a taxable account. Preferred share ETF's, such as CPD, have dropped 2% or more in the last month. Are they still a good place to invest, or is it time to bail, take a loss and move on to short term bonds, or after the recent declines, is this a good buying opportunity.
Read Answer Asked by David on June 20, 2013
Q: Hi,

I'm gradually building an RSP for my daughter who is in her late twenties. For her, although age might allow more risk, a 'stable' combination of growth and dividends is what I 'm looking for. To get international exposure, she has HAZ-TO and PEY (U.S.). Would you switch to VIG or add to either of these?
Read Answer Asked by James on June 20, 2013
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