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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: Many thanks to Chris for his very helpful comments on the capital gains/loss issues I was struggling with. He is quite right that these were old losses. Was so focused on not breaking the rules that I completely missed the fact that it was only selling at a loss (not a gain) and re-buying before 30 days that was a concern. Great to have extra back up ! Although on any future government regs change issue, I always assume the worst. Still remember clearly the nasty Halloween surprise about the Unit Trust policy change (which gvt previously assured us wouldn't happen) and the subsequent overnight drop of 30% in those kind of holdings !!
Read Answer Asked by Alexandra on February 06, 2020
Q: Further to my recent question about crystallizing gains to apply against capital losses, how would you implement this ? There will be 5 stocks that I will sell but will re-buy after 30 days, i.e. syz, engh, kxs, wsp, cjt.
In this market,
1) what strategy would you use for selling in terms of timing ,
2) would you temporarily replace with something else and if so, what would that be, and
3) would you do all 5 or just one at a time ?
Thanks again.
Read Answer Asked by Alexandra on February 04, 2020
Q: Investing in companies that are directly involved in the climate change space seems to be a big investment growth theme and that may explain the good performance of these stocks over the last while. New Flyer is included because of their electric bus component. Successful companies ought to see growing valuations.
Read Answer Asked by Murray on February 04, 2020
Q: Have a small position in UTX(US). The company has declared a spin-off of Otis and Carrier which ( I assume??) will leave me with shares in three companies as opposed to one company. I tend to not like small positions as it is now three times more work to moniter. What would you do? Sell UTX now or just accept that I now have two additional companies to watch? Thanks Ron
Read Answer Asked by Ronald on February 04, 2020
Q: Stocks will sometimes issue more shares to raise capital. Does this ever happen with ETF’s ?
When an ETF is born I presume the promoter will take a percentage and institutional investors the rest , is this so ?
I ask because I notice some ETF’s are very small, does this mean they will remain illiquid ?
Read Answer Asked by Luc on February 04, 2020
Q: Hello 5i,

I sold my holding in MX on January 16 for a tax loss to help offset my gains in BYD. I also sold NFI for the same reason. I’ll need to find one more by the end of the year to even it all out.

I intend on buying them both back after the 30 day waiting period.

My question, as it pertains to both, if the SP has fallen substantially, does one invest the same dollar amount and buy more shares, or would one buy the same number of shares and keep the cash left over for other purchases? I’m leaning to reinvesting the whole amount back in to each Company. I respect that that is a personal decision on weighting’s, but I would prefer your personal opinion based on experience.

PS, I picked up TRI yesterday after selling TOY. Trying to be prescient.

Thx for providing the service, to date, based on the Balanced Portfolio, my holdings are about to eclipse my wife’s, who uses a service that clocks in at 700/month, For her LIRA, RRSP, and TFSA’s. PSA, that!

Best regards,

Kelly
Read Answer Asked by Kelly on February 03, 2020
Q: Hi,
Just a quick comment on after hours trading from the question from Barry on AMZN. Publish if you think it night be helpful. TD allows this for all. There is no club. Day orders only. On the order entry screen, you just tick a box for a day order and after hours. I tried it once with a small order just out of curiosity really. It is essential you place a limit order to protect yourself. Never enter a market order. There are wide swings with thin trading. My bid was off the normal range. It did get filled and I felt pretty good. Then the CEO said something negative on the conference call. The next morning the stock opened lower than my fill and I did not feel as good then. I never did it again. You want a market with full liquidity and all the public information disclosed.
Dave
Read Answer Asked by Dave on February 01, 2020
Q: I have cash to employ/deploy soon, perhaps. I don't want to sell any stocks(they are all good) but use the funds to add to the ones that have recently retreated. Should I use Book Value or Market Value? Should I base the toppings up on Sector/category percentages? What would 5i do? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on February 01, 2020
Q: I have found that for some ADRs, the home country (eg., the Netherlands, Spain) withholds a portion of dividends, even when the shares are in registered accounts, and of course such tax can't be written off against Canadian taxes. Company websites don't seem to make this information available. Is there some way of identifying in advance when such withholding will occur, or can you offer more general advice regarding how best to invest in individual, non-US companies, while receiving the full value of dividends paid?
Read Answer Asked by don on January 31, 2020
Q: I was in my car yesterday listening to CNBC when a chain of events occurred.
3.59PM - We look forward to to the results from Amazon's quarterly report after the bell.
4.01 PM - Interesting but AMZN is up 5% after the close. We await the results.
4.03 PM - We now have the results
4.05 PM - AMZN beats top and bottom line. The stock now up 10% "after hours"
Next morning the G & M reports the results. Stock is up 13% "after hours".
My questions are these . Who are these people that trade "after hours" and how do I get into this club?
Say I placed a $2000 US sale order at the beginning of the week on AMZN, is that only good during "normal" hours. What if I wanted to take that down after seeing the results? Or was it able to be sold at 4.01 PM yesterday?
How were people able to discern they wanted to buy the company at 4.01 PM? My guess, insiders who knew the financials prior to release?
Why does the SEC allow this? It only propagates the notion that the whole system is rigged.
Read Answer Asked by Barry on January 31, 2020
Q: Hi, I have been doing some analysis around building portfolios with different volatility characteristics. I chose 'beta' to measure volatility, as it is available from several sources. However, I am finding large inconsistencies from different sources ( I am looking at BMO Investorline, BNS and Interactive Brokers ). The inconsistencies are material enough that the results are individually unreliable. Are you aware of a source for reliable 'beta' calculations or source of some other form of volatility statistics. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by blaine on January 30, 2020
Q: With many markets currently expensive by historical measures, I wonder whether you could suggest either some regional or country markets that may offer good value at this time. One area that may qualify is emerging markets but I wonder if you may also have other suggestions. I realize this goes outside of your normal field, but I would appreciate any insights that you may have.
Read Answer Asked by Peter on January 30, 2020
Q: I received a nice payment yesterday from the Amaya litigation. In a non-registered account, would this be regarded as a capital gain?
Read Answer Asked by richard on January 29, 2020
Q: In finance or investing media there is often reference to portfolio insurance. I did not know such a thing even existed. The discussion often makes a passing reference to “... buy the VIX.... “ If this is correct, how would one do that? If insurance--- I assume that means mitigating risk--- is unrelated to VIX , is portfolio insurance even buy-able (OTHER than by use of options)? If options are the only way to mitigate risk, do you know some reliable sources one can go to? If I am going to pull my hair out worrying about “toppy markets” (a favorite phrase of some market commentators) I would like to be able honestly to claim I did make best efforts before the said hair-pulling.
Read Answer Asked by Adam on January 29, 2020
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