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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 hold aa good amount of your income portfolio and about 50% of the balanced portfolio. But my u.s. exposure is only 12%. Would it be a good idea to use xei for Canadian dividend exposure as I require about 4.5% to live on in my outside accounts and sell down some of the balanced fund and invest in vun to bring my exposure higher. Also, what percentage of my total portfolio would you suggest in u.s.exposure...Thanks for the great service...Gene


Read Answer Asked by gene on April 08, 2019
Q: Bogle-style, self-directed investors (buying an exchange-traded fund which mirrors the S&P 500, e.g. SPY, VOO, IVV, RSP in an appropriate asset allocation) can probably ignore commissions today, especially on six-digit transactions. Even five-digit ones.

Can they ignore bid/ask spreads? Market orders get filled instantly, limit orders can take forever.

Thank you.

Milan Somborac DDS
Read Answer Asked by Milan on April 08, 2019
Q: I was intrigued by your answer today to the Q re selling shares: If a bid shows for more than 2,000 or 3,000 shares at a 1 cent to 2 cent spread, we would hit that and leave your other offering in place.
I am curious what is the thinking behind that strategy. I also have large position in a few small or microcap stocks and it often seems difficult to reduce a position in a way. My broke has offered to place an "iceberg order".
Read Answer Asked by Murray on April 08, 2019
Q: When looking at an ETF, sometimes I see, in addition to Management Fee and Management Expense Ratio (MER), Trading Expense Ratio (TER). I believe the TER reflects costs of maintaining the current holdings of the ETF in-line with what the ETF is trying to accomplish, and can be quite high when there is significant portfolio turnover. Is the TER included in the MER, or should one add the MER and TER together to arrive at the true cost of holding the ETF? I had always thought that the MER was the 'all-inclusive' cost, but I hear/read very little about an ETF's TER (and often, this is hard to find). Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Walter on April 08, 2019
Q: Are preferred shares suitable for the retail investor?
I admit to not fully understand them but it seems to me that:
- value is primarily impacted by interest rates, so constitutes an interest rate speculation
- the positive or negative effect of an interest rate change will vary depending upon the particular issue
- even on a reset date, an issue will not necessarily trade at par
- the characteristics of individual issues varies a lot, complicating comparisons
- thinner market for individual issues, making for bigger spreads
- trading prices are not transparent
- a pref share ETF may be a better choice
Comments?
Read Answer Asked by Carl on April 08, 2019
Q: They announced a bought deal today for 10 million shares at $0.80 per share. Beyond the dilution of existing shareholders, what does this mean for the stock? How do purchasers of shares in bought deals typically treat those shares, ie do they dispose of them over time or do they typically establish a long term holding?
Read Answer Asked by Matthew on April 05, 2019
Q: what is the best persent of a stock you should have in your holdings
Read Answer Asked by paul on April 05, 2019
Q: This may be somewhat of a naive question but I'm new to this :) What options exist, if any, to contribute to the TFSA and/or RRSP of a spouse? What are the tax implications? Do they also apply to common law partners?

Feel free to disregard this question if it is too complex to answer. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on April 05, 2019
Q: Please comment on the recent downgrade TRP received from Moody's citing TRP's weak financial profile to Baa1. Debt to EBITDA is expected to be 5x in 2019, ENB is about the same. Moody's downgraded ENB to just above junk about a year ago to Baa3. It would seem Moody's feels 5x EBITDA is not good, Shouldn't we avoid these companies?
Read Answer Asked by Albert on April 05, 2019
Q: Hi
Without knowing my specific situation, I'm more interested in a general response to this question.. I'm 50 so my investment horizon is obviously shorter than a 30 year olds, ... Generally, where on an investment style scale would you expect a 50 year old to be eg aggressive growth, income seeker etc I guess an equity/fixed income percentage answer seems reasonable
Thanks
Mike
Read Answer Asked by mike on April 04, 2019
Q: Hi Guys
I'm really starting to look at fund fees in my portfolio i.e.
ZWU management fee 0.65 & mer 0.71
SPY management fee 0.05 & mer 0.09
I'm not sure if its apples to apples given the covered call strategy of ZWU do you add the fees together for the total cost to reflect your total return.
Best Regards,
Tom
Read Answer Asked by Thomas on April 04, 2019
Q: Where can I find a list of up-to-date and accurate DRIPS with their discounts

Thanks, John
Read Answer Asked by John on April 03, 2019
Q: Just a suggestion for Tom and his bond ladder - TD WebBroker has 5 featured ladders with 4 corporates and one provincial strip. Found under Research tab then Fixed Income.
Read Answer Asked by Jeff on April 03, 2019
Q: globeinvestor gold service had a great mutual fund sorter with any options you would want. They have since changed there service to globe investor and have nothing near to what they had.

do you know who has the best service to check mutual funds by sorting options
Read Answer Asked by Gary on April 03, 2019
Q: Hi Guys,
I'm looking to put together a 5 year bond ladder through my discount brokerage, this is purely for downside protection, I would want to draw on the money if there was an extended downturn in the market to avoid having to sell positions mainly in dividend stocks that I'm holding for the long haul. My question is it worth building a ladder myself, or should I buy ETF's, with different approaches i.e. government or corporate bonds, do you have and suggestions for a one stop shop approach, my original thought was 50k spread over a 5yr ladder.
Best Regards,
Tom
Read Answer Asked by Thomas on April 03, 2019
Q: Just purchased your Portfolio Analytics today. Was not going to buy it, as I thought that it would be a long and complicated process. Turns out that it is very easy to do. Was able to enter everything and get the results immediately. I highly recommend . Thankyou
Read Answer Asked by Allan on April 02, 2019
Q: Portfolio analytics
Génial ! Awesome, your new features.
Well done, easy to use, and instant results. Most helpful to the small investor. You will be hard to beat !
Many, many, many thanks !
Jacques
Read Answer Asked by Jacques on April 01, 2019
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