Investment Q&A

Q: I've been waiting for a significant market correction for awhile. I blew it with a 3x U.S. bear ETF at the beginning of 2017. I'm getting itchy again. What U.S. market strategy would you suggest if you felt that a downturn is overdue? I'm not as liquid with my Canadian holdings so I'm only focusing on the U.S. for the time being.

Q: In the near future I will be making some TFSA investments. My understanding, from commentary I have heard, is that it is wise to not invest in US stocks as the US government withholds dividend payments inside such an investment vehicle.
However, my thinking is that this does not necessarily mean that buying US stocks inside a TFSA is an absolute no no as this negative should be balanced against the positives with a given US stock. If the company is a fast growing US tech stock, for example, that doesn't pay a dividend then the withholding of dividend income is a moot point. Please comment. Thanks very much.

Q: Hi a comment for Edgar.for a person who has as good as he did managing his own bucks to go to the hands off approach he would find frustrating .No one his going to have as much interest in his money thanEdgar to be successful at this game you trquire two key ingredients one is time and the other is interest .if you lack either let some else do it .i am approach 80 and I still do ok and love it.
Just my comments they are free so treat it as such
Stan.

Q: I'm now 70 (but spry) and reviewing my options for RRIFs. I have managed my RRSP portfolio and done well over the past since 2009; I remain 90% invested in US/CAN stocks. I also have larger non-RRSP stock portfolios. Going forward, I want to consider other less hands on options. Do you have any feedback/recommendations on Bank wealth management performances. Any experiences from other members would also be appreciated. References to other documents or trusted web-sites would be good.
Greg

Q: What percentage of equity holdings in an RRSP would you allocate to REITS ? Joe

Q: What is best way to purchase stocks/etf`s for my soon to be 18 and 12 year old children . What type of account ? Any Brokerage recommendations ?
Many Thanks
Greg

Q: ANALYST PREDICT THE PRICE OF A STOCK AND ACCORDING TO BNN OR OTHERS THEY GIVE A FIGURE FOR EXAMPLE 12 BUY,, 8 SELL AND 2 HOLD.SUPPOSE A STOCK HAS REACHED THE PREDICTED PRICE WHAT AN INVESTOR SHOULD DO. I APPRECIATE YOUR COMMENT.EBRAHIM

Q: Is there a financial ratio or ratios that can give an indication of the risk in a stock price to changes in sales? I have been looking at operational gearing which tells you how sensitive profits are to reduction in sales. I also read that a high debt to shareholders equity means that changes in profits have a large influence in share price. Not sure I understand why that would be the case. Could you comment on both these measures please and maybe suggest others.

Q: This may be the dumb question , but further to Murray l2/7 cannot locate any heart beside question in order to save. Thanks

Q: Hi peter i was wondering if you ever write about new ipo s coming on the market that you think are good or if you could start thx

Q: Hi All at 5i! Hope you are enjoying the summer! I was wondering if you could recommend a book ( or other source) on investing for a total novice. A friend of my son has started on his working career and has accumulated some money. He has no knowledge of investing and would like to start learning about the topic. I recommended 5i to him, and he is considering joining after he has a rudimentary understanding of the world of investing. Hope you can help . Cheers, Tamara

Q: I seem to recall that there was a list of all companies upon which 5I had generated reports -- but for the life of me, I can't find it. (I simply keep landing on the Reports page, where each company has to be called up individually.) Did this list disappear with the new website features -- or am I simply not looking in the right place? Thanks.

Q: Can you explain why Fortis shows a negative free cash flow, and how this relates to its dividend? Is it because they have long term contracts in place, so they are able to predict further cash flows? When I compare it to Canadian Utilites, their free cash flow is positive. I feel like I’m missing something with Fortis.

Q: From time to time I like to refer back to replies to certain miscellaneous questions. It would be nice if 5i had a feature that allowed members to save questions.

Q: I have a friend, age 27, who wants to start investing. What books, magazines, websites, podcasts would you recommend for a beginner? She has 15K in her TFSA and would like to know where to park it for now. There is no plan to withdraw the money in the near future.
Thank you

Q: Due to health problems my Doctor advised that I cease to manage my investments through a bank self managed brokerage account. I will transfer my assets to a advisor associated with Hollis Wealth. Because HW is not a bank I had to sell my holdings and then transfer the cash. The investment will be made this week. Should I invest all the funds or spread it out over a period of time? It wii be a very long time investment.
Thanks for your advise over the past years.

Q: Hello Peter et al.

With all of the latest rhetoric about trade wars between the US and a lot of countries I have lightened my stock portfolio from about 97% to about 75% with the remainder in cash. I have in the last few years worked hard to get the increase in my RRSPs value. I am looking to put the cash into something that provides the following:
1. Quick access if necessary to re-invest again when I feel the time is right.
2. No loss of the capital with what the cash is put into.
3. Maximum rate of return for the above two criteria being met. I know it will not be high.

Is there a Money Market ETF or something similar that meets my three criteria. Because the cash is in my RRSP accounts I can’t take it out without paying tax on it which I do not want to do.


Thanks,

Brendan

Q: I hold AQN in a cash and Tfsa account. I would like to have the dividend kept in US $ as we often need US $. I presume the dividend would still qualify for the dividend tax credit? I would just have to convert it to Canadian in the cash account. The other account wouldn’t matter if I convert it too? I would have to know the Canadian $ value if I took it out?
Thanks for you insight into this.
John

Q: Re Sheldon's Q, Recognia is a feature of Investor's Edge of CIBC

Q: This is a followup question for my question from last week about payout ratios.

I understand your reasons for using cash flow over earnings to calculate payour ratios. Thanks for clarifying. But when I use your posted numbers to calculate it for ENB, I get:

Payout ratio = Dividend / cash flow
= Dividend / (Price / Price to cash flow)
=2.684 / (46.69/9.7)
= 56%

But, in the question I asked previously, you stated 37% was the payou ratio for ENB. It was correct for BCE, however (3.02/(54.57/6.5)=36%). I guess I am not calculating it correctly.

How do you calculate your payour ratios based on cash flow?

Also, since it is such an important number that others don’t use (based on cash flow) could you include it in your company profile?

Thanks again,

Fed