Investment Q&A

Q: Hi guys,
I used to love google finance to follow and compare various stocks. I could easily chart and compare 4 or 5 companies. However, they changed things a couple weeks ago. Would you mind recommending a useful stock tracker for following and charting companies?

Thank you for your wonderful service

Brent

Q: Good morning,
Are there any studies or perhaps form your own experience, that have determined a general optimal balance between equity and fixed income allocations over time for someone who doesn't want to keep re-allocating asset mix. Is it 60:40 equity , 65:35 etc....?

Thank you

Q: In Joel Greenblatts book "You can be a stock market genius" he mentions that spin-offs historically have been great investments. Obviously not all of them but a high number of them. Specifically they were most successful when key executives from the original company would be moving to the spin off company and leading it, and most specifically when those key executives had large incentives (options, shares, etc) if the spin off company was successful. Also there was a large amount of insider buying from these execs, specifically the CEO, CFO, etc. One example was one of John Malone's spin offs which to this day is seen as one of the most profitable in history. Anyway, what are your thoughts on this theory. Does the theory rain true in some of the spin offs we have seen like (ECN/EFN), (Bombardier/DOO). Thanks!

Q: May I have a suggestion regarding the displays of portfolios for the month, is to add names of companies that are added and deleted at the end of the month,

Thanks

Q: http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/beware-the-mother-of-all-credit-bubbles

Hi - curious if Peter and team have read the linked article in the financial post on the Mother of all Bubbles and what your thoughts are especially in relation to our holdings in the Balanced Equity Portfolio.

Q: I find that 5i has some interesting perspectives but I continue to be confused about how the service operates in the following respects: 1) You have companies in your portfolios which you do not rate and you even comment on them in the media (e.g. WEF in the Globe recently) but you have no reports on them, 2) I am unsure about portfolio movements as you seem to sell/trim A- names while there are still plenty of B names in the portfolio - what do the ratings really mean? Personally, I would prefer not to have the portfolios at all and just have updated reports on a range of companies

Q: where can I find info on whether a preferred is rate reset or not? my discount broker cannot seem to offer help in this regard

Q: when considering a new stock to buy what are the three most important things you look for

Q: Our 35 year old son parted ways with his financial advisor and I have been chosen to invest the sizeable cash balance in his rrsp. I get that you discourage market timing. Many are talking about a late 2019 correction; who knows. I can average in over 6 months, but that is little help if the above correction happens. I can average in over 18 months; is this practical. I don't want to be the one responsible if he suffers a large draw down.

Based on your years of successful investing, please help me benefit from that experience and comment what you would do in this situation. The etfs mentioned would be the investment vehicles.
Thank you for your input.

Q: 5i has had a bit of criticism recently regarding the income portfolio performance. Obviously 5i does not need me to “rebut” this. However it is worth pointing out that 2 other respected advisors (John Heinzl and Gordon Pape) have outlined their own concerns recently with the performance of their income portfolios and have made some adjustments.

I also have a couple of cynics sceptical of my “wisdom” in sticking with an “income” focus. I wish to educate them by sharing some long term data with them regarding share prices and dividend growth. Companies like Enbridge .... a signifcant casualty in my portfolio comes to mind. Where can I go to find historical data on stocks - ideally going back as far as 1990?

Thanks for your help. Good luck and keep up the great service you provide for your customers.

Q: What is CRA's position on short term trading of a security in a TFSA while it is also being held in a non- registered cash account or a corporate holdco account?
For example if I have a long term position in ENB.to in my core dividend growth portfolio am I allowed to swing trade ENB.to in my TFSA account? Additionally, would it make a difference if the long term position was in the black or red?
Thanks,

Q: 5i team,

Your general opinion of the fed hike decision and commentary yesterday? Thoughts on the impact to markets moving forward?

Thanks, as always for your insights.

Q: What do you think generally of trailing stops as a protective strategy? And specifically, I was fully invested in Shopify at an average cost of about $90. Now it is starting to seriously unbalance my portfolio, and yet I hate to sell any of it when it is doing so well. If you think a trailing stop would make sense in my case where would you set the delta?
Thanks.
Chris

Q: Goodmorning

What are your thoughts on using robo advisors? i looked in the Q&A and did not find any questions

Thks
Marcel

Q: I have noticed in the last few minutes of trading on the big US boards large trades in AAPL, AMZN, BRK, GOOGL and V to name a few of the stocks. Does this mean anything?

Q: With Michael's Q on D. Rosenberg interview. What I am curious about was DR's call on the Fed fund rate for next year. He was saying it should be 2.75% now and that this is what it will be next year. As I heard DR he was saying the market is unprepared for this eventuality. So first, do you think that is a reasonable observation i.e. market unprepared for that large a rise? If so, is it enough to cause a 10%-20% pullback?

TIA

Q: Gentlemen, Your opinion on Kinesis money promoted by Andrew Maguire. Thanks. Gaston

Q: 5-I,
What is the most time efficient way of keeping track of dividend cuts made by individual stocks or ETFs? I have set up alerts of dividends paid from the brokerage but am looking for a more efficient manner. I see your listing of dividend increases in Moneysaver which I find very good . It is the cuts that I most want to keep track of.

Thank you,

Paul

Q: Could you help me understand the reason that DOL is interested in buying back shares while also proposing a 3:1 stock split. Isn’t that counter-productive?

Q: Hello 5i team,
Having noticed from the monthly reports the presence of CLIQ in the Growth portfolio, I'm wondering if I missed the addition or removal of any other stock from any of the portfolios. Where can I find all the historical changes (stock and timing) you have made to them?
Thanks,
Antoine