Investment Q&A

Q: How is a DRIP for VBAL advantageous for an investment in an RIF? Would it not be beneficial if the market value or the number of units increased rather than the cost base? I don't understand why my financial adviser would set this up. Please help me understand this investment in a registered account. Thank you for your invaluable service.

Q: Let’s talk taxes … According to prior Q&As , subscription to 5i Research would be tax deductible. If I subscribed to a Bundle including CMS and ETF/Mutual Fund , I assume only the basic amount (now $250+Tx) is tax deductible?
I do not subscribe to Portfolio Analytics but same question could be of interest to the members.
Thanks.

Q: Would you be able to provide some insight to why the tariffs are having such a dramatic impact on the Oil & Gas industry.
President is pushing for "drill-baby-drill" but the US and CDN segments are being negatively impacted?
Your great service is much appreciated. Ted.

Q: Is there a free site where we can see the amount of shorting in each stock, and perhaps how that has changed over time, that you know about? Thanks.

Q: Hi 5I
Pls comment on canap from altian trust as an investment. Is it also available from other sources.Tks in advance

Q: Good morning. I'm intrigued by Wealthsimple's offer of bonuses for transferring RRSP etc. What's the catch? Seems the bonuses would accrue over a couple of years but, other than that, is this legit? What do you think about this bid for adding "sticky" accounts? thanks as always

Q: Is it concerning that NVDA had really good results (but not good enough) and the market is selling off? When all the good news is baked into prices and there's nothing stock earnings can do to impress the markets, is it time to get defensive? Is it more tariff and recession related? The 10 yr is down to 4.3% so you would think it's good for equities that rates are coming down, but if the reason for the decline is because we are expecting a recession, it's not good. I'm not really panicking but portfolio is mainly growth oriented and there are signs that the market is rolling over due to excessive valuation and a whole lot of other worries. Any advice on how we should be positioning or getting more defensive? Thanks!

Q: Hello 5i, given the uncertainties and volatility of the TSX and SP 500, would consider selling some US/ CND equities and buy gold and or GIC to weather the possible tariffs? If so what % of the portfolios would you sell? I am retired and have holdings in TFSA, RIF and individual accounts. Thank you in advance!

Q: Everyone, how do you deal with a socially unacceptable stock that outperforms the averages. I personally do not like what FB does for our society and have never owned the stock for that reason. Is the market about making money or shunning stocks that you personnlly dislike for various reasons. Clayton

Q: I wish to buy some US stocks. In the past I have simply sent CAD to my US account and paid the exchange. Now with Canadian Depositary Receipts being available what is the real cost of owning them. My instincts tell me that there must be a fee somewhere or they wouldn’t go to the trouble of creating this type of transaction.
My other option is to try Norbert’s Gambet and save the exchange rate.
Your comments please.

Q: Hello, with the recent pullback I am thinking about opening up a position in NA, but, I have money in my US brokerage account, it is only available OTC. Do you see any risks with using the OTC network ?

Q: Everyone, what are your three main worries today? Clayton

Q: 5i core principles

Can you clarify what you mean with this statement?
Avoid Concentrated Risks
"Don’t make a portfolio reliant on a single stock."
This is staight forward. But how many do you recommend?
"no matter how well you know a company or how confident you are in it, it can still go down."
How do you mitigate risk? It would seem that having a method of getting out of non or under performing stocks would be prudent.
"Having too many eggs in one basket can cause a lot of problems that are hard to bounce back from."
Are you suggesting having many baskets or having one basket with a few eggs that you carefully monitor?
I will post this under Avoid Concentrated Risks in the forums section if anyone wants to comment.

Q: In process of rebalancing growth leaning portfolios, so for the Communications sector, what would be your top five or six "must own" holdings, any market in this sector. Currently I have a notional 6% allocation to sector and small positions in GOOG, SIXG (FIVG), NBIS, and Telus. At a 3.6% position I have room to grow and looking for ideas.

Q: Have a question I have been meaning to ask for some time,

Do TSX/TSXV listed non-Canadian companies, like QIPT/US, KSI/Ireland, and IMP/US, just as examples, move more in-line with Canadian markets or their home country peers? E.g. if US healthcare companies are up 1% and Canadian healthcare companies are -1%, would you expect QIPT to be up or down 1%? QIPT is just an example, is there any information around this out there? *I am not asking about those specific companies in general.

I think ultimately I am looking at some of these American listed companies on the TSX (have a list from the TMX website: https://www.tsx.com/en/listings/listing-with-us/sector-and-product-profiles/united-states#listed-companies), and wondering if there are advantages to buying them to get American exposure, companies that report in USD, but avoid the FX fees and broker fees associated with buying American companies directly.

Any information you can provide would be great!

Also, some of the companies on that report from the TMX site I see are headquartered in Canada - like GRID, PIF, DR- any idea why they are on this report? They all say they're headquartered in Canada....

Thanks. - Jeff

Q: A two part question having to do with the sharp drop in TFII but more about the reliability of 5i data and institutional trading.

Firstly 5i shows institutional holdings at 1.02% while several other site show it at over 70%, that's quite a discrepancy.

Secondly when one sees heavy volume trading it is assumed that it is the institutions moving the stock. With a sharp drop it is assumed that they are selling. My question would be who are they selling to?

Q: Hello,

One of your members was inquiring re: books about managing your investments in retirement.

Daryl Diamond's "Your Retirement Income Blueprint" is an excellent resource. Lots of insights in terms of how to structure your income while your portfolio continues to grow and the most important topic of minimizing taxes during decumulation. However, it is less about "investing" and more about how to manage and structure your retirement income/savings - so you have money to live on while the rest continues to grow, and in the most tax effective way.

Q: A suggestion in response to Ahmed's Feb 20th question about resources on how to manage a portfolio approaching / during retirement: "Secure Retirement" by Jacques Lussier. A bit academic but I hope you find the concepts useful.
https://rpc.cfainstitute.org/research/foundation/2019/secure-retirement

Q: How do you handle your portfolio if your concern is cash preservation for yourself rather than for any heirs and the time to recover from market falls is no longer there?

Q: Is there a book or online resources on how to manage your portfolio during retirement (or close to retirement) that you can recommend?
I have read a lot about long term investing, the economical cycles, and related weightings during wealth maximization stage when one has many years before retirement. I recently started asking myself about how that could change when a person approaches retirement and then actually retires. I still have many years before I retire but I would like to plan early.
Your advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you