Investment Q&A

Q: Hi, my brokerage co. offers technical alerts and top picks on a daily basis. The top picks have a price target and a time frame to reach that target. On March 6th one stock trading at $5.94 was predicted to reach $10- $11 in 29 days. The very same stock on March 17th, trading at $5.85, was predicted to reach $7.50-$7.90 in 9days. So my questions are, does the second prediction cancel the first ? I realise that both are possible given the time frame but would that be the correct way to look at it? Also when they talk about days to target is that calendar days or trading days? The same question applies to moving averages, 20 day 50 day etc, calendar or trading? Thank you

Q: Hello 5i, I purchased shares on the Telus IPO in 1990 and 1991 and am about to sell them but I need to find out what the adjusted cost base is.
In 1990 they were 12.00/share and 1991 they were 15.00/share.
Is there an easy way to find out what it would be or is there a website that you know of that could calculate this.
Thanks

Q: I am about to withdraw "funds" from the RRIF for the fist time. The RRIF has positions in both a balanced portfolio and an income portfolio. I intend to withdraw positions in kind and pay the withholding taxes from the cash on hand in the RRIF. And I am wondering, what positions to withdraw, like balanced or income and also those with price momentum or drifted lower recently.
There are balanced positions like CSU that is at or near a 52 week high and then there is TOY that recently declined from its high. On the other hand, there is an income position like BCE that has declined from its high and also ECI that might be considered a buy now.
What would you suggest are the factors that
I should be considering in make my choice? .......Thanks.....Tom

Q: I'd like to understand the taxing of distributions/Dividends better

For example CAD dividends receive the dividend tax credit. But other distributions are taxed as interest, others maybe capital gains? like AW income fund. REITs etc

Could you outline the different types of taxation that can happen for cash paid out from a publicly traded canadian security, AND how to distinguish what type of distribution a certain security makes.

Q: Recently i placed a stop loss on one of my holdings. BAD news and the first trade of the morning was 20 per cent below my stop loss Needless to say, I did not get taken out. I was stuck at the current trading price at that time Is there any way to prevent this from happening? Hope Ive explained myself properly Thanks

Q: Hi. Wondering about what types of investments to put where. How about this:
Non- Registerred Account: Canadian Dividend payers to maximize the dividend tax credit.
Registerred Account: interest bearing instruments, REIT’s, MLP’s etc
TFSA: growth stocks ( Canada and International)
Appreciate your comments.
Thx Frank

Q: This is a comment, not a question. Just read your article in the Calgary Herald "Five Keys to Being a Good Investor". I was in the business until retiring a few years ago and your 5 points are so true! Keep up the good work!

Q: I had recently asked a question for help regarding my frustration with Globe and Mail Watchlist.
I would like to thank all of the 5i subscribers for the helpful suggestions.
I will try them all.
I have found a free watchlist that seems very good. MSN.com.
Thanks again to all of you that made suggestions and comments.
Thanks to 5i for a valuable service.
John

Q: Hi Team, please post for other members
www.bloomberg.com/markets/watchlist

Thanks
Sam

Q: I’ve heard you suggest buying stocks that have momentum rather than the normal axiom of trying to buy low and sell high.

How exactly do you go about this?

I’ve had big losses on CXR, ITC, CRH as I’ve tried to chase momentum.

I’m now in the same position with COV, buying as it went up during a few bad market days, but now I find myself down 30% as those gains quickly disappeared.

How can I use momentum more effectively?

Q: Could you please explain the term "weighted alpha" in the context of tracking and assessing a stock?

Thank you,
John

Q: Hi, could you offer any advice on CHIP program or reverse mortgage to release funds to seniors wishing not to downside, thanks.

Q: Hello 5i
I find myself gravitating(buying) more and more to US stocks in search of above average growth. I believe you have said non Cdn allocation is personal choice but I could fill my entire portfolio with US stocks. What do you see as the biggest negative to this?
Thanks
Dave

Q: This is more of an answer than a question. John spoke about being shut out of the Globe and Mail watch list, which apparently is now only for subscribers. As a subscriber I can tell him he isn't missing anything. They have 'upgraded' it and it is now a hot mess. The clean, crisp functionality is gone. It is slow, clunky and colorless, and you are no longer able to enter the number of stocks you have to track and compare them with other trial portfolios. They have a 'portfolio' tool for subscribers, but that is pretty simplistic and, for me, non-functional too. After looking around, the best free one I have found is at Morningstar. You'd have to pay to get the more complicated things, but the basic list of stocks you want to keep an eye on is there, and you can enter your stocks so that it will track how they're doing day to day without being charged.

Q: Further to Chris suggesting Morningstar, I also use it and find it great except if you add to a position. It doesn't blend the two transactions together but rather lists them as separate purchases, which is annoying. You have to do paper calculation to arrive at blended price and then enter as a total new purchase and delete the original entry.

Q: For those Globe investor users looking for an alternative watchlist following their changes I can recommend Morningstar.ca which is free to use. It allows you to enter the number of shares owned and will show you total portfolio value, daily change in value, stock weightings, etc. You can also enter cost if you want to track gains and losses and measure performance. For my purposes, this site was much better than Globe investor and financial post.

Q: John, the Nat Post just came out with a New WATCHLIST. http://business.financialpost.com/markets/watchlist

Austin

Q: With regards to John's question on the G&M watchlist feature. The new rollout is terrible. I wasn't aware it was only for subscribers, I am a subscriber and one now considering cancelling. I have changed over to the Financial Times watchlist which meant typing in my stocks again but it was worth it. You can subscribe for free and set up a watchlist, the screener there is not bad too.

https://markets.ft.com/data

Q: hi, wrt John's question about "My Watchlist " from the G&M/Globeinvestor, I have also been using this service for years. Awhile ago (a few years) they required you to 'register' to use this service but you did not have to 'subscribe'. Recently they updated this service. As far as I know, if you were a previously 'registered' user ie you had to login, then you can continue to login to use My Watchlist...at least that is what I have done to continue to use the service. I did not have to create a new account to use the new My Watchlist update. I simply logged in using my previously registered account.
Hope this helps John and others.
And yes they keep removing features of this service ie recently removed the 52 week high/low of a stock from the main view....but you can still see it by selecting the down arrow or expand graphic of each stock but they have also added some other very useful 'views', ie Dividend and Perfomance data

Cheers,
Steve

Q: My investment company has changed their calculation of portfolio returns from time weighted to money weighted returns. Do you know where I can find money weighted returns of Canadian and US stock indices, so I can benchmark my results against the markets? Many thanks!