Investment Q&A

Q: My only 2 TFSA holdings, held in equal amounts are WELL ( down) and EIF ( up ). I like EIF and hold it in greater amounts in my non registered account where I intend to keep it but expect it will be dead money for at least 6 months while Northern Mat recovers.
Am looking at selling EIF and along with my $7,000 contribution buying CALF , GLXY, and LMN in equal amounts, leaving WELL the largest holding at approximately 40% weighting ; the others at 20 % each. My TFSA is approximately 4 % of my total non registered and RRIF accounts and is not considered material so I wish to rebalance it towards stocks with more growth ( and risk ) potential.

I tend to go crazy with market timing : any advice on how to proceed on the sale and purchase of these? Any potential “ flashing red lights “ with this move ? Thanks. Derek

Q: Hi, do you have a good site or reference where one can go to "compare current values to historical averages". I agree that is great info to see!

Q: Aaron Rodgers (star Green Bay Packer) called out Nancy Pelosi for buying millions of NVDA in curious stock trades before a government announcement as Aaron's friend used his X account to become more informed on the Pelosi trades. I imagine there is quite a bit of this going on and I would ask if that benefits or hinders the ordinary trader like us who rely a lot on your knowledge.

Q: I need clarification on Norbert's Gambit which my brokerage appears to dislike.

I would like to convert a quantity of $US in my $US Account to my $C Brokerage Account without paying the brokerage spread. Would you please correct any errors in my thinking and answer my questions as I try to use Norbert’s Gambit. I asked the brokerage for assistance and I was told that the agent was not permitted to provide assistance for the Gambit. All he could do was to follow my instructions.
Do I:
1. Buy Horizon’s DLR.U in the Canadian side. How do I do this when my $US are located on the US side? Can I journal the $US into my $C Account and retain them as US currency?
2. Sell DLR, not DLR.U in $C on the Canadian side. What do I have to do, if anything, to change DLR.U to DLR?
With great appreciation,
Ed

Q: Re: Retirement decumulation strategies.
Fredrick Vettese has several good books on the subject, including "Retirement income for life".
Selling shares in a total return portfolio to create income is an option seldom talked about.
Cheers

Q: Hi.
I have a stock that I am wanting to sell that’s underwater. In order to make some income on the sale. Was thinking Sell call option. Can you explain the steps to execute this type of option strategy?

Also interested in steps to “Selling Puts” to buy equities.

Have been reading and watching videos on the strategies found them confusing (all the alternative strategies available) just want basic steps.
Thank you
H

Q: This is a reply to George's question about how to achieve an effective retirement withdrawal plan for your retirement portfolio. The "secret" is to invest in high quality dividend-paying stocks, resist the temptation to make trades, and aim to retire based on the age-based RRIF minimum withdrawal rates published by the CRA. I have been retired for 13 years and followed this strategy with success. My portfolio income in 2024 will be more than double what it was when I retired in 2010 because the % portfolio growth has outstripped the minimum % withdrawal rates. I always intended to write a book about my retirement planning experience, but never got around to it. Maybe I should reconsider, based on George's experience in finding few "how to" guides out there!

Q: Since I cannot find debt level info in your companies database, I am assuming you are getting this info from your Bloomberg terminal. Correct?

Q: Dear 5i team.
What are some of the questions you would ask before making an investent in a startup that is private at this stage. (consumer products co)
The goal of the startup is to go public ASAP, assuming this means 1 yr or so.
Appreciate your input.

Q: Everyone, Richard asked a question about advisors, I don’t use one and never will. They only care about your money so they can have more assets under management- which is a status symbol for THEM. I used four advisors for two years fifteen and sixteen years ago and during our six month conversations I realized I knew more than them! So I started doing research and buying / selling on my own. I only buy the best of the best. Best decision I made and I am making more than twice the average rate of return most people are earning by buying and holding only good quality stocks. Staff at 5iresearch helps me every day with honest responses to questions. My thoughts Clayton.

Q: I read somewhere that if you had just maxed out your TFSA contribution each year with an S&P 500 ETF, such as ZSP, then you would have well over $200K in your account by now.

Is there a website where you can input a security on a given date, and it will show you the value of that security today as if you had bought it on that given date?

Thanks,
Robert

Q: Hi 5i Research, thanks for the great work. I'm not sure if this question is reasonable for 5i.

I am semi-retired and have been looking for resources (articles, books, people) to help me plan an effective retirement withdrawal or decumulation plan.
My general goal is to determine how to effectively plan OAS, CPP, RIFF, cash portfolio and TFSA to minimize tax while balancing the fact no one knows how long my spouse and I will live.

I was wondering if you have any suggestions of resources I could look into?
It seems that with all the boomers out there, there would be resources available and I am probably not looking in the right places.

Q: Exco reports on 31 January . Today ( 19 January ) some 234,441 shares traded , the majority between 4.30 -5.00 pm EST ( after normal trading hours ) .50 day average trading is 17,353 shares . The share price fell some 8% .
Now , does somebody know something that the rest of us don't ? I'm curious to know if the TSE regularly monitors unusual trading activity , and what action they take . Now this could just be an entry mistake , but I hope it doesn't mean something nasty on 31 January .

Q: Everyone, I have been a member of 5i for many years and read many questions on ‘what is a good price to buy a stock’. Buy around the moving averages, 20, 50 or 200 day. Or buy in a price range ? Or buy before or after the quarterly report? Or… The stocks I buy are a forever holding, buy the best of the best. If the price is in a high RSI range or above the moving average range, I will split my buying in three or four pieces and over a three of four months. I don’t care if I miss the best buy price because in 10 years the price doesn’t matter! To me, buying the best of the best stock is more important than the price because I want to be a part owner in a company. FYI my average price of AAPL is less than $20, my average price of SHOP CDN is less than $4. My thoughts Clayton

Q: Good morning - you mentioned that DRIPs are a wonder of the world in an earlier question about SLF. Can you please explain why you think so highly of DRIPs? Are there tax implications involved? Thank

Q: Just a general question,why do some companies pay a tiny dividend which means nothing to most investors because it's so insignificant?Wouldn't that money be better used paying off debt,share buybacks,etc?

Q: Please provide a rundown of the pros and cons of holding a USD stock i.e. Costco (COST) or Apple (AAPL) in a TFSA.

Q: I have a friend who wants to start investing at a regular frequency (every weeks or months) to avoid bad trading decisions but he is a bit reluctant to start investing in the S&P 500 since it is almost at all time high.

What are your advices in this case?

Q: Everyone, I have owned LSPD since 2019 and bought and sold shares in 2023. Recently, Recently I sold the last of my shares. My philosophy is to but the best of the best and hold for a long time. For me buying is a long process of researching and waiting to make sure it conforms to my requirements. Why is it hard to sell stocks that you have believed in yet performed differently? Clayton

Q: 5i you don't have to post this publicly as I don't want to offend anyone or shame people from asking questions. For the first 8mos after LMN was spun out from CSU investors could have bought Lumine for under $21. Now that it's over $30; apparently, it's too late?

CSU went from $20 to $3500 in 15yrs but buying LMN.v at $30 is paying too much. I'm not saying LMN will follow the same trajectory but investors familiar with the CSU story would love to be able to go back in time to buy CSU at $30.