Investment Q&A

Q: Occasionally you receive questions asking your thoughts on stock evaluation software. I am wondering if you have any thoughts on the stock analyzing software that VectorVest offers. At Toronto’s September Money Show VectorVest’s presentation drew a lot of interest. Thanks … Cal

Q: If the US dollar loses its status as reserve currency, could the US economy slip into a pattern similar to what we witnessed in Japan in the 90's? Is stagflation a possible outcome? Your work is greatly appreciated. Gaston

Q: I seem to have a ...bad... habit of selling my winners and keeping my losers, especially Cdn resource co's, waiting for them to turn around.

Forest Co's under perform, constantly under U.S tariff threat.
Gold Co's and base metals ...who knows where commodity prices will go ?
Oil and gas ...Regulatory and fed govt is a disaster compared to U.S investment climate.

Are Cdn resource Co's only for stock pickers and short term traders in todays economic climate ?

Q: I am approaching my TFSA contribution limit and have opened a cash account. I'd appreciate your advice on how I should allocate stocks between the two accounts.

Currently my account consists primarily of micro/small/mid cap growth stocks and high dividend stocks. I am planning on adding some high dividend etfs.
I'd like to separate high growth stocks from dividend stocks/etfs.

My initial thought is to use my TFSA as a tax free income generator with the dividend stocks/etfs. As these stocks produce somewhat guaranteed gains I will definitely be utilizing the tax free incentive of the account.

While having my riskier growth stocks in a cash account where I am more likely to incur loses and can take advantage of tax loss rules. Also, if Im lucky enough to have a multi bagged I hope I wouldn't be too upset paying a bit of tax on the gain.

Does that make sense? Would you suggest otherwise and if so why?

Thanks

Q: Is it cost prohibitive (in rsp and/or non-registered accts) to invest in U.S. mutual funds (eg FSDAX)?
Thanks

Q: During the year I exercized some warrants into common shares . Is my cost of my shares the exercize price PLUS what I paid for the warrants OR can I claim a loss on the warrants as the sales proceeds was NIL on exercise? Thanks

Q: Many of your subscribers discuss their weightings on individual investments.
If I have 5 accounts and a total invested capital of 2,000,000 and if I want to have a minimum of 5% weighting on each stock,ETF or mutual fund would you suggest that 20 holdings averaging 100,000 each would be appropriate?
Or, in the case of some of your smaller capitalized companies like sis and aar.un, would a smaller percentage allocation be more appropriate?
I am 71 and have been in the market for over 40years.

Q: 5i Team - Altagas (ALA) is has a scheduled ex-dividend date of of 10/24/2017 for a sweet payout of $0.175 per unit, payable on 11/15/2017.

Is is safe to assume that on the ex-dividend date, the ALA stock price will decline by the percentage associated to the dividend payment? If not, is this the best time to buy this stock and take advantage of the payout?

Secondly, If I purchased the stock on 10/24/2017 and sold it the next day 10/25/2017, will I still be paid the monthly dividend on 11/15/2017? Is it a good strategy to purchase all dividend stocks on the ex-dividend date so as to maximize dividend returns?

Thank You - LG

Q: Regarding Grant's question earlier today on tracking gains and losses, I also use TD WebBroker. While there is no field in the Order Entry screen, the data is there. In Account Detail, there is a Tab for Performance, which shows your ROR Yr to date (and other intervals) and a Tab for Gain & Loss which shows the total $ Gain and Loss for the year and individual $ Gain and Loss by security. TD cautions that it should not be relied upon for tax purposes.
dave

Q: TD WebBroker: Click Accounts > Gain & Loss.

Paul

October 23, 2017 - Asked by Grant

Q: How do people track their overall performance as traders? I use TD Web Broker and after I make a trade there doesn't seem to be a filed that tracks the loss or gain on the trade. Do people track this in an Excel Spread Sheet or is there a program/app for this?

Thank you for another great year of smart stock picks!

5i Research Answer:
From what we have seen, most automated programs don't do a great job of tracking this as withdrawals and deposits tend to skew results. Excel is likely the most reliable way to do this albeit can be a bit more time consuming.

Q: In reply to the question by Miscellaneous this morning on tracking gains and losses, our BMO InvestorLine does this with continuous updates. It handles our Joint account as well as two TFSAs.
Cheers, Ted

Q: Is there a website or source of information that I can use to monitor upcoming IPO’s for both the CDN and US Markets?

Q: Hello team, thank you in advance for your perspective. If the US and Canadian dollar fall relative to the Euro, can one predict whether it would be more helpful to own a European ETF in CAD or US dollars? Is it more advantageous to own both a hedged and unhedged version of Europe to help cancel out currency effects? Would you consider a combination of the above two funds as one way to cover off potential currency changes? Please deduct as many points as appropriate to help enhance my understanding of this puzzle.

Q: How do people track their overall performance as traders? I use TD Web Broker and after I make a trade there doesn't seem to be a filed that tracks the loss or gain on the trade. Do people track this in an Excel Spread Sheet or is there a program/app for this?

Thank you for another great year of smart stock picks!

Q: You are very generous in assessing most every company and finding something good on the balance sheet or fundamentals.But i know from experience that there are companies I just should not have bought into for several reasons.Do you have a list of companies that you would not want to be involved in.

Q: Where would be a good place to park cash while waiting for an investment opportunity?

Q: Follow up question: as a guideline, with a "rock solid" defined benefit pension, what percentage, overall, of a $200,000 RRSP portfolio should be allocated to fixed income? Of the 4 funds you suggested, as a guideline, what percentage of the overall allocation go into each fund? Retirement 2-3 years away.

Q: hi,
1) do you know the current Canada GDP figures, taking out the housing market??
2) what is the long term PE average of the TSX from 1980 until now, and what is the average yield of the same, over the same time period?
thanks, chris

Q: Thank you for your comments to the person with the Federal Government defined benefit pension. I am in the same position and I have always regarded my pension as my fixed income component and my investments are 100% equity. In terms of income, my fixed income component pension is over 50% of my income which exceeds the usually recommended 60-40 equity/fixed income split. Most public investment advice is geared to people with no pension, in my opinion.

Q: I took advantage of the 2 year renewal for 5iR.....what a deal. And thanks for the emphasis on portfolio management....what a gawd send. Also, hi5 for the model portfolios, too!...Oh yea, the understandable guidance to the many questions. ........Tom