Investment Q&A

Q: I am trying to clean up my husband's portfolio but am missing some ACB data. Specifically, when I checked his 2000 investment statement, he had Janus Global Equity Fund, but now he doesn't have this holding. However, he has a Mackenzie fund (MFC1055) that he didn't remember buying. I am thinking there was a fund merger at some point. Where can I find information about historical fund mergers?

Q: There is a lot of noise about how expensive stock markets are and that we are overdue for a significant correction, particularly in the US. But if I look at my US stock, P/E's are very reasonable (see AAPL), and less than ten in some cases (see GILD).
What gives?

Q: I am a relatively new investor and want to understand how the tax loss function works. I have a few questions.

What is the standard taxation rate for capital gains?

How is the tax loss calculated? Is it based on the average cost of purchases or the last purchase or some other formula

I am assuming that you can buy back any stock that you have sold for a tax loss after 30 days. Am I right?

I look forward to your answers

Q: Inflation is low and BOC rates are still at very low rates - money is cheap to get. IMHO the only place to make money is in the stock market, but seniors want low risk and for many decades placed money in high yielding low risk investments - GICs. Recently I applied for and received a 5 year closed mortgage at 2.49%, which means rates will stay low for at least five years. Our population is aging and that segment of investors like low risk, which leads to lower returns.

My question, when do you think or believe interest rates will rise to a new normal and therefore the stock market will see a competition for money from seniors? Therefore, by default lower returns in the stock market.

As always thanks for your comments.

Clayton

Q: MGM:NYSE, owner of the Mandalay Bay hotel, where last night's massacre took place, is slated to open down 5% this morning. At the risk of sounding insensitive, in your experience, are these declines knee jerk reactions that can rebound quickly? Would this be a buying opportunity to add to my existing position?
My condolences to all victims and their families.
Thank you,
Karim

Q: What is your outlook of USD for next 6 to 12 months

Q: It was mentioned " Money Saver is at print now). I wish it is a real "print" version which I deeply miss. I think you may mean that it will be ready soon on line. However, please tell me, really. is there truly a print version?
Thank you
Stanley

Q: Hope this is not to vague, what would be an acceptable "percentage of shares short in a company"

Q: Hi, you have mentioned price momentum in determining time of trade. What metric do you recommend ? Thanks always.

Q: In discussing buying CSU in less-than-board-lot quantities, you said that "there can be some higher bid/ask spreads, so one needs to enter trade orders carefully." Perhaps this needs to be stated more plainly: *if* you want to buy less than a board lot, *then* set a limit price (i.e., don't buy 'at market'.)

But I know of no other constraint on small-lot trading. I have bought single shares of GOOG and AMZN with the same trading fees as would apply to penny stocks, and been filled at or below my limit price. For that matter, I now find it easier to scale my bids by dollar value than by share count. Much of the mythology around board lot trading seems to be just that: a myth.

Q: Peter and His Wonder Team
I do not understand Bitcoins...Could you please explain the concept in simple terms. Where and how would a person purchase them? Secondly, how do you use or spend them? Thanks!
Dr.Ernest Rivait

Q: Hi, recently your answer touches tax loss selling. Are there many more stocks that will fall into this category ? Thanks always.

Q: In addition to Canadian stocks, I hold a few ETFs for US and International exposure. In order to get a clear understanding of my sector allocations, I would like to incorporate the sector contributions from these ETFs. But when I look at VDU, for example, instead of consumer cyclicals and consumer staples, it lists consumer goods and consumer services. Do you have a suggestion for how I could incorporate these different categories into my sector allocations?

Thanks.

Alan

Q: I have a relatively large cash position in my RRSP which I would like to invest for 3 to 6 months in an ultra safe place due to the political uncertainty at the moment. Do you have any suggestions?

Q: Please discuss dividend distribution schedules, monthly vs quarterly, in the context of DRIPS ("synthetic" DRIPS, by the brokers or trading platforms, which typically deal only in whole shares). A DRIP investor would want a dividend payment & schedule that yields sufficient dividend to buy new shares with the dividend.

SIS, which I recently added to my TFSA, has just changed to monthly dividends -- with not enough dividend to DRIP monthly unless I add more SIS, putting my SIS holdings at an uncomfortably-high allocation. My KBL has been in the same situation, for quite some time now.

What influences management to go to monthly from quarterly distribution?

Q: If you sell a stock before the dividend is paid do you still get a portion of the dividend for the time you owned it?

Q: I am a retired, conservative, dividend-income investor with a well diversified portfolio, including a company pension, CPP, annuities, Fisgard Capital, and equities via RBC Cdn Equity Income, Sentry Cdn Income, Sentry Global REIT, ZLB, XIT, AS, ALA, AQN, BCE, BNS, CSH, CGX, ECI, FTS, PBH, PEY, ABT, RY, WCP, WSP and a small position in Sprott Energy. Looking under the hood, this portfolio has 33% of its value in non-Canadian assets, which is at my comfort level.

Question 1 = I know portfolio make-up is very personal, but when is there too much foreign content in a conservative retirement income portfolio? Adding ZWE pushes my foreign content over 35%.

Q2 = most of the distribution for ZWE is capital gains, ROC and about 30% interest income. I plan to put ZWE in my cash account...make sense?

Q3 = I already have roughly 22 securities, which is plenty enough for diversification. I am hesitant to add more, but I think ZWE makes a good fit. A second alternative would be to continue to "trim and add" as the allocation #'s make sense. A third alternative would be to simply add NFI to top up my industrial allocation.

Thoughts please...thanks. Steve

Q: I have equity positions across my wife's and my accounts ... tfsa, rrsp, and taxable. A good portion of my equity is in etf's mostly covering us and international positions. When I calculate a full position with my Canadian individual stocks(5%) do I use my full equity amount or just the amount invested in the candian stocks (I.e. The 5% of my Canadian portfolio would be closer to 2% of my total equity portfolio).

Q: I have been an investor in small and midcap stocks for over 20 years with a willingness to accept additional risk in my portfolio.I am now transitioning my portfolio to a more Income focus, as i will need dividends to supplement my retirement.
Questions i have are about construction of income portfolio?
Do you feel it is still important to diversify in other countries and regions outside of Canada?You would lose some of the favourable tax benefits!

In trying to classify many dividend stocks in sectors i find that they cross the line into numerous sectors,(example many pipeline stocks are said to be oil and gas stocks, many are said to be utility type of investments)
What sector do you put an ETf in?Seems like a lot of investors drive themselves crazy in the allocation to sectors

I have looked at your income portfolio and your fixed income portion that is addressed by a few Etf.I have taken positions in individual preferred shares,debentures, a couple of instruments with bond like qualities.What is the percentage you would advocate for fixed income or there proxies?

Many Blue chip income stocks pay quarterly dividends,when i prefer monthly dividends.This again can skew my portfolio so that diversifying by sector and country becomes difficult

I find that the construction of my Income portfolio has given me many grey hairs(which i dont need help with"thank you very much")

Q: I thought this might be of interest to all. From a mining blogger I follow.

So I get this message from a short seller firm...
Posted: 25 Sep 2017 02:46 PM PDT
...this morning, quite a well-known one in fact, that said (quote) "When you have a minute to chat I want to run something by you". I think fine and replied "Tell me". Just a couple of minutes later the phone rings and the representative of the short selling firm offers me a gig. What happens is that they would do the legwork on A.N. Other stock then send over the information, I would publish the info on the blog, presumably they are already short when they give me the juice, the stock goes down and as a result they would profit. The short selling firm would then pay me 20% of their proceeds for my time and effort. He also said that the firm in question already has this type of arrangement with other outlets, so I can only presume their business model works just fine. I told the person in question that I'd think about the offer. He can consider this post as my definitive reply and if he wants to push his luck, next time names will be named.