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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I see a couple of concepts repeated in your answers: 1) if you have a short term need for cash (buying a house within 1-2 years eg) you should hold cash or cash-like investments (i.e., not equities), and (2) in general, some equity investments may be ok, but only for a 3-5 year hold.

Can you walk through the mechanics of how to deal with the situation of investing when you know you'll need cash after, say, 4 years? Do you buy good diversified equities (eg BE portfolio) and hold for 4 years, committing to yourself to sell only on the day before the 4-year period is up? Or do you buy such equities, but then slowly rotate into cash (when?)? Or commit to rotating into cash at the 2-year mark or some other arbitrary date? Or do you assess the situation at the 2-year mark (e.g.) and hang on, or not, depending on whether the portfolio is high or low?

Wondering what your thoughts are on buy/sell strategy in such a scenario. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Chris on July 05, 2017
Q: With interest rates likely increasing this month in Canada and also the USA, would you put any extra cash into bond funds (like CBO,XHY) or preferred shares right now; or wait to see if the prices decline with the new higher interest rates?

Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on July 05, 2017
Q: Morning folks,

Could you please comment in regards to establishing positions in good quality companies that are so called expensive. I hear money managers refer to companies as to rich and need to wait for a pullback before getting in. With some companies a pullback might not even happen. As a long term investor does it really matter when an investor buys in. Could you elaborate.

Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Mark on June 30, 2017
Q: I want to invest about $400000 new money, over what time period should I invest ? Is this a good time to get into the market or should I wait for possible pull back. or should I get into the market now by buying all the companies in the 5i income portfolio? or should I invest half now and half if the market pulls back.
Or should I just park the money in HFR until oct or nov?
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Hari on June 30, 2017
Q: I am wondering about the benefits of using market and/or limit orders. My normal purchase is between $5,000 - $10,000 and I am a long hold investor type. I have used the limit option maybe twice and frankly, found it kind of stressful - always having to check if the order got placed or looking to see if the share price is increasing and therefore I miss out altogether. My initial reaction is that in 3 years I won't really care about the few dollars I might save today. Or am I being too blase about this and throwing money away needlessly?

As always, appreciate your insight.

Paul F.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on June 28, 2017
Q: What discount broker would 5i recommend for a DIY investor who has a good knowledge level of the investment world? Things to be considered would be portfolio management, alerts, news reels, trading fees, real time quotes, charting capabilities, US & CDN Market coverage, consolidated reporting (across various accounts - e.g. RRSP, TFSA, LIRA, ORDER). Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Bob on June 27, 2017
Q: As I grow older I find myself more risk adverse. You receive many questions regarding going to more cash when one fears a market correction and you claim, and I agree, that market timing is very difficult to pull off. None the less I am fearful of large loses similar to those encountered 10 years ago.
Now to my question. If one is investing for income, as I understand it, if the dividend is safe then a capital loss while not good can be tolerated with the hope of recovery because of the steady income flow. I am setting up a RRIF and am concerned about equity draw downs from a recession as well as increasing interest rates. In conclusion an income investor should be able to sleep at night knowing there is a steady income stream. I am trying to generate a 5% annual dividend stream. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Richard on June 26, 2017
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