Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Peter and Team!!! A Merry Christmas to you all!!! A quick question, it is my impression that ABT and ECI pay out more dividends than they take in in earnings. Is this correct? And if so is it a problem and may the dividends be possibly cut? Cheers, Tamara

Q: My question is about year end taxes for capital gains or losses. If I sell a stock on say Dec 28, is it considered a gain/loss for the 2016 tax year or 2017 tax year? The "settlement date" always appears to be three trading days after the sale date. I am guessing the "settlement date" is the date that is used for tax gains/losses - is that correct? Is there a specific date in 2016 when the gains/losses are considered to be in 2017 - Dec 28?

Q: I heard on BNN that one way to find out if stocks are overbought is to look if 80% of companies in an exchange are trading above 50 day moving average. I would appreciate if you can provide your thoughts about this and if it does work, where can I find this information.
Thanks and have happy holidays.

Q: When the conversation turns to money, stocks, real estate sales, inheritances, retirement ,funds, etf's etc., a moderately informed person is invariably asked questions about where would "you" put a large sum such as.. $250,000 and leave it safely parked for the long term and also generate monthly income above bank rates? What do you simply and safely tell your father, uncle, friend, etal? Thank you.

Q: Peter and staff
A great number of my stock picks are based around your assessment of the company and I thank you for all this good advice
In your 3 portfolios 10 of the holdings are down 10% or more for this year.
My risk tolerance red light snaps on when when a stock is down 10% or goes below the 40 DMA.I do look at some factors for the reason but maybe not the right ones.Many times I have sold only to see the holding come back and continue to grow.
What criteria do you use to continue to hold a stock even when you are down a fairly significant amount?
Thanks and have a great holiday and 2017.

Q: Hi Peter and Ryan, I'm just making sure I understand the withdrawal rules correctly in dealing with TFSA accounts. I have some cash accumulated from the payments of dividends during the last few months in my TFSA. Am I allowed to withdraw say $2,000.00 in cash from my TFSA account in the next few days (before December 31). Then after Jan 1st, 2017, does my new limit for 2017 become $7,500.00? If so can I transfer (in kind) shares from a cash account worth $7,500.00 into my TFSA without issues? Thank you so much for all you do and all the best in the new year. Mario.

Q: Im a 74 year old male in reasonably good health, my RRIF minimum withdrawal is about $26,000 per year. I want to keep 4 years, about $100,000 risk free as in GIC's where could i invest the other $360,000
so i can make a reasonable 5% return.

Q: I occasionally see a reference or a prediction in the financial press to "it would boost S&P earnings by US$10". Since I'm pretty sure that both S&P as a company, and the companies in their indexes, all earn much more than $10, what are these authors telling me? Thanks! James

Q: In the wake of my significant losses on CXR and Seeking Alpha being 'right' on that and Valeant, the report on PLI worries me. Are there any recent examples where Seeking Alpha got it dead wrong on a company they issued such a reports or reports on?

Q: My question is about your take on reinvesting dividends.

I now have enough in my income portfolio to reinvest into buying whole shares. All things being equal (without dividend reinvestment policy by the company to buy at a discount), should I enroll in an automatic reinvestment plan that my broker offers or should I accumulate enough and then make one time purchases throughout the year when it's on a dip or something?

Q: There is currently a plethora of ways to invest in the US Market without touching sector funds. Would you use any of the above ETFs and if so in what proportion or would you suggest using any other US ETFs as well. High conviction US Mutual funds are also an option; but the fees are somewhat higher. I currently have no US coverage and am looking at establishing a 15-20% position. I know timing is a bit of a quess; but with the recent run up would you please suggest a strategy?

Thanks and
A very Merry Christmas to all

Q: Hi,

What books can you recommend on investing especially who just starting out on investment.

Thanks and happy holidays!

Q: Just as a follow up to the questions on discounted drips vs synthetic drips; a new concept to me. I have checked with my online broker; Bmo investor line, and they automatically enroll in discounted drops when available, so no need to go through each company to take advantage of this. Just wanted to share this for other Bmo users.

Cheers,
KR

Q: Hello,

I was wondering if the search by symbol (which btw it's much better after the site update) can have the higher ranking by, well, symbol. For example searching for TA which is the symbol from TransAlta shows the company way,way down in the list.

Thank you

Q: Hi The stocks I hold in both tsfa generate $7200 annual income combined .In both accounts we hold RPI.UN STB and GH
STB is held in US $.
Hope this helps
Kind Regards
Stan

Q: I don't hold much in the way of fixed income but based on your sage advice, I have decided to take the plunge. The question now becomes the best way to do it. It seems I have three options. One, buy an ETF. This is easy to do, the MER cost is low and it provides diversification. However, there is no maturity so downside risk is greater and although the cost is low, there is still a cost. Two, buy preferreds. I understand that with the rate reset feature, downsize risk is minimized but there is no maturity date so the initial capital may never be regained. But they are easy to buy. Third, purchase individual bonds. The return could be higher (especially if corporate) and capital should be returned at maturity. However, I have no idea how to buy individual bonds. Can they be purchased through most on-line trading accounts? How do you find individual bonds that are for sale and how do you determine if it is good value (I have no particular expertise in this area)?

Is my synopsis fairly accurate? If so, what do you recommend as the best way to proceed in acquiring this class of assets?

Appreciate your insights.

Paul F.

Q: Can Canadian companies that derive revenue from U.S. and European
holdings (eg., MG, ATD.B,BIP.UN, MST.UN,STN,LNR,POW,etc) be regarded as partial foreign equity within a portfolio?

Q: In your recent web address you suggest you look for companies that are able to excell in proving rising dividend rates. Can you suggest a source of this information ?

Q: Some of the questions are overly promotional and this should be discouraged or answered in the tone they are asked !

Q: Last July , you put together a report entitled " Report of Target Price Data" . The report listed stocks that were undervalued . Many were sadly beaten up , but two of the " Strong Buys" from the first 2 pages returned over 300% as of last Friday . I am certain most of the data is outdated and there would be new companies listed .
I am not sure what your source was for this report ... Was your submitting this a one time event ? Thanks for everything ... Tom