Investment Q&A

Q: My 20 year old son has asked Santa for a book about investing this Christmas. He has a sizeable investment account, having received inheritance gifts from both his grandfather and uncle. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you.

Q: I have a portfolio consisting of mostly stocks, but also some etf's (ex IWO, ZPR, etc...) and BRK.B. Could you offer some advice on how the ETFs and conglomerate companies fit in to overall sector allocations? For example, in my case I have very little consumer discretionary exposure via stocks, but obviously some through IWO & BRK.B. I'm trying to figure out the best way to measure these for sector allocation purposes.

As always, thanks for the great service.

Q: Hello 5i
I have been reading a great deal of your responses that include comments implying a short term top developing in many 2016 good stocks.
Rotation out of the winners.
Year end Selling
Manger Positioning
Easy to sell winners for cash

And on the other side, 5i continues to recommend many of these names as investable today.

How is an investor to reconcile buy recommendations(at what feels like short term high) with declining stock prices and the scepter of a January pull back after the 2016 tax year passes.....and when the typical selling period begins for previous year winners?

If one is not a trader, what investor action is to be taken to ensure long term success with volatile names that appear to be in decline today?

(as a note: I may not be in some of these names without 5i.....good(a few nice gain positions-thanks) and bad(dealing with volatility)

Thanks
Dave

Q: I have a question about this press release about share repurchases from CGI Group. The CGI group is intending to repurchase Class A shares on the TSX. I'm a holder of shares of CGI on the NYSE. Can you tell me more about how this will affect my investment and are NYSE shareholder getting the short end of the stick?

Q: Where can I find the date of next Earnings Report for Canadian companies?

(Zacks is good for US companies.)

Thanks!

Q: I am looking for short term (1 year) fixed income investments.With rates soo low,I have found best rates at People's Trust,Alterna Bank and Oaken.They are all CDIC .
What is your opinion of these 3 institutions and if too risky what alternatives would you suggest? As well, is the interest covered with deposit insurance.
You advise is most appreciated,
Thanks
Jean

Q: I notice that you are hosting the "How to Pick a Stock" webinar with Virtual Brokers. I also see that they had a very favourable write up in the recent Globe article. Is this a broker that you recommend? (I haven't yet done my research)

Q: When buying a US stock is there more than the exchange rate to contend? I believe I read somewhere there could also be a fee. How does one find this out ?
Thanks
Jean

Q: Just a response to the reader about DRIP. I just called webroker and asked them to put my dividend stocks on a DRIP. They can do it for just the stocks you want or for all of them. It was done in a flash. ( unlike many "please hold" calls!)

Q: Hi Ryan, Peter

Apparently there is some sector rotation going on. I noticed some quality names can go on sale pretty quickly, could you name some non-resources that look good to buy.
Great job as usual!

Q: I was looking up the ROE for OTC as of Sept 30, 2016. My first look was in Yahoo Finance where the ROE is given as 49.3% ttm (trailing 12 months). Sounded high, so I checked Reuters Investment Profile via my BNS site, for the same date, where the number shown is 14.94 MRI ( Most Recent Interim). HUGE DIFFERENCE!!! What am I to believe?
Can you please explain how this could happen...give me your opinion of the quality of YF data...and advise the best source for 3 yr avg ROE data. (Sure be nice if I could find it here)
Thank you.
Brian

Q: Hi Peter and Team,

You recently said in an answer to another member "We would prefer that most investors have some exposure to all sectors and don't need to play these silly rotation games." I just want to express my gratitude for this valuable advice. Also, you always stress that we should look at our total portfolio, not just individual accounts when considering sector allocation. Well, it took me a long time, but I prepared a simple spreadsheet that looks at all our accounts, and the results have been very revealing. (We were grossly overweight in some sectors and grossly underweight in others). You get a far different picture looking at ALL accounts, so thanks for this sage advice as well!

Q: I started out with I question but find I actually may have 2 or more.

I am considering replacing CRQ & CDZ in 1 account,
and replacing cdz with HEW in another account. This would account for all my TSX ETF exposure.

The questions are :
1) would you view this as a viable move
2) I noticed that HEW is a thin trader. Will I be beaten
up badly if i try to buy several hundred shares of HEW
at one time.
3) Is there an approach to buying this type of eTF (thin trader)
4) I noticed when I looked up CDZ there is a CDZ.A
and CRQ has a CRQ.A
Could you please tell me the difference in the A versions
of the ETF's .
That's it for this "question".

Thanks in advance

Q: can you please comment on the psychology of people selling their winners like kinaxis, shopify, facebook, google , couche tard , even spinmaster rather than selling their losers to rotate into oil and gas stocks.
i just never have been able to understand that the investor cannot accept taking a loss so they keep their losers hoping to get back to even and sell their winners. dave

Q: I recently read in the Q&A`s that ECI is offering a DRIP program with 5% discount on stock purchased via DRIP. I own a number of dividend paying stocks in both registered and non-registered accounts with my discount broker and wondered if there was a simple way to find out 1) if the companies offer a DRIP and 2) if there is any discount they offer through their DRIP purchases (is this common?)....does such a website exist? If you do not require the funds, it seems to be a `no brainer' to enroll in the DRIP and receive an immediate 5% return. Your comments are most welcome.

BTW, I an a new member and am very impressed with the quality of the information you provide. Thank You
Scott

Q: Please help me understand the growing professional advice that we avoid 'defensive' dividend payers ( REITS, Utilities, Telcos etc).
I understand there might be downward pressure on share prices if investors switch to debt instruments. But we buy 'defensive' payers because they have sustainable, and usually
growing dividends...right? If there is downward pressure on the share prices we buy more.
What is it that I am not getting?

Q: Hi 5i
In my rrsp account I have 4 mutual funds
Rbc u.s. - rbf557 (11%)
Pimco cl adv - pmo006 (21%)
Ci bond - cig 837 (10%)
Sig hgh - cig686 (57%)
I haven't been very happy with the returns and looking at some adjustments
What do you think of selling 2/3 of sig686 and adding some to Rbc u.s.
And adding edg 3801 mutual fund,
Selling the bond portion and looking to your thoughts some suggestions for a replacement
Thank for the help
Sam

Q: Not a question, but a suggestion for an enhancement to the 5i site. I was pleased when the forums were introduced, but I think they are more lightly used than I had expected. I was hoping that they would become an active focal point for the collective knowledge of the 5i community. I wonder if the following technical update could be considered, possibly just for those questions that pertain to a single company. Add a "go to forum" button next to the company name in the question, or if there is no existing forum, substitute a "create new forum" button. If a forum thread already exists, include the date of the most recent comment next to the button. I think this might encourage people, including me, to easily "toggle" back and forth between questions, which I read every day, and the forums, which I check much less often. Thanks for everything you do and the consistently level-headed advice that is of such benefit to us all.

Q: I have positions in all 3 of the 5I Portfolios. Income(70%) Ballanced/Model (20%) and Growth (10%)portfolios. My Question is on the DRIP strategy and whether I should use it as part of my reinvestment or take the Dividends and utilize them as part of my annual Re-balancing Exercise. My outlook is on a long hold of 10-15 years, minus any sells you suggest on the portfolios themselves.

Also when publishing your Summary of Stocks Covered, I wonder if you can add which stocks offer a DRIP plan. Thanks again for your advice and knowledge. Ben

Q: Hi 5i,

What are you top picks for companies to purchase due to tax loss selling?

Thanks, Shane