skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A
You can view 3 more answers this month. Sign up for a free trial for unlimited access.

Investment Q&A

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

Q: You seem to be concerned about Brexit and ignore the very real huge deficit the federal government is incurring in Canada which seems to be more important to me. The Canadian economy is NOT growing. RR
Read Answer Asked by Ray on June 20, 2016
Q: Hello Peter,
In your latest Market Update you are suggesting:
"....We would view any declines in the market/stocks during the lead up to the Brexit vote as an opportunity to add to names that investors may have been waiting for 'better prices' on...."
Providing that there will be opportunity,I am planing to buy PBH,SIS,NFI,JKHY.US and AMZN.US .
My question is: when do you think is better to buy ,on day of voting for BREXIT , before day of voting or after day of voting?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Andrzej on June 17, 2016
Q: I was wondering if you could elaborate on the concept of a "short attack". It does not specifically have to apply to Concordia. From past discussions, I know that individuals or companies that short a stock may then proceed to discredit the company through planted stories, innuendo and maybe even spread outright lies in order to create a lack of confidence and thus benefit as investors sell the stock, causing the share price to drop.

But is that the extent of the "attack"? Can short sellers manipulate the stock in other ways? People often ask what the short position of a stock is. Why is this important? Is it just to see how many other investors think they are wrong about the stock, meaning the psychological impact of a large short is what is at play here, or is there something else?

Appreciate yoru insight.

Paul F.

Read Answer Asked by Paul on June 16, 2016
Q: Hi 5i team,

My interest is first time dividends as a trigger for an initial purchase. This based on Peters article in Moneysaver magazine many years ago.

I follow the 5i Twitter Feed to watch for dividend news (raises and reductions), but especially for news of first time dividends.

Womder if you have considered providing a summary of first time dividend stocks (an ever-increasing list, or by quarter, year, whatever) ? I would really value that.

Thanks for the great service.
Read Answer Asked by Jim on June 16, 2016
Q: where to put $175M for short term to wait turbulence



where to park $ to wait out summer and Brexit turbulence before re-entering foreign markets - then what?



Read Answer Asked by don on June 15, 2016
Q: I see that George Soros is buying gold. Carl Icahn has made a big bear bet on the market of 150% net short. Bill Gross calls negative yield bond gang up a "supernova" waiting to explode. 10 year bonds of UK, Japan ad Germany are at record lows. How is 5i feeling about the market? These factors do give me pause to worry!
Read Answer Asked by Gerald on June 10, 2016
Q: A question related to portfolio weightings. I used to only have individual stock names and a fairly equal balance across various sectors. I just purchased an market ETF the other day (VUN) to get additional exposure and classified it as "other", but it didn't feel right when I noticed that the weighting of my other sectors went down.

As an example, if I had x% in a particular sector, but made a large contribution due to new cash into a market ETF, the original x% in that sector would now show up lower in my own calculations. How do you account for this? I don't want to be overleveraged in a particular sector by mistake.
Read Answer Asked by Mike on June 09, 2016
Q: This question may be out of your area of expertise but I will assume, maybe.
I have come across a fascinating investment, income vehicle. BMO retail has a product called -BMO Cash Flow Plus Deposit - Here is a quick overview.
On a deposit of $100,000 they will pay you, tax free, $500 per month for 15 years. This is a "return of capital"
After that time a sum will be returned to you which is the original amount that BMO has invested rather aggressively. Needless to say that with the 15 year compounding timeline and investment posture this could be substantial. This would be taxed as a "capital gain" There are a few other features but this is the gist. On the surface this is interesting. Any hidden aspects or dangers?
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Ryczard on June 09, 2016
Q: I noticed a comment a couple of days ago about the quality of your portfolio reviews. I had one completed a couple of years ago and I echo the sentiment. They are of very high quality and well worth the cost.
For all of us to continue learning, please indicate the top five mistakes you continuously see investors making from your portfolio reviews.

Thanks

Paul
Read Answer Asked by paul on June 09, 2016
Q: Hi 5i,
This is in response to Earl’s question about managing an account for someone whose OAS supplement is reduced substantially in proportion to any taxable income from investments. A good way to generate some cash flow giving the effect of income but without taking the full impact of the supplement reduction might be to focus a portion of the portfolio on REITs whose growth and development activities allow them to designate all or most of their distributions as ‘return of capital’ or ROC. The cash payments come monthly, typically, but the ROC designation turns some or all of that cash from income into a reduction of the cost base for the investment, effectively swapping current year income tax on the payments for capital gains tax that is deferred until the eventual sale of the holding. Because any portion of a cash distribution designated as ROC is effectively not income, there should be no reduction of the OAS supplement resulting from receiving that ROC.
There is imperfect visibility with this approach because one cannot be certain in advance exactly how much of the year’s distributions will be designated ROC. That information comes with the tax slips and related info after year-end. But with that caveat, I have held REITs over many years that have designated most, sometimes all, of their distributions as ROC, year after year. A good example that I have held would be Artis REIT (AX.UN) but I expect that other 5i members have several other favorite examples. If you are willing to dig a bit, a REITs’ past record regarding ROC designations is usually available on its website or potentially through its Investor Relations people.
Read Answer Asked by Lance on June 08, 2016
Q: Greetings to the 5i team. The last question I noted on sector weightings was quite some time ago now. Your response to a member asking about weightings for an income oriented portfolio was I believe as follows: 10% Cons Disc, 15% Cons Staple, 5% Energy, 15% Fin, 10% Health, 10% Indust, 5% Real Est., 5% Tech., 10% Telco, 15% Utilities (no allocation to materials at that time, although I know you have advocated a 5% "insurance" in gold in the past). Would you please indicate any changes to those percentages if you were to answer the same question today? I'd also be interested in how they might change if the question was for a more income/growth balanced portfolio. On a side note, I think I consider my membership fee
mostly for research but partly for therapy, since I find your reasoned responses to various market fears a calming influence! Cheers,
Read Answer Asked by Stephen R. on June 07, 2016
Q: in michael's blog today what is CAGR? please try and give definitions for any acronyms.
thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Astrid on June 06, 2016