Investment Q&A

Q: Hi 5i team,

I find the retail investor rarely has a chance initially regarding large hyped IPOs. However, it would seem that watching the stock months (or a year) out there is often a chance to buy in. Timing that is difficult. Case and point Twitter. Will it eventually go up (I would say yes based on broad use of the app). I have watched Facebook where the stock took off mid 2012 and LinkedIn (stock up early 2013). In both cases it seemed if you bought the stock once it raised above it's IPO price you would be successful. Zynga acted contrary to this hypothesis.

So with 2015 possibly marking the entry of hyped IPOs Uber, AirBNB, Dropbox and Shakeshack. Any advice in general?

Q: What are the risks associated with the shortage of the US dollars around the world? I hear that much of the international money borrowed are in US dollars. Reimbursing this money will cost more as US dollar appreciate. What will be the macro effect of this will be on the different markets? And how an investor can best prevent himself against this downturn?
Thanks. Jean

Q: hello 5i:
not a question; a comment. I often see people, when asking Peter a question, quote how many analysts are advising buy,etc. Peter hasn't held back on his opinion of this, so here's more ammo:
Concerning equities, an analysis by Bespoke Investment Group recently showed 48.3% of the 12,122 ratings on S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) stocks were "Buy" (or equivalent) ratings, 44.9% of ratings were a "Hold," and just 6.67% of ratings were a "Sell,"
need I say more?
thanks
Paul L

Q: Hello Peter & Co,
It seems that a few investors are taking some profit today in Health/Pharma & Info Tech; that's healthy as they had gained significantly lately. No need to panic and stay the course, right?
Have a good weekend,
Antoine

Q: Could you please send me the details on the Oceania cruise.Thankyou

Q: Hi Peter and team,

I just wanted to send along a thank you to you and your membership subscribers for the information provided on what institutions to check out. This was very helpful information and we will be checking them out next week.

Thanks again, Charlie

Q: Just to clarify an answer to an earlier question are you saying that having a portfolio with say 8 etfs is not a good idea because that's way too many holdings, you say around 20 is a good number. Vthanks

Q: What is the difference between a portfolio of 20 stocks and an ETF of 500 stocks? Most analysts recommend to own around 20 stocks with an average weighing of 5%. More than 20 stocks is considered owning to many stocks. How do you reconcile those two approaches?
Thank you for the response and congratulations for a wonderful job.

Jean

Q: Further to what John wrote in regards to Scotia iTrade: I agree with his assessment of an improvement in iTrade's services. Regarding their commission-free ETFs, you can buy AND sell them with no commission. Some competitors offer Canadian listed ETFs as commission free for purchases ONLY, so you have to pay their normal commission when you sell the ETF. I prefer the Scotia iTrade model even if their list contains fewer eligible ETFs (50 at the present).

Q: Charlie asked about brokerages and you mentioned TD but did not mention BMO. I have a BMO Invest account and trade unlimited shares for $9.95. BMO also provides top notch reports plus excellent information on any stock I may be considering. I believe BNS has a similar service.

Q: Just wanted to add something re Charlie's question on choosing a broker.
I have been with Scotia iTRADE for a while and have noticed their services getting better and fees coming down over the years. Nice to see that there is some competition in the industry. I note also that CIBC has just lowered their standard trade fee to $6.99. Hopefully Scotia and the other banks will follow.
Scotia has a decent list of ETFs that can be bought commission free. Also, it is very easy to enrol in DRIP and DPP as there is a tab to click that gives you the option. This means that all dividends can be reinvested commission free. Saves hundreds of dollars a year (if you hold div payers) and compounds returns efficiently.
Psychologically, for me it is easier to hold long term when you see your share count going up every quarter and dividend increases don't hurt either. Keeps the temptation to "over trade" down.

Q: On a morning just FULL of dividend increases for picks that are highly regarded by 5i, I just have to say, again, THANK you all! Great service.

Q: Hi Peter,

I am wondering if you could recommend a safe financial insitution that maybe you would use to save on trading fees. Places like CIBC, RBC Dominion Sec, National Bank all want to charge around 2 - 2.50% to buy or sell shares for us. We are using our own research and your research to choose our long term stocks. I don't like to pay institutions for work they are not doing.

Thank you for being able to ask these types of questions.

Charlie

Q: Regarding the question on retirement planning software,

I use RRIFMETIC (http://www.fimetrics.com/)to plan my annual
income and taxes from pension , RRIF, LIF TFSA, Taxable investments.

Q: Dear Gentlemen,
Its possible to mention dividende in US$ when applicable on compagnies followed by 5I ?.
Thank You
Best Regards

Q: With respect to the retirement planning question, I stumbled across a website called Retirementadvisor.ca It has a various tools and scenarios that may be helpful.

Q: Good Morning 5i
Not your usual question but important - wonder if you can recommend a software program to assist with retirement planning. Looking for a program that will take inputs of pensions, income and RRSPs - then enable projecting futures years taxes and net income based on those numbers. Want to be able to change inputs to look at different outcomes in key years of retirement cycle. XL would be preferable.
Thanks for any comment.

Q: I have been a very happy member for a couple of years and an avid reader of the questions and blogs. However, I am still confused by what you mean when you say that something is a "3 - 5" year hold. To me, an investor is someone who buys a stock because the company looks solid and has good growth prospects. Otherwise, you are a trader and looking for a quick flip. So by definition, isn't any investor looking to hold until there are fundamental reasons to sell? So why do
you sometimes emphasize the time frame, especially given your stated philosophy of being a momentum investor? I have come to learn given the workings of the market that just because you suggest a stock today doesn't mean it is going up tomorrow, but shouldn't we expect that stock to go up during the year? Or does the 3 - 5 year positioning mean that is when you expect it to reach its maturation from being a growth stock to a an income stock?

Thanks so much for the education.

Paul F.

Q: Hi,just a comment,but maybe make a rule to limit each Q to one specific company or topic,seems like people are asking about 10 different companies or sectors in 1 Q to circumvent the system/rules imo,and 2)any chance we could put stock price beside company at time of question,just couple of thoughts.Thanks again for great service,jb

Q: Are you aware of any Cdn preferred securities (not preferred stock). Had no luck w google - maybe they are a thing of the past?