Investment Q&A

Q: Interesting article "Going Big". How would you suggest someone with the right risk tolerance approach such a strategy ie., would you start with say 5 or so stocks and double up with momentum by maybe selling a weaker performing stock? What stocks might be candidates currently? Thanks, Mike

Q: Just to help with Shyam's question: I have been living outside Canada for a few years now and investing in stocks through Canadian brokers. The biggest issue is whether you are officially becoming a tax non-resident. If so, some brokers won't want to deal with you, some are ok. They should start withholding tax on Canadian dividends and again, some will and some will not. As an example, TD Discount will do withholding but will only allow a basic cash account (no margin, Canada & US only), Interactive Brokers does not allow non-residents. Registered accounts are not affected by this. I'm not qualified to give any tax advice but this was my experience. Absolutely doable but can be a pain if you actually switch tax residency.

Q: Hello 5i,

I presently see myself having to leave the country at some point for a year or two to take care of ageing parents. How would I be able to manage a self directed investment portfolio if I have to leave the country at some point? Thanks very much. Cheers, Shyam

Q: Hi Peter and team

My portfolio is large enough so that getting any foreign diversification leads me to exceed the $100K limit the CRA applies for tax reporting of foreign holdings. I don't want to be involved with completion of the T1135 form. Is there any way I can get this diversification by means of ETFs without triggering the requirement to complete the T1135?

Thanks

Ross

Q: I have no problem finding the earning dates for U.S. stocks however, I am unable in locating a free website that provides earning dates for Canadian stocks, do you know of any? Thank you for your response.

Q: I would like to suggest the following web sites for dividend and performance information.
http://www.canadastockchannel.com/
http://www.dividendchannel.com/ (US stocks)

Q: http://dividendhistory.org/

Pretty decent website that documents all the dividend increases for companies on the tsx. A little more user friendly and objective (no opinions, just numbers) than the previous website suggested by a fellow 5i subscriber.

On the right hand side of the homepage there is a "symbol search" field. Enter in the stock symbol and the company's name appears. Click on the company's name and you'll get a historic account of the dividend's paid by the company. Very useful i find.

Q: Hello 5i,

this is not a question but a comment regarding websites with dividend increases for Canadian companies.

Go to : http://www.dividendblogger.com/dividend-increases/

Not an endorsement but the only site that has this info that I am aware of.

Thanks for the great site!

Randy D.

Q: You have mentioned in the past that it is best to wait at least an hour from the market opening before you start trading in order to get an more accurate read on the market. I was wondering, in the same vein, if the overseas markets give any indication as to the direction the North American markets will take. Do the overseas ones "follow" North America, lead North America or not have any connection at all. For all the reliance analysts put on what happens in China, it seems to me there is almost no connection to what their markets do and the North American ones do.

Thanks.

Paul F.

Q: Hi Peter, as asked by Gordon today I use an app on my iPad called Real Time stock tracker downloaded from the App Store for $9.99. It has many good features to follow your portfolio, the market, has a stock screener and many other good features to give an overview of the market. The main news portion is slanted towards the USA but news for each Canadian stock you enter is specific to that stock. I use it daily to follow the market as an adjunct to my bank investment info and 5i research info. Please note that I do not know how it works or if it is available for other tablets. Stay healthy and keep the cadence high!

Q: Hi 5i team,

I am working on getting a more diversified portfolio in my non-registered accounts when I add new money. According to RBC Direct Investing I have 0% utilities, 0% industrials, and 45.1% in energy.

It seems that you consider ENB, IPL, and PPL as utilities. Is that correct? If that is the case then utilities make up 22.9% of my portfolio, and energy is 22.2%. Still too high I suppose.

I would like to add some dividend paying industrial stocks that would make up around 5% of my portfolio. What industrial stocks do you recommend at this time? [I guess STN and BAD] Is there a seasonally good time to buy industrial stocks? I can wait if there is.

Note: If I recall you classify BAD as an industrial stock, yet TMX lists it in the energy sector. Sometimes it's difficult to figure out sector allocation when some stocks get classified differently depending on the site you use.

Paul

Q: What is the advantage of in kind transfers from a non registered account to a TFSA if one is charged capital gains anyway, and can't claim capital loss--which presumably you COULD claim if you sold the stock and transferred the $? Is it that the transfer is done without a transaction fee?

Q: Are you aware of any website that publishes a listing of companies that are starting to pay their first ever dividend?
Thank you.

Q: If I wanted to start building my own portfolio, what is your recommended mix in regards to sector and industry? What is the mix of your model portfolio?

Q: Hi Peter,

Could you provide a Stock Screening web site or program that you would recommend for a retail investor ?

Thank you Peter...

Q: BIP.UN/TFSA

Hello,
We hold BIP.UN in a (joint) non-registered account and currently have no contribution room in our TFSA's. Come January I would like to transfer BIP.UN "in kind" into one or both of our TFSA's (the value will likely exceed the limit for any one account). From reading previous posts, I understand this can be done with certain caveats or conditions. I could not find any details on the Service Canada TFSA webpage. Would you be able to elaborate on how and "in-kind" transfer is done and what conditions need to be satisfied? Should it make any difference, we use RBC Action Direct - with whom I have not yet spoken about this issue.
If there is a "standard" procedure or set of guidelines to this process, perhaps a post or blog or something would benefit others who may not be familiar with such a process - I know I am completely unfamiliar with it....
Thanks!!
Cheers,
Mike

Q: This question was too long to publish, but related to the fact that investors, according to some, should own NO bonds due to higher risk levels due to potentially rising rates.

Q: Hi guys,

I am a small business owner and the incorporation has access to a little bit of cash (100k). I have been selecting stock for a portfolio but I am wary of pulling the trigger because of talk of the infamous correction. Would you suggest to wait for a market pullback to start buying the positions or go ahead in this highly valuated market? I am in no hurry and comfortable waiting up to 6 months with cash on hand.

Here is the stock in the portefolio:

US: MCD, GOOG, WFC, XOM, BRK, Qualcom, Deere, WMT, Air Lease, Cognizant

CA: THI, BCE, T, BEP.Un, Superior plus, Power Corp, Linamar, Surge, Sylogist, DHX Media

Thanks for the awesome service,

Richard

Q: Hi 5i: Just a comment relating to your recent mention of Bankers Petroleum (BNK) as maybe riskier than oil producers with primarily Canadian operations. Your point makes sense from a political perspective but I've been thinking about whether having some diversification away from the North American (WTI) commodity market may help to smooth things out for people with oil production exposure. It seems like some pundits are forecasting periods of much lower WTI pricing as the NA oil glut develops over the next few years. I think Brent oil pricing has some history of maintaining higher levels while WTI has dipped. Thanks.

Q: How do you figure out if a company is earning enough to pay its dividend? Is the earnings per share value after the dividend is paid out? I am not talking about a oil/gas stock but just a regular equity. STB specifically.