Investment Q&A

Q: When one speaks of a stock being 10% of a portfolio, should one be considering just the "equity" portion of the portfolio or should one consider one's overall investment portfolio that includes bonds and cash? Thanks.

Q: Blog. On July 14 question from Cam - you mentioned posted a blog on corrections in the blog section. Where is the blog section?

Dennis

Q: Hello Peter and Team,

At the end of this year, I'll have to convert my RRSP to a RRIF. Since my spouse is younger than me, I understand that I can use her age to determine the withdrawal rate, which I hope is correct. Since I won't need all of this extra cash, I read that one can make an in-kind transfer to an unregistered account, while paying taxes on the amount transferred, of course (!) Our TFSA's are maxed out, so these surplus funds can't go there. Is this a good strategy? If so, how can I determine which stocks (mainly from your model portfolios (thank you, thank you, thank you!) to transfer to an unregistered account? Alternatively, if there's an article describing this strategy in the Canadian Money Saver, I'd appreciate learning the issue(s) to look at. I attempted a search on the CMS website, but couldn't find exactly what I'm looking for.

As usual, I really appreciate your truly valuable service and timely advice.

Q: Hello Peter

You said "Our IT guys have indicated MS Office has an option when you are saving to save in the older Excel format. This is all they have offered so far. We are unsure if you have tried this yet."

This morning I downloaded the latest version of Apache Open Office 4.1.0 and your .xlsx files open perfectly.

Many thanks....... Paul K

Q: Hi Peter. I have been hearing rumors of a severe correction or even a crash of the markets. Last year in May, a friend of mine panicked and cashed in all his stocks and funds because of the same rumors at that time. It was obviously a huge mistake, given what the market has done in the past year. I know that no one can time the market with any real accuracy. However, I am getting a little nervous. Is it a good time to have more cash in my portfolio. In other words would you recommend selling stocks that have done really well in the last year in order to have the security of cash? Thanks for your great insight. Cam

Q: Hello to all ... in your most recent survey you asked some questions regarding paying a side bar fee to have you or Ryan comment on personnel portfolios. I am retiring in September and am relying on the 5i portfolios to generate a healthy income. RIF, LIF, TFSA and Cash accounts will comprise of my overall direction. Although my questions are basic, should I be asking my questions via Investment and Company Q's or should I send Q's off camera for you 2 to comment on? As always TY.

Q: Good afternoon...I have $100,000 that I keep in cash and will not need to touch for 1 to 1.5 years...ideally would like make some interest/income....I would not want risk but will to take conservative risk....what options would you recommend...I have other investments full invested in the market...

Thanks

Matt

Q: Hi there, I was wondering if a product like "TD Inv Sav Acct TDB8150" would be considered a "deposit" in the event of a bank bail in? Is it covered under the $100,000 bank deposit insurance provision? If it would be taken in a bail in, where else can one hide cash?
Thanks

Q: re: diversification, O& G and trending in general

I have consistently heard you loud and clear over and over again your sound advice to focus on long term rather than short term "market predicting" for lack of a better phrase.

Having said that there are at times when certain world wide situations effect a sector - such has the lessening of conflicts in the Ukraine & the middle east resulting in oil prices coming back down to earth.

The "majority" of recent commentary on BNN has suggested we may see a slight correction over the next few months - especially in O&G - after a very strong move. As such I have taken a small portion off the table from my O&G holdings and am now sitting on some cash.

What would you suggest would be a good sector to look at today and what names might you suggest in that sector that have good value based on their EBITDA and affordability with minimal debt?

OR... would you suggest sitting on 5% cash?

Thanks for all you do for all of us

Gord

Q: General question.Please provide your implications when comparing the closing price of stock on the day that the bought deal equity financing is completed.For example, on 7/9,POU closed @ $58.22 vs financing @ $60 plus $74.4 for flow through shares; & 2)INP @ $2.29 vs $2.30 financing price.On 6/18 EFN closed @ $12.81 vs $12.75 financing price.Thanks a lot

Q: may i have your thoughts on, 1) central banks owning 29 trillion of world equities. 2) the demise of the petro dollar and how it would affect n.a. markets if the saudis start selling thier oil in other currancys (yaun, ruble, gold,etc.) tkx pat

Q: Hi Guys, after a pretty good first half of the year (thanks 5i team), how much cash (percentage wise) would you keep in your portfolio? Right now I am at 1.5% cash. take care

Q: The TSE was down .28% today. Yet 25 of my 26 stocks were down, with 9 of them (CEU,SYZ,BYD,BAD,SGY,PEY,AVO,DHX,CMG) all being down between 2.3% and 4.5% on relatively heavy volume. I am not worried at all about this, but wonder if you can offer some explanation for why this would happen on one day. Thanks.

Q: Hi Peter

What have been your favourite books on investing and the markets?

Thank you

Q: Hi Peter and Company:

If one believes that the market is due for a correction and, if they place faith in historic data from years where the U.S.A. is due to hold a mid-term election, one might be wise to liquidate for the third quarter of the year. If a person was to do this, what would be the best place to park cash while waiting for buying opportunities?

Thanks for the advice!

DON

Q: Hi Peter & Team,
I would like to make a comment on stop losses. As you have stated you have to be very careful especially on a low traded stock as someone can "low ball" and steal them away.
A strategy I sometimes employ if I have a winner and want to trim to limit my portfolio exposure is say I have 500 shares, I put a very tight trailing stop loss on 200 shares, check daily, and ride the stock up as far as it will go.
My 2cents. Thanks for you advice and guidance.

Q: I was looking at the list of largest short positions on the TSX:
http://www.financialpost.com/markets/data/market-short_pos.html
The list contains a few stocks (both small and large) that you are generally positive on (eg. EFN, BNS, LUN, PWF). Is this a concern or is this just noise an average investor should ignore?

Q: I was trying to search for your views on setting stop losses. As markets and portfolios expand there's increasing concern about significant losses in a sustained downturn. If I'm reading you right, your strategy would be to ensure a balanced portfolio and perhaps lean towards dividend stocks to counteract a dropping market. Do you see any place for setting stop losses? If so, what would be your guidelines. Thanks Graham

Q: Hi Peter & team, someone told me that his "Financial advisor" told him that TFSA (tax free saving accounts) would probably be eliminated by the Government. Reason being that its mean objective of encouraging people to save has not been accomplished. What do you think of this? Thanks, Gervais

Q: Hi 5i,

My question is on the reliability of forward earnings. From your comments I gather that you often look at forward earnings when evaluating stocks. My question is how reliable are they in general? Do companies tend to be honest with their guidance or more conservative or do they tend to miss the mark. It's nice to see the forward earnings and forward P/E, but only if you think they are good indicators? yeah?

Thanks! Your service is terrific.