Investment Q&A

Q: I am a 5i member since day 1 and I want to first of all wish Peter a speedy recovery and wish him all the best for his efforts not only to guide so many people in making better investment decisions but also making positive contributions to the society.
I want to particularly comment on the negative comments by one of the members. Making investment decisions is one's own responsibility. Even though I got very good advice from 5i to invest in quality companies, I always went the other way by investing in more risky companies. I wish I had always invested in 5i recommended companies or their growth portfolio and I would have been at least twice as rich. 5i - keep up the good work.

Q: Peter; RE; LJ.s beyond belief rant- I strongly suggest he/she is either a Mutual Fund salesperson and/or
a frustrated Investment Advisor trying to fend off clients questions as to why their portfolios are not performing . I am willing to wager that anyone who
read the outburst would applaud your offer to refund his very large yearly fee you charge - and send him/her out of this platform. Please do us this favour. Rod

Q: Peter,
I'm very glad to hear that you're improving after the bike accident! I enjoy the insightful comments from both you and Ryan, and you have a wealth of company and stock information as well as experience. I am curious about your thoughts on portfolio returns. The results of the 5i portfolios have been outstanding since inception. But I don't know of any fund manager that would ever promise such great returns! My question is - what is a reasonable expectation for annual equity return (capital gain + dividend) over a five year time frame?

Q: I enjoyed your level and straight forward response to LJ (June 28th) somewhat emotional and short sighted question.

Q: I have always put in limit orders and have never worried about putting in orders in 100 lots. I put in an odd lot with a week expiration. Part was filled that day, the other part the next day. I was charged the commission both times. Is that normal?

Q: Hi 5i,
I have 3 out of 3 dissappointments bot jun 18th wks ago.
DSG just announced dilution at $13.50. current price $15.04(dwn 4%). I got the impression you did not like companies that do this.
SGY down 4%
AVO down 11%
It's nice when you quote a 35% gain in your portfolio but that hasn't help my results to date.
I would have appreciated the advice that the market has outrun itself & Jun 18th was a time of wait, not buy.
What can u tell me that is realistic about these three underperformers & when I might expect to see something more like the 35% returns you tout in your model portfolio.

Q: HI Peter. My question is how big do you plan to take this newsletter? I hope that you stick with quality over quantity. Better to have fewer great stocks to watch than a lot of sosos. Thanks, and keep up the good work. It will pay off for us all in the end. Cheers, John Dufresne, L'Orignal, Ont.

Q: I would to echo Warren's request for dividend growth rate and add payout ratio which you usually provide.

Q: This is a comment for Warren, looking for a list of preferred shares.
James Hymas has one here: http://www.prefinfo.com/

Have a speedy recovery, Peter and thank to the whole team.
Marilyn

Q: I have $106,000 cash in a registered education savings plan. The money is to be paid out within a year. What is your recommendation for getting some return on the cash position?

Q: There are two pieces of advice that perplex me about investing and I'm not sure which ones to follow:

1. "you need to take profits" vs "you need to let your winners run"

2. "You should be raising cash to take advantage of an inevitable correction" vs "You can't time the market so you should stay fully invested at all times"

I suppose point 1 and 2 are almost the same thing...

All of these strategies make sense to me, but a choice has to be made right? In your experience which ones have you found more successful in the long run?

Thanks so much for all your help.
cheers

Q: This is by way of me trying to figure out why the market will suddenly shoot up or plunge down. I guess I can't help always seeking a reason. The reason given for today's big drop in the TSX and the DOW is tension in Iraq (or so I read on Bloomberg). This confuses me. The worst hit sectors were materials (Gold) and energy. Why would people fearing turmoil in the middle east sell off energy stocks in Canada? Would they not benefit? And isn't gold supposed to rise during times of tension? Or is Bloomberg simply seeking a reason for the fall and plucking that one of out of the air?

Q: A comment about investing whether to use a advisor or not .
I am arguably a fair income investor in my opinion the two key ingredients to be a successful investor is 1.Time and 2.Interest if you lack one of the two stay with an advisor/money manager.
My empirical opinion only
Kind Regards
Stan

Q: I see that many Members seem to have a problem finding the link to sponsor you in the 'Sears Ride for Cancer'. Maybe it might be an idea to point out that if you use the 'ASK A QUESTION' green button the first page you are then presented with at the TOP:

Member Questions
Ask a Question
5i Research is involved in a very special charity event in September. Click here for more info.

The above sentence is in RED and the 'Click here' is underlined
to represent the link. By clicking on the underlined "here" you
will be taken to the Donation page and your (Peter's) blog.
No need to remember, or cut and paste the link. It might be an idea if 5i was to increase the font of this line and make the print bolder so that it stands out a bit more.

Hope this helps others.

Q: Is it worth having a financial adviser managing an account under 200k for someone who has some knowledge of companies but not of their stock value (especially for blue chip companies) or should I try to manage my own portfolio on my own using 5i as my adviser? I would not be making daily trades of companies, it would be for growth of my equity portfolio, checking every month I suppose.
Current holdings since 2007: BMO BCE AGF.B TRP RY TRP BNS TRI POW (US holdings) GE BP. Thanks.

Q: Hi Peter
By chance I came across your post that stated that you had an accident last week while training for your bike ride across Canada in aid of Children with Cancer. As a member who has benefited so much from 5i I will make a donation to your cause. It gives me a new perspective when I am constantly worrying about not having enough money for retirement when I see teenagers worried about not making their next birthday. Not to mention what it must do to their families. Would you please post the link here, or more prominately on your questions page? I would like to see you surpass your total donations goal and there are lots of people, just like me, who would like to help.

Cheers,
Bryan

Q: a comment
"saw the details you posted about your serious training accident on Friday"

Some pro sports teams put clauses in their contracts prohibiting players from participating in some "rough" other activities for fear of injuring a valuable property.

Perhaps we should consider the same for Peter. He is certainly more valuable than a hockey player!

All the best for a speedy recovery.
Bryon in Elmira

Q: Hi Peter and team,

With all the questions you have seen and answered, is there anything you and your team have learned from starting 5i?
The site is still great.

Q: In this world of exceptionally controlled markets (stocks, bonds, precious metals..) it is a constant challenge to separate the propaganda shaft from the wheat reality.
So for those who consider that Macro awareness is still worth spending time on (I do!), I would like to suggest 2 sites (American unfortunately, as I have yet to find a Canadian blogger.. suggestions welcomed) that do a a decent job talking about it: Fact set Insight already mentioned who have expanded their posts lately and Sober look.
I like also Doug Short but it is much more technical and impose much more attention.
On the geopolitical front which may become the elephant in the room,I have yet to find one site or one blog so I am following many sites, also suggestions welcome.
On the economic front I like Investing.com which have a very neat calendar of daily world economic events extremely well presented and very useful.
Publish at your own choice.
CDJ

Q: Hi Team,

I can't help but complement you on how you handled a recent question by Paul. To me it exemplifies your service and value to all retail investors. It's a "poster child" of how client-focused you are.

I just want to say thanks again so much for your great service. I don't think I (and many, many other members judging by their posts) have experienced such great service in any field, let alone in the investment realm. Feel free to publish if you wish.

Here is the question and your answer for your reference:

June 19, 2014 (asked by Paul)

Question: Good Day 5i Team,

I am a new investor who is starting late in the game, I am 49. I will be investing $700/month into my wife's TFSA and $700/month into my own TFSA. I have trading authority on hers. I have reviewed the Model Equity Portfolio and am fine taking risk in order to grow my investments over the next 15 years, not much time I understand but better late than never right?. My questions are:
1. Do I buy 1 stock at a time each month with the $700 ($1400 total between the 2 TFSA's) or should I wait and buy every 2 months so I have a larger dollar amount to make a larger purchase and also reduce my trading fee?
2. Is it better to spread the $700 ($1400 total) every month equally between 10 stocks and just purchase the same 10 monthly?
3. Do I limit myself to only 5 stocks in different sectors with one of the above scenarios?

Or do you suggest something else?

Thank you very much. I know that these questions might seem remedial but I would sure appreciate some guidance.

Paul

5i Research Answer:

We take all questions :)

In this situation, even with low trading fees, we would wait two months and buy a larger amount of one stock. Spreading the amount amongst many stocks would be quite expensive on a fee basis. It takes away from diversification in the short term, but because you will investing on a regular basis your diversification will improve each month (buy a new stock every two months). In addition, volatility will be your friend: if the market declines, even better for your situation.

You may want to start with a market ETF such as XIU in the short term for 'instant' diversification. Then, your portfolio will not be just 1 (2,3,4,5) stocks. Adding stocks after an initial ETF purchase may serve you well. We would go beyond 5 stocks, but there is no need for 20 under this scenario.

If you stay disciplines, 15 years is still a very good time frame. With regular investments and growth you may still do very well.