Investment Q&A

Q: Seasons greetings 5i!

I currently own VIG,FEZ,QQQ,IWO and BRK.B in my US portfolio each about 6%.
Going into 2014 and with the expectation of tappering and rise in interest rates. Are these ETF's ok to hold for the next year or two and is it ok to bump up my holdings to 10% in each?
I own SLW for insurance as well.

Looking forward to your reply.
Thanks.

Q: I'm satisfied with Scotia iTrade as well. I don't have any problems with them.

In response to Fred's question, the Daily Edge report that comes out every morning lists upcoming earnings for companies they cover, but I don't think that's something they could supply for companies they don't cover.

Q: Hello,

What are your thoughts on the virtual currency Bitcoin?

Thank you.

Q: Thank you very much for your answer to my question re WFT.

Does this mean that we can expect to see the price erode to more or less half the current price between now the middle of January, with no increase in the shares held?

Q: You answered a question to-day from Rob about a portfolio tracker. You mentioned your Resourses and Strategies section. Where do I find it

Q: Do you know of a good free portfolio tracker? I'd like to be able to track historical performance and have it properly handle stock splits and dividends. I've been using google finance but it doesn't seem to deal with dividends properly and also messed up the stock split on CNR.

Thanks,
Rob

Q: My wife wants to increase her US position. Is PRF better than VYM or VIG? I think VYM is better but I would like to know your opinion.

Regards

Q: I have an income oriented portfolio (mostly dividend stocks) I am concerned about the potential for rising interest rates to negatively impact its value. I am considering investing in an inverse bond eft to hedge against this. I am thinking to take a position of 25%. What are your thoughts on this
Thank you!

Q: Who will benefit from the post office cut backs, mailboxes delivery
Tom

Q: hello Peter:
a general market evaluation question if I could:
S&P earnings are up around 7% this year, while the market is up 26.6%. Are we that much overvalued, or am I missing something?
thanks
Paul

Q: This is in response to Paul, regarding use of online brokerages.

For the record, I use TD Waterhouse and am reasonably satisfied with it.

I am familiar with Scotia's itrade, as well as BMO Investorline, and if I were to do it all over again, I'd probably choose BMO. Its platform is very clean and is not cluttered with external data that is not relevant to the portfolio. At a glance, (and again, without the "clutter") you can see exactly where you stand, without having to chase reports all over the site. Tabs at the top of the page direct you exactly to your choice of analysis tools. Their analysis tools and education segments are top notch.

Its wide variety of tools can help you analyze your portfolio, from asset allocation to choosing new/emerging stocks, and markets. It has tons of information available at your fingertips! This is what I enjoyed most as a "newbie" investor a few years ago, and which helped me tremendously.

As I mentioned, I am with Waterhouse, and am reasonably satisfied with it, but its platform, I find, is not as user-friendly as is BMO. For a new investor, I would suggest that BMO might be the better choice. TD and Scotia are also good, but in my opinion, would be better for someone who is used to some amount of trading and is comfortable with the jargon and the process. These two platforms, again speaking personally, are more intimidating to the new user than BMO.

BMO has excellent service for newbies, but also provides great advanced tools which you don't necessarily get on other sites, for no charge.

TD's new Advanced platform is intriguing, but it will come with a fee, unless you are a more active trader.

Only my two cents worth, if it helps ...

Q: Scotia iTrade vs BMO Investorline. I have the latter and could not be happier, at $9.95 a trade, and with more information and advice than I could have ever imagined. Updates on our portfolio value by the minute as well as the value of stocks that I'm looking at seriously, detailed info on any stock, advice from all the prominent investment groups, banks, etc. I'm sure that the Scotia product is also very good, but do check them both out carefully.

Q: A very general question- to find info on companies I used to go to msn.money- then I sort of moved over to yahoo finance- what site would you recommend. I am looking for the basics a price chart that goes back 5yrs minimum, the financial statements, maybe earning history-same a min of 5yrs...

Q: Hi Peter,
I am wondering if you have thought about giving a seminar/workshop on investing ? With defined benefit pensions going the way of the dodo it would seem prudent for individuals to take charge of at least part of their portfolio. I am particularly interested in finding something that would help put my two adult children on the right road.
Mike

Q: Comment on comparison of discount brokers.

I moderate a forum on high yield Canadian stocks and have done so for 11 years. This question has frequently come up over that time period and I have noticed some similar conclusions coming up over that time period.
1) Every brokerage will have its die hard fans who swear by one institution--those institutions are never the same.
2) the most general conclusion is that all the brokerages have problems and strong points but all certainly have their problems--seems more luck than picking the "right" one
3) Only trend over the years is that TD has been dominant but the number of complaints against it are also increasing.
4)for the record I have no connection to a brokerage (retired) and use Investorline personally.
Bryon in Elmira

Q: This is my response to Paul's question regarding self trading with a broker. I have used TDW for over 10 years am very satisfied with the performance of their system. I have recently started using their new Advanced Dashboard program and find it to be very complete and happy to be using it.
Good luck Paul in your decission.
Terry

Q: For Paul who asked about trading platforms. I used to be with TD, then moved to Nesbitt Burns and now with HSBC Invest Direct. Use HSBC for 99% my banking and like the world wide representation it provides. Check it out.
Ronald

Q: Peter
I own DHX and have owned it since $2.62.Now it is overweight in my portfolio.Traditional thinking is that I should be selling some and rebalancing.What is wrong with putting a stop loss(lets say 15%) behind the stock and let it run!I spend a lot of time trying to find such an investment and I submit I took more risk at $2.62 cents than I am today.

Q: hello 5i members:
I'd like an opinion on those familiar with using Scotia iTrade for a self-directed investment broker. If comparisons can be made with other experiences ie. BMO Investorline, or TD etc, then that would be helpful.

Q: I would like to clarify my understanding of convertible debentures. AFN.DB, for instance, matures Dec 31 2014 and pays 7% interest. It is callable Dec 31 2013 by the company. I understand that its conversion rate was set at 22.23. Assuming that AgGrowth does not call the debenture and that I was to purchase it in early January, I believe I could expect two interest payments in 2013 and then 22.23 shares if the shares have reached their target price of $44.98 or higher by the end of 2014. Presently, the debenture is priced at about $40. If the shares do not gain further value in 2014, do I get $1000 in cash at the end of 2014 when the debenture matures or does the company change the conversion ratio in order to return the value in shares? Is there a negative impact; i.e., a significant dilution, on the stock price when the company suddenly releases all those shares to pay back the debentures? What is meant by the premium on the debenture? Is it the difference between the present value of the debenture and the value at the conversion rate? I thank you for your information and look forward to your reply.