Investment Q&A

Q: Good morning. I'm wondering about the insured limits on our investment accounts. I have all our investments online with a major Canadian bank. My wife and I have several accounts, registered and unregistered. We have a number of GIC's in these accounts along with the usual mix of equities ( individual companies, ETF's) . The GIC's are issued by a range of issuers and none exceed 100K. I have no real fear that our banks will fail but am curious about how much insurance is there in place for investors like myself. Is there an optimal way to protect our investments or are we already doing it? Thank you for your patience. al

Q: I have a question about CIPF (Canadian Investor Protection Fund). The latest numbers for this fund state that it only has about $450 million in funds. I recently read that, in 2021, Canadians had about $2 trillion in their investment accounts. So, all CIPF funds in total can cover only about 1/4000th of the total investments of Canadian. In a hypothetical scenario that one of 5 Canadian banks goes bankrupt, the coverage needed may by significantly more than CIPF can offer... do you think the Central Bank of Canada will step in to help cover losses or the available CIPF funds will be distributed to investors and nothing else?
I wouldn't even consider asking this question two weeks ago, but if banks like Credit Suisse get into troubles, Canadian banks are not immune either...

Q: In days like this where there is a sell off in a specific sector, oil in this case. I was wondering if these are the type of days where companies that have a share buyback program would be taking advantage of the drop when it might be a panic induced drop. Is it easy to screen which companies are buying back shares on a particular day? If so, I am curious what were some of companies buying back the most shares today.

Q: I never thought I would be prompted to ask a question like this but now I wonder...

If I have an account with a discount broker that is part of a big 5 bank which contains say, $250k of cash, and $250k of, for example BCE stock, is there a greater of losing the cash or the stock in a default? Thanks

Q: I was intrigued by your recent response to a question about SHOP (Good time to get back into it). Response was .. "There is always risk, but the company presented at a conference last week and management noted there has been 'almost no' pushback from customers from its recent price increase, and that business conditions are 'better than previously feared'. We would be comfortable owning it. "

I view the information as positive for SHOP as you did as well. If the question was never asked, this bit of news would be silent to us. Obviously 5i was aware of the news. Is there any way this type of information could be made available to clients as it becomes known? Or do we need to fall into the regular pattern of asking questions on favourite stock holdings if there is any recent news on companies. Is there a source where we can access this type of news?

Q: When discussing balance sheets and debt, you often provide an amount with he qualifier "(excluding leases)". To my way of thinking, leases are debt and must be repaid from cash flow. Therefore, "excluding leases" provides a rosier picture than is warranted. Please clarify.

Q: Performance of WXM (momentum ETF) is (almost) always very good. It is not easy to build a Canadian portfolio than beat it.This index is composed of 31 “liquid equities of Canadian companies displaying above average return on equity, with an added emphasis on upward revisions of fiscal earnings estimates, and positive technical price momentum indicators”. On the web site of CI global Asset only the top 15 holdings are listed. Is there a way to know all of the 31 holdings ?

Q: If there is indeed a 5 for 1 split when would you consider initiating a position? Now or after the transaction and why? Thank you.

Q: I owned PPL for years and I just caught the company quietly switched from a monthly dividend payer to a quarterly payer in it last press release. Even thought the payout has not changed I wonder about the logic behind this move? Can you offer some considerations behind this switch? Thanks.

Q: Please translate your response to the possible short squeeze on Feb 24. I do not understand what you are saying. Thank you

Q: Apologise if this has been asked but what is your opinion surrounding Structured Notes being offered by banks. I can't fully understand the risk exposure and my gut tells me if my bank pushes them they must be make the institution fees beyond just buying a bond or ETF. I am quite happy with my bond exposure being only investment grade and laddered to minimize interest rate risk.

Q: When a Corporation needs Cash and decides the best route is through issuing corporate bonds. What are the steps involved? How long does this process typically take? Are there good resources/sites that you would be aware of to learn more about this process?

Thank you

Q: Hi Team 5i,
Can you please recommend a financial software that can be used to develop a retirement strategy for withdrawing funds from RRSP, TFSA, Investment accounts, etc.?
Of particular value would be a platform that details how to draw down funds and at what amount and/or percentage of one's overall portfolio on an annual basis.
Thank you.

Q: Good morning, I am wondering if there is a way to track sector rotation. Do you do it? How do you do it. Typically I follow XLF to follow the financials.
Thank you.

Q: Hi Peter/Ryan, if a stock is going to split, if one wants to sell some of it is it better to sell before or after the split. I'm aware the cost would be adjusted, just wondering if it makes a difference. Thanks, Nick

Q: I have it marked in my calendar that Peter and Ryan are hosting a webinar of sorts on Tuesday Feb 21 at noon. But I don't have a link. Did I misrecord the event?

Q: In case inflation stays above 4% over two years, which sectors of the stock market will do better than others? Please rank best to worst. Thanks.

Q: This question may have been asked a number of years ago. If I hold my entire stock portfolio through a brokerage - one of the big banks for instance - what risk is there to my holdings should the brokerage go bust ? Are the holdings still intact? Is there a dollar amount limit ?
I have a hard time interpreting this from the OSC site.

Q: Hi Peter, I'm 65 and retired, not by choice and have stocks in a Margin account, an RRSP account and a TFSA account. Originally I opened the Margin account as I was told I needed that type of account to short stocks but chickened out and never did. I've held on to this account but am wondering if it's good to hold on to it or if it's better to move the funds into either one of the other accounts. If it's a good Idea where would it be better to move the shares to the TFSA or RRSP. Thanks as always. Nick

Q: Today you answered a question about whether Apple or Microsoft would be the best choice for future growth. You answered by looking at the forward P/E and average growth prospects. I imagine you got those figures from your Bloomberg terminal. But I was wondering what the average investor could use for this information. I imagine there are numerous projections as well, so how to choose a reliable one?