Investment Q&A

Q: Hi team: I really appreciate the posts related to sector weightings and have been trying to take a more macro look at my holdings and see where I am over/under weight.

Based on an older post or two from you, I've created the following categories with weights, and I'm trying to determine where my holdings fall.

Materials - Gold/Silver
Materials - Other
Energy
Utilities
Cons. Discret.
Cons. Staples
Telecom
Info. Tech.
Int/Software
Industrial
Industrials - Transportation
Health Care - US
Health Care - Canada
Financials
Retail
Real Estate

We don't need to get into my specific weightings as everyone's targets will be different based on their situation. However,
I'm a little unsure where to categorise certain stocks, which isn't helping my analysis.

Can you confirm the list in general makes sense, and I'm not overlapping? If so, can you please help with the following?

AVO- you had referred to it before as an Industrial, wouldn't it fit in the Information Technology space?
MDA, GIB.A - do you consider these Info Tech, Software, or Industrial?
BAM.A - Financial or Industrial?
WIN - Financial or Info Tech, or Telecom?

Thanks!

(You have catergory groups on the right hand side for financials, metals, oil, real estate, technology already. One helpful thing, at least for me, would be to have categories for each of the areas above, so people could reference stocks in those areas when looking at their weightings. It may help reduce amount of questions like this and be a great resource for subscribers).

Q: Peter; For those interested there is an article in today's Globe re market timing and ETF's by Norm Rothery. Certainly illustrates why not to try it.

Rod

Q: Hello! I am wondering if there is a way to closely monitor disinflation? Thanks for the excellent service provided!

Q: If someone decided to split up your model portfolio between an RRSP and a taxable cash account, which stocks would you put in each account.

Thanks.

Q: REally enjoyed PEter on BNN yesterday and paid attention to the comments about selling - that is when not sell. My question is when is the right time to sell? No stock is likely good to keep forever as there are simply always better opportunities at some point. So, yes, when then should I sell a holding?

Q: I consider myself to be an investor, rather than a trader; my time horizon for any stock purchase is 3 years or more. However, with the recent volatility in the markets I am tempted to hedge a small part of my portfolio with hedge ETFs such as HIX and HIU. Since this is new territory for me I am calling on your expertise to answer a few questions: do you recommend hedging; if so, what percentage of a portfolio do you recommend should be hedged; to use HIU and HIX properly would I need to treat them as short term trades? Since the whole prospect of hedging appears to me to be trading, which I am not keen on for myself, I am very hesitant to employ a hedging strategy.
Thank you for a great service.

Q: HI Peter and Team,

I have been slowly adding to my positions over the last couple of days with a focus on good solid businesses that have been hit with the current market conditions. (AVO, CGX, DHX, SNL). I am wondering if now is the time to add to DH, SJ, SUM, GIB. All of these seem to have been harder than most. Your thoughts.

Thanks a million

Q: Great service; impressive results; but I’m missing something (and paying for it). Your ratings are on each companies' “quality”, but you use something else to select your model portfolio, your adjustments to it, and Peter’s top picks on BNN. Can I find this anywhere on your site? You can make this question private if you wish.

Q: Peter, i thought i read in one of your answers awhile back that you might introduce a growth portfolio or even a dividend portfolio in addition to your balanced portfolio. Any thoughts dave

Q: Hi Peter,

I believe your have mentioned in the past that the traditional approach to portfolio balancing as you age (ie, moving away from higher risk equities to lower risk fixed income) is questionable and that research shows holding a higher portion of equities much later in your life is a better approach.

Can you point me to articles or other sources of research that support that theme. I am a member of Canadian Moneysaver, if that is helpful.

Thanks for a great service.

Q: I would appreciate your opinion of HIU and HIX as a means of hedging. Are they a "trader's" tool that should not be held for long periods?

Q: As a new member I have looked at your model portfolio and am wondering if the 20 stocks are still applicable for someone to start with today.
OR are stocks like CSU and VRX fully valued with the 100% plus returns that they have yielded.
I realize that you do re balance the portfolio from time to time but is this a good starting point?
Thanks!

Q: Well done on BNN Peter! An excellent all-round presentation. Don.

Q: Wanted to tip my hat to Peter Hodson for his comments on BNN. The clip is a "must watch" for all retail investors:

http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip1067272

Q: Peter,

You have commented in the past that you like companies to show some momentum in terms of sales and earnings. When we have skittish (down?) markets like we have now, with talk of declining sales and profits, how do you determine if that momentum still exists - wait for a few weeks of upticks?
Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: Your reallocation to BNS & G confuses me. There are other higher rated (quality) ones in the model portfolio with less than 5% current allocation. Timing???

Q: Would you please comment on what is going on in the markets today; is this a buying opportunity or should we wait. What do you do with your portfolio on days like this?

Q: Is this a relatively sound strategy:
"Buy all stocks in a single sector (100% market share) to mitigate risk of competition between the players."

For example, in a stable and growing market like Canadian telecom, I'll just buy Telus, Rogers AND BCE which makes up for 90% (?) of the telecom market. Sounds like a no-brainer. Of course there is risk from outside competition but it sounds like since the Verizon entry into Canada didn't materialize, there isn't much competition anyway.

There is over-concentration risks etc and also regulatory risk, however.

Q: Hello Everyone:
If one wishes to protect portfolio from sudden drop what might be your suggestion. I am toying with selling HXD Puts. Is this a viable strategy? and how many Puts I will need for a $100K portfolio?

Thanks

Q: Do not know if this question has been addressed here before.
What are your views on using stop losses?