Investment Q&A

Q: Following up on Tim's November 25th comment, I only recently became a member of 5i Research and I, too, find it irritating and pointless that some members ask your opinion on half-a-dozen or more stocks or describe their investment strategy at length in the hope you'll approve. If it ever comes down to a vote, I'll go for on one stock only per question.
Thanks for the valuable service you provide.

Q: I second Tim's comments. I would much prefer to see detailed responses on individual companies rather than multiple companies that members are asking about. I think that the prize goes to the subscriber that asked about his 30 position portfolio. Also subscribers are asking about speculative stocks and requesting various portfolios including one meant for gambling. I have some money with an investment firm that provides various 'portfolios' and after a while it is easy to lose focus and become confused as you try to cherry pick from each and end up with a mish-mash of companies in your personal account. Your model portfolio is excellent( and preferred) as it brings together a well thought out mix of blue chip larger companies with more aggressive smaller companies. As I saw it, your service was set up to identify real companies with good management and good track records that generate profit and free cash flow. And I think that your rating system does a great job in this regard. I think some of your subscribers are losing sight of this. I suppose that it comes down to time and resource management on your part but I would much prefer detailed information on individual companies and timely updates to your 5I reports. Otherwise as Tim said we could all be losers.

Q: Hi Peter, I think some of your members are abusing the great service by asking questions about their entire portfolio. Others ask about multiple companies. They are not paying for that level of service, but are taking that level of your and your staff's time. I would much prefer to get a detailed reply about one stock than see the replies become more generalized. I've been a member since the early days and have noticed a trend to less specific replies. If we project that scenario down the road, I think we all lose.

Respectfully

Tim......

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Q: Hi Peter, here's an excerpt from a note I sent to a friend asking about your service. As a completely satisfied customer, please feel free to use any or all of my response to him.
The head of the firm is Peter Hodson, he has been a Bay Street superstar for 30 years.
His funds outperformed The Street significantly almost every year,. His last gig was as as Vice President at Sprott Asset Management.
He made a crap load of money when Sprott went public and decided to “retire”.
He says he was always bothered by the conflict of interest Bay Street has with its clients and now had the money to provide the service the way he wanted.
His firm has no ties to any companies, neither he nor his people own any stock in any company they cover and they have no investment banking interests either. In short, No Conflicts.
5i instituted a model portfolio in March and it’s up almost 30% year to date. The research reports are written in plain English and companies are given high-school style grades.
Couldn’t be easier.
As well, you can ask questions about any company you’re interested in.
They official cover only Canadian firms, but I have asked a number of questions about U.S. and foreign companies and have always received good, straight answers.
I don’t simply fill my portfolio with the 20 names in their model portfolio because my goals have changed and I’m now a dividend investor and not all of his model portfolio pay dividends or not generous enough.
But picking from his research list and answers to my questions, I’m up almost 30% this year.
I’ve been a member for two years and can’t recommend them highly enough.
If all this wasn’t impressive enough, it’ll cost you about $110 a year taxes included.
I don’t think there’s a better deal out there.
Hope this helps, Gordon.
Keep in touch
Kyle

Q: Good morning Peter,
Enjoyed meeting with you at the recent Money Show in Toronto.
Just a comment on a question from Ray, 11/25/13 regarding his wife,s RIF. If they don't need the cash, they might consider an in-kind transfer to a non-registered acct. sufficient to cover the minimum withdrawal from the RIF.

Q: Cautious comments. Notice your mentioning all the cautious comments you have made over the past 2 weeks. Were these stock specific or market generally? If on the market itself could you summarize for us?

TIA

Q: Re: November 25, 2013 (asked by robbie)
Question: Would you ever consider providing A,B,C,D portfolios with 5 or 10 stocks in each.
IMHO we need two portfolios:
1) widow and orphans
2) Gamblers anonymous with the 5i blessing
LOL
Feel free to publish if relevant.
Thanks PB

Q: I'm interested in hearing your opinion on selling covered calls as an "extra money" strategy... I'm looking at the financial sector, but maybe stocks like BCE, MDA, JNJ, AVO, ATD.B, HCL, BEP.UN, GIB.A, MG, STN, TRP
I realize that stocks can be taken away, thereby creating the need to repurchase good companies at higher prices, but if they aren't taken away, it's "free money" for the option proceeds.
Comments???

Q: Would you ever consider providing A,B,C,D portfolios with 5 or 10 stocks in each to appeal to a range of investors.( I.e. widows and orphans thru borderline gamblers)? Thanx

Q: My wife's RRIF has two larger positions (BCE,GWO), one smaller position (SVC) and a group of roughly equal in between positions (BIR,BEP.UN,CTY,CAG,PKI,YRI). She has reached that age when she must start her compulsory withdrawals . Going forward, are there 1 or 2 weaker stocks here or should I just reduce some positions to raise the necessary capital? Appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks

Q: Hi Peter i'm a newcomer,and based on your model portfolio i will start to establish some positions,what criteria should i use.
Thank You
Dan

Q: Hi guys, great service. Would it be possible to expand your search to include all tickers being asked about. Many people ask about 2 or more companies in the same question, but the search only looks at the one chosen in the header. Thanks, Ian

Q: I am building a self managed RRSP and TFSA portfolio which is the model portfolio and a touch of the B+ and better rated stocks. Thank you for the great results. With a 15 year horizon I am slowly adding laddered bonds, in addition I have XLY, IBB, IWO, YUM and TAL for US holdings.

I am transferring, in kind, my BMO managed Blueprint stocks to a self trading account, some are already in the model portfolio. Should I keep any of the stocks that are not in the model portfolio or should I dump them all and buy the model portfolio?

AGU ATD.B BCE BAM.A CAE CNQ COS CP CVE GIB.A CM CNR ELD ECA WN G IGM IMO K MFC POT PWF RY RCI.B SLF SU TLM TRI THI TD TRP
US$ are EFA & SPY

I'm not attached to any of them, not concerned with the trading fees.

Q: Peter; There is an interesting article in today's Globe , pge.B14, on how much fees can seriously impact a portfolio.

Rod

Q: While on the hunt for a lottery ticket or two I keep running across the management teams of Stan Bharti and Sheldon Inwentosh. Can you give me any info on these guys ??--(good bad or indifferent). Thanx Robbie

Q: Peter,
As not much seems to matter anymore (LARRY SUMMERS THINKS THAT BUBBLES ARE "THE"PANACEA FOR BOOSTING ECONOMiES... Well.. we knew that all along, but neither Greenspan nor Bernake dared to say it openly before him but he obviously had the excuse of being rejected from the job lately and we understand his frustration..) I would be happy to share a little trivia on the market:

What was the lowest in 2002, 2009 for the S/P?
2002: 777
2009: 666

What was the Dow closing price on the first day it passed 16000
11/21/ 2013: 16009.99

The nagging question that remains is: will the Nasdaq close its highest at 5222, 5333 5444 5555 or 5888(5666 and 5777 have already been taken)?
who dared say blondes had more fun when we have Wall Street??

Cheers, and publish at your own discretion, of course!

Q: Hi Peter,
Just a quick question in response to one of your responses to another fellow - you mentioned you pay a lot of money for the "bloomberg terminal" at your office. I have always been curious as to what exactly the fee is for one of those terminals? I've heard in the neighbourhood of 1k/month?
Also, what do you find to me the most useful benefits/characteristics of such terminals? Is it the research they provide or charting or what?
Many thanks for your response - sincerely love your service!

Q: Would you consider providing a model portfolio consisting solely of ETFs? Your current stock model portfolio is helpful but I think that an ETF portfolio would be valuable to your members.

Thank you.

Q: SES.t
I note with thanks, your general comments from Nov. 5/13 on this apparently outperforming it's sector company. It appears that Nov.20 they announced a bought deal financing of 6.2 million shares (approx. 15% of the current float) at $15.35 (today trading up to 16.20ish). So, I was a bit confounded that the stock price went up today, normally wouldn't one expect a dilution at a lower price to bring the price down? If the price continues to hold in the face of the BDF, does this speak positive for the company? I'm not not sure on the "ins and outs" of these deals so would much appreciate any education you could provide.
Thanks as always.
One of the Neil's

Q: From I5 ''The TFSA is not yet recognized as a pension account, and there would be tax implications there.''
I am very surprise by this.
I had dividends and interests in my TFSA, and I never received any tax document from my broker. Do I have to contact my broker to correct ?