Investment Q&A

Q: For US tax withholding purposes, should I hold VFV in a TFSA or RRSP, or does it matter?

Thank you.

Q: I am trying to avoid the usurous mutual fund fees --Can you recommend a couple of good options for me ? Thanx

Q: Thanks for the great service you provide!

I am impressed with the simplicity of your rating system -- the A, B, Cs of investing, as it were, is a pleasure to adopt in choosing companies for investing.

I am interested in what criteria you use in order to give your ratings -- what distinguishes an A stock, for instance from a B+ or B-? I'm assuming it's a combination of P/E and debt loads and all sorts of wonderful fundamental things, but do you have a set criteria that breaks the companies into different categories?

(If that information is posted elsewhere on the site, I haven't found it, and would appreciate being pointed in that direction.)

I am very pleased I joined 5I research as it provides me with a wonderful opportunity to consider companies I never would have given a second look at, thanks to your system ratings.

Q: Even if we should not attempt to time the market, it is useful to know about a reasonable price entry point.
Will it be possible to add this information in your reports?

Q: Hey team, can you tell me what kind of indicators you look for in a market top? This market for me has become pretty scary so I decided to cash out on some companies such as AYA that could be caught big time in a downward movement.

Q: with regards to div paying stocks in a RRSP is it advisable to DRIP if available...what about non-RRSP?Thanks

Q: Good morning..currently rebalancing RRSP portfolio...currently own ARX,BTE,WCP and E representing 18%...was thinking of reducing ARX and adding TOU...is 18% to high in current market conditons?
Utility pipeline...BEP.UN,IPL,NPI..representing 15%...thinking of selling NPI to reduce allocation to 11.5%..is this allocation okay whith the current market...

sorry one more question...I have no exposure to healh..if wanted a 5% holding what would you recommend?

Thanks again!!

Q: I was wondering what your opinion is on using short term real return bond etfs as an inflation hedge? I was considering purchasing VTIPX on the US markets since there are no short term real return bonds in Canada.

Q: Re: XCS; a small cap index ETF, the performance has been less than stellar if one compared it to Mawer small cap fund (closed to new investors); is there another small cap index other than
IWO (US) that you could recommend to look at ?
Secondly, is there a seasonal time to be best at small to mid caps ? Thanks!

Q: I would like to purchase half positions in Stantec, Home Capital and Cineplex but I can't bring myself to pull the trigger because of recent positive share price appreciation. How can I justify entering the market at this particular point in time? I was clobbered in 09 ie sold out near the bottom and clobbered again recently with a position in VIX. Thank you.

Q: Occasionally, you answer questions regarding the best type of account to hold certain holdings for tax purposes. These are helpful answers but I cannot find a way to efficiently search for these responses - one has to review the answers page by page. Would you be able to make all of your responses searchable for terms such as "TFSA" or "RRSP"?

Q: Peter

I'm a new member and have a question on your model portfolio. Would it be advisable to jump in now or wait for a pullback. Thanks.

Ray

Q: Dear 5i;
How much value do you place on using certain indicators such as RSI and MACD on helping one decide on the best time to buy or sell a stock . What should the values be for those two indicators ie. RSI about 30 and the MACD about zero ? Assuming that the stocks I m looking at in this example are also fundamentally sound .
Thanks
Bill
p.s. Enjoy your site and advice tremendously !!

Q: Peter,

With the large # of questions you receive, have you considered holding a subscribers Q&A conference call?

Zach

Q: I am currently rebalancing a portfolio that actually has never been balanced...thanks to your website..sounder fundamentals are setting in.....my question...i have a few accounts...in one account H&R and Baytex each have aprox 25% weighting, IPL in another account represents 43% ...mainly due to appreciation and bever balanced...i would like to reduce Baytex but currently down 7% on the stock..should I cut the losses and replace with other suitbale for balancing..IPL reduce to 20%(?)..these are RRSP accounts..thanks

Q: I see a reference to a Nov 16 conference call. Can't see any other info about it on the web site. I may be blind but please fill me in.

Q: Hi Peter,

I signed up for your Oct 16th conference call, but was unable to listen in due to a later conflict.

Did it go well. Are you considering holding another session ?

Thanks for your great service !

Q: Parking Cash - you mentioned in a previous reply that short term treasuries were a good place to park cash. Do you mean US treasuries? Thanks

Q: Please suggest a source of fundamental Canadian stock data for retail clients. By which I mean detailed enough to be useful but not overwhelming. It should also include micro/Mid caps stock data of the type of stocks mentioned at 5i Research.

Q: I wish your opinion on "technical analysis" "These squiggles mean that it will go up...and this type of squiggle means that it will go sideways, etc. Sorry but I have been in engineering too long to really believe in reading chicken entrails, but respect your views.