Investment Q&A

Q: Hello 5i,

Thanks again for your services. As a novice investor I am feeling a little antsy as some of the stocks Seem like they have the potential to double, for example acb. Almost all of my portfolio has been built off of your models or suggestions. I am thinking long term but want to be on top of things. Would your recommendation be to sell winnings if I see a stock double? I also have some funds sitting as cash at the moment, and i am hesitant to buy in yet. Do you think it is smart to wait a bit for things to cool?

Q: I hope you can tell members how you prioritize questions sent to your Member Questions service .
This may help members to structure questions in a way that makes them more efficient to deal with.
It seems questions about a company in the news get answered almost immediately. News such as Takeover announcements or quarterly reports are answered on the day of the news or very soon after. I understand that you try to answer questions within 3 business days but within those 3 days does length of question, complexity, staffing, affect response time or is there a hierarchy or some other priority system in place?

Thank you
Frank

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan and Team,

I was wondering about cash positions. Should cash positions vary depending on the type of account you have (RRSP, TFSA, non registered accounts, RESP) and should it be looked at as the whole portfolio?

For example, with a RESP, the window of investing is about 18 years, should you be fully invested in stocks all the time to maximize growth, with a minimal cash position. Whereas with a RRSP/TFSA, you have more time and you can adjust the cash position based on your risk tolerance.

Thanks.

Q: I just want to clarify your suggestions for starting position and maximum position for individual stocks in a portfolio. From context it appears that 2%, 5% and 7% and 8% in your following answer from some time ago relate to percentage of the equity portfolio only, not the total portfolio which includes fixed income and cash. Can you confirm that these percentages do in fact relate to only the equity part of the portfolio. I mean, I may veer from these, but I like to have some idea of a norm so I know how much I'm veering. The extract of your answer I'm referencing is:
"What the right size of a position is comes down to some personal factors but we think a minimum, 2% position is a good starting point. This would lead to an average portfolio of 50 securities, which is a bit high in our view but at least manageable. In terms of maximum allocation, we would tend to target a 5% maximum starting position and look to rebalance as positions drift higher than this. At 5%, you would have a portfolio of 20 holdings which allows diversification but each holding contributes meaningfully to returns. We are fine letting big positions run to 7% and 8% ..."

Q: How do you feel about buying odd numbers of shares? ie. 1 or 2 shares of Google or Amazon. Does this present a problem when selling?

Q: As a follow up to my previous PL question. I don’t want to sell to early or waste time on a stock that has stopped it’s dividend and will be flat. When should we know that know one else is coming in to raise the bid or that the offer will be raised.
It’s sounds like the big shareholders are on board. Thank you for your timely advice.

Q: Hi !

I have more of an investor psychology question.

Let's say I am interested in an initial investment in a company such as WELL which saw a nice move upwards recently. I find that after a company moves up I am strongly resistant to investing in it. I pretty much "won't" do it. There are many examples where the error of this mentality has been shown.

Would you be able to suggest a mental strategy so that I feel okay about investing in companies that have spiked?

Yours kindly,
David

Q: Do you know how a Canadian can go about moving Bitcoin out of cold storage and sell-it? I found no Canadian institution that can do it, only two small companies. After what happened with Quadriga, I don't want to use small private companies with little history. Thanks!

Q: I have to change some C$ to US$. I have two options one is to buy US $ outright or move some of my ENB to the US non registered account and sell to get the US $ i need. It looks like I could save a couple of % points by doing that. I was going to sell some ENB anyways as I'm a little overweight on it. Do this sound like a good way to raise the US $ I need?

Q: Guests on BNN's Market Call often tell a good story but I wonder exactly how well they perform overall. They use different metrics to evaluate companies and I am curious to know which systems work better. Is there a website that reports the actual results of the various investment firms?
Thanks for the great service.
Ian

Q: Hi Peter,

Thanks for the good work you do.
One suggestion, could you have a section where you post 10 stocks for say
1. Top Stock Picks
2. Safe stock picks
3. High growth Picks
.....etc

Q: Can retail investors are allowed to lends out our securities to short sellers and received a fee. If yes which account are we allowed to do it? (ie RRSP, TFSA, and Non-register). What are the advantages and disadvantages and how safe it is for us to do it.

Thanks for the great service

Q: Hi 5i Team - I have heard good reports about Peter's presentation at the Moneyshow this week. Unfortunately I missed the event and presentation. Is there a video available of Peter's presentation and even perhaps the whole show. Thank you.

Q: In your last weekly update there was an article that talked about a potential fraud in Bitcoin trading. The fraud is with trading platforms that use Tethers. Can you please give me your comments on this article? Is it possible that Tethers used in trading bitcoin do not have the value that Tether claims? Any and all comments are welcome.
cheers, Darcy

Q: I often see small trades in securities - just a few shares or so. Do traders/investors make small purchases - either up or down - to give others the impression a stock is either rising or falling? If so how widespread is this practice and how effective is it?

Q: Good morning. Some time ago I bought AMCI (a SPAC) in anticipation of its merger with Advent Technologies. That merger has now happened and Advent is now trading as of today in the US with the symbol ADN. Will my broker (RBC DI) automatically change my shares from AMCI to ADN? So far nothing has happened. I know I could ask RBC but the wait times are over an hour! Thanks.

Q: I missed your talk on the money show. Would you be able to provide a link please?

Q: I heard Peter at the virtual money show some great ideas, thanks for those. and thank all of you at 5i. Your advice pays for its self in so many ways.

Q: Preface: Luv u guys and the service that you supply so well. Listened to Peter's hedging presentation in the MoneyShow this morning - So valuable!
My non-specific company question is about how you reply to portfolio questions (like Stanley's Q earlier today on behalf of his 40 y.o. daughter's portfolio): Stanley indicated Canadian equity positions of 13%, 19%, and 7.5% for the TOTAL portfolio - Correct? My TOTAL portfolio contains barely more than 10% Canadian equities! It might have positions up to 10% within that 10% allotment, but not 10% of the TOTAL portfolio value. I know that 5i recommends a more global (US and Int'l) weight to TOTAL portfolios, but you rarely mention this when replying to Qs like Stanley's... Is that for brevity, or am I missing the portfolio theory?

Q: Just to confirm my impression about tax treatment of dividend flowing from Canadian based EFTs with US and International focus.
Outside TFSA and RRSP these are treated as income rather then tax favourable dividends?
Canadian focused EFTs dividends are treated as dividends from Canadian stocks?
Thank you,
Miroslaw