Investment Q&A

Q: Annual mandatory RIF payouts will result in a negative RIF account balances which will incur high interest charges by the broker. Is this not a general
problem and how are interest charges avoided?

Q: Hello 5i Team

1 – Who decides on what Sector/Industry/Sub-Industry is assigned to a company?

Two companies for which the Sector/Industry/Sub-Industry changed were Altagas (ALA) which changed from Energy/Oil&Gas/Midstream to Utilities/Utilities-Regulated/Utilities-Natural Gas and Mullen Group (MTL) which changed from Energy/Oil&Gas/Oil&Gas Services to Industrial/Transportation/Trucking

2 – I have noticed different providers (TMX and RBC Direct Investing) appear to provide different Sector/Industry/Sub-Industry for the same company – is there not a standard that all data providers are to follow?

3 – TMX used to provide the “Sub-Industry” for companies, but with their revamp of their stock screener, they are no longer providing it. Does your data service provide this information and can it be added to your company information page?

Thank you for the great service you provide.

Q: It seems commodities have risen and many are hopping aboard this train.
However at some point, will we not reach a limit to the amount of appreciation from demand destruction? Not many people have rising incomes which would boost demand.
I speculate that rising commodity prices without rising demand and incomes is a currency play only on a weakening $USD and one that could reverse.
What is an investment strategy that benefits from deflation of a commodity trade not including short-based approaches?
TIA

Q: Peter have you read the article from The Beacon Newsletter re battery storage in California . At location of Moss Power Plant.
Looks like it might provide some investment opportunities in this growing space.
Might not be too many in Canadian market.
Worth a look.

Q: Hey 5i,
Just looking for some clarification. When you reference your favourite growth companies like XBC, WELL, and LSPD in general or against larger cap stocks you usually say they are “higher risk”.

I understand that smaller, younger businesses are higher risk but when you say this- is this more as a “volatility risk”, “default/failure risk”, “downside risk”, “explicitly relative risk against larger caps but you remain very comfortable with the stock outlook”, etc.?

I’m asking since I am in my late twenties and holding these for long term. I actually enjoy volatility since I’m able to swing in and out of the stocks. I just want to make sure that I have this captured correctly.

Q: In past responses to questions about thinly traded stocks, you have cautioned members to be wary of these. How do you designate a stock as thinly traded? Is there a particular daily volume average, and/or a concerning bid-ask spread?

Q: First, Thank you for your insights in the last 9 months, your wise words and recommendations made a big difference in the total value of my investment accounts.

In the bad (but good news) I am now way out of whack in my portfolio, 7 of my top ten positions are in technology. I remember JDS fitel and how I let that position grow to 50% of my portfolio only to have it crash down to about 5% of my portfolio and kicking myself for that and promising myself that I would never get into that position again....and here I am. Then the only great returns I was getting was on JDS and Nortel. Now its on US technology stocks and a few Canadian technology stocks , Lspd, Shop and NVei. I know the right thing to do is to rebalance the portfolio but its hard to say goodbye to stocks that are churning ahead most every day to go to slow movers.

I know to get better returns I have to stretch and bulk up on technology but is that the right thing to do or should one bite the bullet and try to keep a balanced portfolio ejecting part of the strong to buy a little more of the "ho hum steady Eddie" stocks. I guess it boils down to what is the maximum percentage of technology stocks that you think one should have in their portfolio and what is the maximum percentage one should have in one stock.

thanks for the great service, Jean

Q: If this sector 'breaks' or the market cracks, some of these EV names are going to be hit very hard. For now, we would pass.
A quote from your answer to Austin on Jan. 4, I am just curious about what happens when a sector breaks.
In the case of EV charging being early in development how would it break?
Thank you, Peter

Q: Firstly Happy New Year to all. Your forward view on grn. TD this morning reduced rnw to hold. Will this curb the upside projected upside for TA. Have a great day

Q: Good morning, i will be converting my RSP to a Riff, so what would be a good source and/ or book to learn more and educate myself about RIF's in general, thanks? I do plan on keeping mostly stocjs in my RIF.

Q: At BMO Investorline you need the help of an agent to journal DLR from Can to US. With wait times of well over an hour this can be quite frustrating. It took me 2 weeks to complete this transaction and exposed me to currency risk I didn't expect. Keep this in mind if you are considering this transaction and your broker is not answering the phones.

Q: My broker allows when buying or selling a stock to have it good for the day or to specify a good through date, like a week from when the order is placed. Me, I hesitate to specify a good through date as the price might dramatically change one way or the other and I would rather re-enter the order the next day,
Is there a reason(s) to change my view?
......Thanks for your trading insight.....Tom

Q: Hello 5i,
Regarding the questions on Norbert's Gambit. I would like to suggest that since there is already a Forum thread on N.G., if 5i could add some trusted links to resources on this Forum and then direct members there, it would provide a permanent "one-stop" shop for answers and help on this process.
In doing an on-line search I came across an article by Dan Bortoluzzi (spelling?) and Justin Bender that walks you through the process in fairly good detail and I have subsequently used it several times with the only issues being from mistakes I have made, not from the resource itself. Norbert's Gambit is well recognized by most brokers, and mine (RBC D.I.), allows it although perhaps not all do. Should members need any help, I am sure there are many other members out there who could be of some help for questions posted on the Forum - which I encourage more members to use. It is still very disappointing to see this great service not more fully utilized. The Forums are "ours" and will only be as good as we make them.
All the best for the New Year!!
Cheers,
Mike

Q: In response to Dennis question on Jan 9 I use my watchlist the Globe and Mail to get company info.
Of the 40 companies in my list there were 24 announcements between Jan 4 to 9th
Can I claim the cost of my Globe and Mail subscription as a tax write off?

Q: Your answer to Peter on Jan. 6 about when to sell stocks was that if something has changed and you list a numerous amount of reasons for these changes - where would a member get this type of information in a timely manner? Stocks of mine have dropped a great deal in a short period of time. Example, AT - I found out they have applied to issue more stocks, if need be. Seems to be a lot of terminology used in these types of cases, i.e. bought deals, secondary issues, etc.. Unfortunately, by the time I find this out the stock is already down considerably. Could 5i perhaps have an area where this type of information could be retrieved on stocks that 5i follows? Thank you again for your good information.

Q: Hi the great 5i team, can you explain the cost of buying and selling ETF? Where does MER come in the picture? What is the difference between trading stocks and ETF?Thanks.

Q: I understand that this co will be issuing warrants. Don't know anything about warrants, how do they work and is it a good idea?

Q: I have read were some investors will sell half their holdings of a stock if it doubles. The theory I suppose is to take your own money off the table and let the excess run. I have two stocks now that have recently doubled - ZBC & WCP. I invested a full position in both of these stocks which for me is $10,000. Now both have a market value of over $20,000, but I believe both these stocks have a ways to run yet. Do you feel I should sell half of my position or let things go as they are for awhile? Do you believe in the theory about selling half a positions if a stock doubles? Is there merit in doing it? Thanks for your thouights.

Q: I would like to buy US dollars with Canadian funds. One option is to use Norbert's Gambit, using DLR and DLR,U. To get the best out of this way, do I want to get the lowest price for DLR and then the highest price for DLR.U?
Also using this Gambit, do you know if there is a break even point rule of thumb where it is better to just do it with the brokerage firm, like iTrade?
Oh, is there an advantage to use Royal Bank stock on the TSX and then on the New York Exchange?
Thanks for the assistance.......Tom

Q: ARKW's annual report shows that this fund owns one share of Shopify. I'm curious as to why such a fund would retain only one share of any company. Can you explain the purpose of this?
Thanks Peter.