Investment Q&A

Q: I see a couple of concepts repeated in your answers: 1) if you have a short term need for cash (buying a house within 1-2 years eg) you should hold cash or cash-like investments (i.e., not equities), and (2) in general, some equity investments may be ok, but only for a 3-5 year hold.

Can you walk through the mechanics of how to deal with the situation of investing when you know you'll need cash after, say, 4 years? Do you buy good diversified equities (eg BE portfolio) and hold for 4 years, committing to yourself to sell only on the day before the 4-year period is up? Or do you buy such equities, but then slowly rotate into cash (when?)? Or commit to rotating into cash at the 2-year mark or some other arbitrary date? Or do you assess the situation at the 2-year mark (e.g.) and hang on, or not, depending on whether the portfolio is high or low?

Wondering what your thoughts are on buy/sell strategy in such a scenario. Thanks.

Q: With interest rates likely increasing this month in Canada and also the USA, would you put any extra cash into bond funds (like CBO,XHY) or preferred shares right now; or wait to see if the prices decline with the new higher interest rates?

Thank you.

Q: Hi there, not really a stock specific question but more a psychological/behavioural question. Based on your experience, how often should one look at their portfolio? I, probably like many others, look at my portfolio far too frequently. I suspect this can be stress inducing and can lead to more possible losses than gain? How often do you recommend one to look at their portfolios? Thanks!

Q: Morning folks,

Could you please comment in regards to establishing positions in good quality companies that are so called expensive. I hear money managers refer to companies as to rich and need to wait for a pullback before getting in. With some companies a pullback might not even happen. As a long term investor does it really matter when an investor buys in. Could you elaborate.

Thank you.

Q: Hello Peter,
I'd appreciate your insight.

What do you think about the suggestions that money is moving out of technology and some of it will find its way in the biotech sector? I do not hold any US tech but do hold the biggish position in IWO and IWM combined. With no fresh money, what do you think of reducing the positions in either or both IWM/IWO combine and invest in IBB?
The second aspect where I would like your thoughts is on the Financials both side of the border. With BOC likely to raise rates atleast once, the TSX may drift down, maybe even a sharp reaction. What do you think of reducing TSX exposure, buying US dollars and investing in US financials for the second half of the year?
As always, appreciate your views.
Regards
Rajiv

Q: I want to invest about $400000 new money, over what time period should I invest ? Is this a good time to get into the market or should I wait for possible pull back. or should I get into the market now by buying all the companies in the 5i income portfolio? or should I invest half now and half if the market pulls back.
Or should I just park the money in HFR until oct or nov?
Thank you

Q: Market is down so which stocks due see unfairly punished and will be good to pick up.

Q: What sector would you advise to look for some growth without huge risk. Excluding tech, which is clearly hated right now.

Q: During a serious market correction should a rebalancing happen?When the rebound in stocks eventually occurs you have less in stocks as the assets have been reallocated to bonds and cash. Therefore you will never fully recover. Should there be a waiting period?

Q: Good morning guys, great job. Are there any figures on which sectors fair better in market corrections

Q: Hi

I have about $300k new money I want to add to my modest stock/etf portfolio (Total will be $500k)- I am a bit fearful of the bubble (stocks and bonds) - Any suggestions for a reasonable safe yield for 6-12 months ?

Q: Could you please list a few efts Canadian and US that would protect from a down turn in the market.

Q: In regards to Kenny's question on portfolio rebalancing, could you please suggest limits that would trigger a rebalance. I understand this moves towards personal risk tolerances but in terms of overall portfolio volatility what could you suggest as a position limit? Thanks.

Q: Boy, tech is being devastated today NVDA FB/ AVGO/ LRCX etc etc

What is causing this nuclear devastation amongst these high flyers all today and all together?

Thanks for your insight

Sheldon

Q: I am very impressed with your ability to limit your balanced portfolio to 25 stocks. Currently I hold the above six stocks in the financial sector whereas you hold three. The only one with large imbedded gains is REF.UN which I have held for over twenty years. one third of our total portfolio follows your balanced portfolio. The other 2/3s is managed for us and includes a large allocation to canadian banks. I am willing to sacrifice some stability for more growth. Would you consolidate any of the above stocks to simplify the portfolio? Below is my current allocations. My bias is to keeping REF, GSY and ECN.
2.23% aif
3.16% ref
2.36% ecn
1.90% fsz
2.54% gsy
1.86% slf

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan, and Team,

I understand the rationale for different weighting of sectors among the three portfolios. You've stated in the past that we should look at our entire portfolio to "determine where we stand", and I've done this for my RRIF, my wife's RRSP, both of our TFSA's and our joint Margin Account. I use Google Sheets to track this entire portfolio. My question is this: In a 'composite" portfolio, how can one determine the appropriate sector weighting, or is it purely a personal choice? For example, Technology is 21.38% of the Balanced Equity Portfolio, 32.05% of the Growth Portfolio, and 7.26% of the Income Portfolio. In our 'composite' portfolio, Technology has a weighting of 10.83% of the portfolio's equity portion. So I suppose my question would be "How do I know that my weightings are appropriate, and once weightings are chosen, do I stick with them? Or should they vary for different points in the economic cycle?"

I have another question that I'm hoping can be answered by one of our computer-savvy members: As mentioned, I use Google Sheets to track our portfolio which can "capture" the stock price for popular indexes like the TSX. However, there's a "new kid on the block", namely the Aequitas Neo index, and I haven't been able to "capture" prices to be inserted into Google Sheets automatically. As an example, a Canadian Money Saver top-rated ETF, (CLU) is no longer listed on the TSX, but is now listed on the Aequitas Neo index. Do any 5i members know how to accomplish this "price capturing"?

Given that there are several questions in this long-winded question, please deduct as many question credits as you deem necessary. Thanks for all your help! Now I'm going to watch Peter on BNN which I PVR'd earlier!

Q: Hi 5i Team, How does one prepare the RRSP portfolio for flipping into a RRIF the following year? Your strategy. Thanks.

Q: Greetings 5i team. Looks like the American public is more and more in favor of impeachment of President Trump. If indeed, he is impeached, what impact do you think this will have on the market? As a follow up question, should we as 5i members be changing our porfolios in any way to adjust for a possible impeachment?

Q: When trying to use versions of your 3 model portfolios I would ask your recommendations of using stop loss, if any, on which names and what %, as a general guideline. My main concern is the income model as I am treating this more as a fixed income version knowing the increased risk. Thanks for your insight.

Q: Foreign asset and currency exposure.

As a retiree, I am concerned about the non-Canadian content of my portfolio. While all my holdings are listed in Canada, an increasing portion of the issuers' assets and/or revenue is in other countries, primarily US.

Are there any meaningful fx predictions for the next 5 years?

Is it fair to assume that issuers which report in US dollars will hedge, if at all, foreign revenue to US dollars and disregard
the fx risk of US revenue to its Canadian shareholders, even in cases (eg Brookfield) which are managed in Canada? On the other hand, I suppose that issuers which report in CAD would be motivated to hedge their USD revenue.