Investment Q&A

Q: long term investor catching my breath

anything other than market conditions to be concerned about here after a very big drop?

Thanks for all you do

Gord

Q: Are global growth concerns significant enough to derail this market. Should we sit tight or lighten up. Thanks.

Q: In comparing my portfolio to your suggested weightings a couple of sectors need to be rebalanced.

The areas where I have the least exposure are:
1. Consumer Disc/ Staples (Total 15%) vs my PF at 5% assuming I have categorized the stocks properly. Current holdings are DHX, AW.un,CGX and ACQ. What would you add to flush out this sector?
2. Telcos (10%) vs my PF at 2%. I do hold T and BCE. Should I just add to these or do have additonal suggestions?

The adjustments will be done over a period of time as much of the new buys will be funded by selling energy stocks where I am sitting at a 21% weighting - even with pullback in this sector. (Another argument for diversification. I thought I was so smart earlier this year with a heavy energy weighting. Live and learn!)

Thanks yet again for you help.

Q: Please advise the % weightings of the various sectors in the TSE 300 & the S&P 500 and your current recommended % weighting in the various sectors of The TSE 300.
Thank you

Q: Hi , Do you think were heading for a Bear market and if so when do you think will be in one , the other day I read that we are currently in the eight inning of the Bull market how long will this last before the bear arrives.

Thanks

Q: The following have shown little change in the current correction. Is this the type of correction wherein the sellers will get around to worrying about these stocks/sectors, or does it look principally oriented to the energy sectors. Thanks
BPF.UN, VNR, ET.

Q: Hello 5i. There was an interesting article in Monday's Globe & Mail about retirement investing strategies. Intent is to help retirees protect their capital, given that their ability to recover from a major market crash could be more difficult due to more limited time horizons.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/retirement-rrsps/two-ways-to-game-plan-for-retirement/article20937727/#dashboard/follows/

Would appreciate your thoughts on the article, and the two ways to approach stock market investing it describes.

As always, thanks for your advice.

Q: Hi Team,
I am getting very tempted to buy some stocks that have sold off(pembina, td bank etc...). I keep telling myself to be patient and wait for some evidence of buying however, there seems to be some good opportunities to at least start a position or add to an existing one.

Seeing this great clip from Warren Buffett is also influencing my decision (clip #4) http://thereformedbroker.com/2014/10/02/warren-buffetts-tv-appearance-october-2nd-2014/.
I am normally against averaging down, but I have noted that it can work well with GOOD QUALITY companies in case the correction still has legs. Anyways, could you and the team recommend how you handle the correction and give 2 names from each sector that look attractive for a long term investor.
Thanks again guys

Q: My cousin has never invested in the stock market. She has 100k and is thinking to invest in a portfolio of 20-30 different stocks now. Her time frame is 15-20 years. Understanding you don't have a crystal ball, what do you think of the timing?

Q: Hello
I recently read the following,
Warren Buffet flatly endorsed a simple portfolio of inexpensive index funds for his own survivors. My advice to the trustee couldn't be more simple: Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. (I suggest Vanguard's.) I believe the trust's long-term results from this policy will be superior to those attained by most investors — whether pension funds, institutions or individuals — who employ high-fee managers.

If a Canadian was to follow this advice, and allocate some to a Canadian index fund, a U.S index fund and short term government bonds. What would your allocations be and what Canadian Index fund would you recommend? If you where to periodically rebalance the portfolio how often would you do that. Would you use this strategy in RRSPs, TFSAs and RESPs?
Also should the investor protect him/herself from U.S dollar currency risk?
Use the assumption that this is for long term investing.

thanks, looking forward to your comments.
Bryon

Q: Most of my investments are in SDRSP,RIF & TFSA accounts. I have started to build a trading account for dividend paying stocks in order to take advantage of the dividend tax credit. Currently my holdings are:
Aston Hill (AHF) 7%
BMO Eql Wgt Reit Index ETF (ZRE) 24%
Gamehost (GH) 21%
Ishares US hi Yld Bnd ETF (XHY) 26%
Valener (VNR) 20%
Cash 2%
Some of the percentages are high, but I prefer buying board lots. I have additional funds to put in which should reduce the percentages by half. I am ok with some risk. What would your suggestions be for adding to and/or changing the existing mix.
Great job on completing the bike ride dream & contribution to an important cause plus many thanks for all 5i does.

Q: Today, Reuters (Mike Dolan) published a piece "Financial Market Storm Brewing.." and the last paras stated:

"If investors are surprised by financial storm, it won't be because they weren't warned. Financial watchdogs have been waving a red flag about overstretched markets for the past year and stressed concerns again this month.

"There are increased signs of complacency in financial markets, in part reflecting search for yield amidst exceptionally accommodative monetary policies," the Bank governor Mark Carney said last week, citing conclusions of the G20's Financial Stability Board which he chairs.

"Volatility has become compressed and asset valuations stretched across a growing number of markets, increasing the risk of a sharp reversal."

Particularly because of Mark Carney's comments, this caught my attention. Any thoughts on how this might play out?

Q: hello 5i
my question pertains to rebalancing ones portfolio. I have done this usually once a year in Jan./Mar. Would there be a preferential time to do this?
thank you

Q: Hello Peter
Before I sign up for 5i Research my portfolio was made of 3 ETFs HSU.TO , SSO.N US and UPRO.N US.
My buying and selling was done based on Daily frame of S&P 500 and 3 EMAs. I my say that I was pretty successful with this technical approach and this method save me from loosing about 50% of my portfolio in January 2008 when EMA50 made "dead cross" with EMA 200.
My question is since from last September I follow your model portfolio (with small changes of stocks) will you be able to issue warning us if big correction like 2007/2008 will be coming on the horizon or should we go through correction like 2007/2008 without selling entire portfolio.
Id like to add that I still have separate portfolio of HSU ,SSO and UPRO based on three EMAs unfortunately this technical approach method does not work with individual stocks .
Thanks Andrew B.

Q: Would you have any recommendations for the most cost effective method of protecting an all equity portfolio from 10%-15% downside market risk? Specifics would be appreciated.

My non-registered portfolio primarily consists of large cap US and Canadian companies.

Q: Since we are having a correction, I need to free up some cash to buy stocks I have been waiting for to pull back. Do you recommend selling a partial position of a winning position or selling a losing position(precious metals of course).The new positions I want will help diversify my portfolio. I am tempted to sell the losing position. Also, could you guys give any recommendations on a course of action with this correction and any possible future outlook of the economy etc..... Or any nuggets of wisdom you wish to throw out there.
Thank you

Q: Waiting for an entry point on your A rated stocks. Held on to excess cash for this reason. Should I just go with A rated or lower? I know you don't like to time the market but what might be the turning point clue?

Q: The Russell 2000 index is now negative for the year and looks (to me) like a topping pattern. Is this likely to be an early warning?

Q: I need to add US and International Exposure to my locked in account. It is currently 60% cdn equity and 40% bonds and gics. I want to have fixed income remain at 40%. I want to reduce Canadian equity to 40% and add 12% US Equity and 8% other international equity.
1 Would ishares Core S&P Index (XSP) and ishares MCSI EAFE (XIN) index be appropriate?

2 Both are hedged to the Canadian $. Is that the best way to go? If the Canadian $ strengthens by 10% what effect can I expect to see?

3 Should I make this change in equal purchases of 1/3 of each index over 12 months?

Thanks for your help and great service

Q: My TFSA makes up a tiny portion of my overall portfolio and I have maxed my contributions to date. I have to sell about 1/2 of the portfolio within the next few weeks to pay for a wedding (life can get in the way of long term investing!).

However, I am stuck on what to sell. I hold AVO, AYA, BDI, CGI. DHX, CF, ESL, STN in a fairly balanced portfolio. I am trying to determine a strategy of what is best to sell. I am comfortable with all of them, long term. Do I sell 50% of each (even the couple I am down on), are there some that you expect to grow a lot sooner than the others (it will take a couple of years to probably replace the withdrawals), is CF anticipated to declare a special dividend, etc?

Any assistance as to how to orient my thinking would be appreciated.

As a caution to others, I should add that I did trim a bit earlier but I became complacent with the high valuations and didn't prepare for this September drop in the markets.

Appreciate your assistance and I hope you are transitioning well from all your riding. I did the Ride to Conquer Cancer and it took me a few days to slow myself down!

Paul F.