Investment Q&A

Q: Peter, your performance on BNN tonight was excellent. You mentioned that the US is 60% of Bin's business. Could you list a few more Can Co's where the US is a % of their business that you like. Thanks for the wonderful service!

Q: Hello Peter!
Can you please comment on my portfolio.I currently hold in my portfolio (stocks - Weightings): CSU-11.2%,CCL.B- 13%,BYD.UN-10%,DHX.b-10.8%,ATD.b-15.5%,AYA-5.6%,ESL-7.6%,SJ-9.8%,CXI-5.9%,MG7.9%
,BOS-2.7%,TDG.US-3.5%,NOC.US-1.5%,CBM.US-1.8%,AGN.US-1.8% .

I also have 18K CAD to invest. Would you please give me your 3(non energy)buys today to complement my existing portfolio.
Thanks Andrew B.

Q: Further to Paul's MISC question; What is the best way to rebalance? A simple calendar approach? If so how often? At one extreme, one could rebalance daily, but incur heavy transaction fees and possibly sell one's winners way too early.

At the other extreme, one could rebalance annually, or some longer period. Transaction fees would be minimised. But this approach might miss cycle tops (and bottoms).

If a calendar approach is not used, then how is discipline maintained?

Q: What is your opinion on using Stop-Loss orders? Should investors use them and if so, what is a good percentage to use?

Q: Hello 5i team,
I am responding to your answe to Les concerning the amount of fixed income appropriate for a 70 year old. I think it would help many of us to have your rationale for your suggestions.

For instance, you suggest 40 per cent fixed income, even though they have enough to live on from their pensions and could thus presumably ride out a down turn. In this low interest rate environment many suggest a nuch lower per centage. You have yourself, i believe from time to time.
Should not the pension be considered a form of fixed income and thus count towards the per centage?

You also recommend xbb, which goes out to seven years. I imagine we are mainly thinking about preserving the capital. And if that is the case, why not choose the shorter term, xsb instead?
Thanks for any insight you can put on this important aspect of investing for many of us
Claire

Q: What 3 sectors would you avoid in an increasing interest rate environment? Which 3 sectors would perform best in an increasing interest rate environment?

Q: Hello Peter & Co,
My RRIF portfolio in entirely denominated in Cdn$. In order to invest in US stocks, the wise thing would have been to convert a portion of the portfolio to US$ when both currencies were at par; but I did not.
To convert now would cost me some 30% in exchange rate; I would not mind that if our loonie would remain at current levels. But that would be an irresponsible assumption because, even though there could be some additional downside in the short term, our currency would eventually move up (say by 10-15%).
So, the return from the US investments would have to be reduced accordingly.
But I am generating for the past 6 years a 17% compound return per annum from my Canadian holdings (when 7% pa would have been sufficient to meet my "wants"). The math here does not seem compelling to me with a hurdle of 17+(10 to 15)%.
So, unless I'm missing something, is this all worth the hassle?
Thanks,
Antoine

Q: I want to be in cash and prefer being in USD. I vaguely remember that in one of 5i's portfolios held DLR. DLR has pretty low daily volumes and it also has a high management fee as well (0.45%) for just holding cash. Do you know of any other investment vehicle to park my CDN cash in USD without actually making a FX exchange?

Q: Hi Peter and 5i team, what will happen if Chinese Yuan is included into the IMF reserve currency on Oct 20, 2015 meeting? Its effect on us dollar, canadian dollar , commodities and canadian stock market?

Q: Bill Gross recently recommended shorting ASHR @ $54. He was dead on. He also said the Chinese stock market crash will trigger a global crisis. How good is his track record and do you agree. Should we head for the hills? Thank you.

Francis Woo

Q: Good Morning 5i,

With all the publicity going around about a possible recession in Canada, what would be the investment strategy during a recession period?

Thanks

Paul

Q: Is an investor better off the instruct the on-line broker to re-invest dividend into more shares or to allow the cash to build in the account to presumably be invested eventually?

Q: Hi Peter

I have had exceptional success in buying positions in all 3 portfolios and to date have almost a full complement.

In the growth portfolio the following stocks got away from me, didn't seem to correct and therefore I don't yet hold. They are. GIX,PEO,CDV, and QHR.

I'm not asking you predict the future, so let me put it this way.... If you were in this position would you say to hell with it and buy at market open today or would you exercise patience as I have done to date and simply put in a bid and leave it there.

You opinions might vary per stock mentioned.

Thanks

Q: From time to time I run across a small cap that looks interesting. What fundamental and/or technical metrics do you use to evaluate a small cap? Can an individual access any/all of these?
Regards, Charles

Q: IF A GREXIT COMES ABOUT I THINK THERE COULD BE SOME SHORT TERM BUYING AND SELLING OPPORTUNITIES AS WELL AS ON OPPORTUNITY TO REBALANCE YOUR PORTFOLIO IF YOU HAVE SOME CASH. I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF YOU COULD LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO INVSESTMENTS IN THE FOLLOWING AREA IMMEDIATELY AFTER GREXIT HAPPENS (I KNOW THIS DATE IS OBVIOUSLY A PERSONAL DECISSION):
GOLD
CANADIAN MID-CAP COMPANIES
CANADIAN SMALL CAP COMPANIES
TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR GREAT ADVICE IN THE PAST.
MIKE

Q: What would be your advice to your members with respect to a possible GREXIT before the end of this month if the Greeks do not pay monies owed to the IMF??
Do you see a catastrophic collapse of the Canadian stock markets as was the case in 2008 with the bancruptcy of Lehman Brothers?
Would you advise your members to sell ??

Q: I'm 37 years old and I have very little exposure to bonds. I would like to start building a position in Cdn Corporate and Government bonds in my RRSP. Do you suggest buying a little every month in a few ETFs, such as CBO, CLF and XHY or should I wait until interest rates rise and then start a position since the price will likely decline further? Is it smart to start a position if general wisdom dictates the price will fall in the future?

Thanks,
Jason

Q: On June 2, Clare asked about sector allocation percentages, and I noticed that you recommended 20% for technology and industrials. Previous recommedations earlier in the year for these two sectors were 10 - 15%, depending on the type of investor. Could you explain the increase, please?

Q: Hello Peter, My question is about rebalancing for optimizing future growth with possible interest rate hikes. I have listened to an advisor who suggests the U.S. is the place to be for a large portion of my portfolio - consumer discretionary, health care with bio, U.S. financials, and technology. I am considering selling my CAD banks, telecoms, REIT's etc. to go into these sectors. Citigroup, Wells, Starbucks, Disney, NXPI Semi-conductors are what I am looking at. I am already in Abbot Labs and a SPDR Healthcare ETF. Does this sound like a good plan to you? Thanks, I so appreciate your opinion.

Q: Good evening Peter,

I would like your thoughts and insight on my below Investment strategy

I am an Investor, not a trader. I believe in owning great companies and never selling them.

I am 52 years old and have been managing our investments through a discount broker for the last 10 years with a Dividend strategy for my retirement.

We have both registered, TFSA & unregistered account's for my wife and myself and we do not have an employer pensions.

All accounts currently have a drip program and the plan is to have these accounts fund our retirement in 8 years.

I realize that the Canadian banks, utilities, telecom, pipeline, reits, ect...will be negatively affected by rising interest rates, which is mostly what we are invested in.

When rates rise, these stock prices will be lower, which I feel for our dividend strategy is good. This will mean via the drip program I will be able to buy more shares and therefore more income when the time comes to retire. I plan to never sell these great Canadian dividend paying companies we own.

Please let me know your thoughts on this stragety

Looking forward to hearing from you...

Thank you Gordon...