Investment Q&A

Q: For investors holding significant amounts of cash, would you suggest dollar cost averaging back into the market or investing lump sums? Thank you.

Q: https://www.5iresearch.ca/index.php?p=download&file=119
Peter are the ratings on your Jan PDF report redone for the report or the same as they were on the report date? If they are the same will you be redoing them in another pdf?
Also what is your strategy on being fully invested vs cash - do you try to time corrections or bear market downturns? what % cash do you like to keep?
Tks.

Q: Hello 5i staff. I sure appreciate this fine service. I am a 61 year old aggressive investor. I have 10% of my portfolio in fixed income. At about $60k the fixed income portion is divided as follows. Sixty five percent in 5 high yield vehicles, FAP, TRH.UN, DYN9105, PHN280 and ATL908. Twenty five percent in corpoate bonds rated A and BBB, the rest in covertable debentures. With the prospect of rising interest rates should I sell any of the bond funds and switch into quality stocks? Thanks, Frank

Q: Hi team, I have about 3.5% of our portfolio in CHB US high yield income fund and I am up a fair amount from my initial cost and have enjoyed over a years worth of interest income (inside an RRSP). I know there is a risks to this ETF if US interest rates rise, but that just doesn't seem likely for a while yet. I don't think I am overexposed in this area, what are your thoughts? Thanks, no rush on your answer if you are short staffed.

Q: I was re-reading an article in the Canadian Money Saver by Wynn Quon. His analysis of a potential super bubble is certainly a scary prospect. I remember the 400 point losses on the TSE quite painfully.
What are your thoughts on this speculation? Have the problems that caused the turmoil on 2008 gone? Thanks

Q: This is a follow-up to the answer to the "hold winners vs sell part of winners which are too large a percentage of your portfolio".

It is often hard to sell any part of something which is doing well and lookss to be doing more of the same in the future.


What I have done instead of selling to bring the percentage in line is to place a trailing stop on the amount which you would have to sell to bring the diversification back in line. Obviously trying to get the best of both worlds.

Would you have any comments on the validity of this strategy?

Q: Hi Peter and Team,
Thanks for a great first year of interesting and profitable investment advice. I will be renewing soon and look forward to the coming year of 5i reports.
My question concerns what seems to me to be contradictory advice having to do with portfolio rebalancing.
My approach is both capital gains and growing income for retirement. I have 20 stocks in my portfolio with what I consider to be good names such as STN, TRP, ALA, ESL, SYZ, AYA, BCE, etc. To me, some of my holdings are just getting rolling. If I sell back to 5% every time there is a rise in the share price it seems as if I am eroding my possibilities of future price and income gains (especially given the good prospects of dividend increases).
In a recent answer you said that an investor should not sell a good stock just because it is up. How do you reconcile these two assertions? Thanks again for the excellent service and have a great 2013. Rob

Q: Peter...looking for $US exposure via exxon ge p&g mcd. Is a US$ trading acct. the best way and if so...are there tax and withholding issues? regards Art

Q: Hey Peter and Co.
I am thinking about getting into covered call writing on some of my dividend stocks. I'm reading up on the strategy mostly from Alan Ellman's Complete Encyclopedia For Covered Call Writing.
I really don't want the stocks I have to get called so I'm thinking about just writing out of the money calls to add income to my portfolio. What is your opinion on OTM covered call writing and covered calls in general?

Q: Peter; If you were trimming your pipeline holdings because they have become too high a % of the total where would you invest the proceeds keeping in mind income is a prime requirement? Thanks.

Rod

Q: What is your outlook for Canadian technology stocks for 2013?

Q: Hi peter and team :
I am re balancing my portfolio by selling some of my loosers (Oil and gas stocks - painful) and considering to replace them with the below. I hope to go for safety and modest yearly total gain of 10% -12% The choices are from the list you provided :I own ATP,AW.UN,DH,NPI,CML, I am considering buying RPI.UN,HPL.UN,HR.UN,LIQ,EXE.
Your comments and suggestions would be appreciated. As always thanks for the great service
Yossi

Q: Hi Peter - I really like your website; enjoy reading the member questions and your answers - very informative.
After reading the blog about maintenance of portfolios, I have two questions.
With a portfolio of $100,000, would the ideal number of stocks still be 20? And with my ACQ (AutoCanada) and STN (Stantec) becoming a larger percentage - would you still trim these or let them run up a bit?
Thank you

Q: Hi Peter,

Looking to put some funds in a contrarian sector with a timeline of ten years. Any recommendations about a particular sector that fits this criteria? Could you list a few recommendations in that particular sector ?

Thanks,

Arturo

Q: hi, i have about $20,000.available for equity investments and iam in my late fiftys.which stocks would you recommend for a 10 to 12yr. time horizon inside an rsp, thanks?

Q: Hi Gang, I have $20,000 available for equity investments. My current portforio is split 60/40 equity to cash. Of the current 5i selections how would you sugguest I deploy the Funds?

Thanks

Q: I agree with the stategy you have proposed on multiple replies that a staggered buying approach provides a greater likelihood of covering mis-timed purchases. Working within an RRSP, can you a few safe positions to park cash as the staggering buys of A-B rated equities takes place?

Thank you, and as always, find this site very useful.

Eric

Q: I sell a stock when my loss is 8%. But I've never really known when to accept the 8% loss and sell. Do I sell the moment the 8% loss occurs by using a stop loss order? Or at the end of the day the 8% loss is realized? At the end of the week? At the end of the month or quarter? There's always a part of me saying, "I'll give it another day, another week." Can you help me tighten up my sell strategy? Thank you. And I realize 8% is somewhat arbitrary. Some people will let a stock drop 20%.

Q: What do you think of IBD (Investor's Business Daily) as a publication and William O'Neil's method of stock selection?

Q: Hi Peter & 5i: In your answer to john's bonds question you referred to investments "exposed to" fixed income securities. I'm interested in how an eventual move off the bottom for bond interest rates will impact valuations of different kinds of equities. Aside from the obvious link to income stocks, that to some extent trade off of their yields, what kinds of companies have material exposure to fixed income securities, in terms a foreseeable negative impact on a company's growth, profitability, cash flow, or other relevant valuation metrics? For example, Cdn banks. I've heard that banks generally benefit from rising interest rates. But given their involvement in the fixed income market, would parts of their businesses suffer in a significant rates-driven market shift from bonds to equities? Thanks!