Investment Q&A

Q: I note you were asked something similar to this last October, but that was with respect to gold. There is more talk of a desperate Putin using a tactical nuke in Ukraine as this is his only path to victory while failure means his own demise. I know you can only guess but my own guess is the overall markets would go insane, blow through circuit breakers and drop at least 10%-20% on the day. Is your more experienced, more considerate 'guess' somewhat similar?

Q: I have a sum of money lying in a savings account earning neglible interest.
I would like to invest this money in some sort of interest bearing etf or portfolio.
My options would be to invest the money in:-
1) 5i Research Income Portfolio.
2) Hamilton ETF's HDIV and HYLD. I would put equal amounts into each ETF My thinking is that HDIV would give the income yield and HYLD would supply the growth.
I already run your 5i research Income Portfolio which I could add to

Q: I just read Peter's blog entitled "5 Market Bubbles Including One That is Just Starting to Blow Up Now". In the Artificial Intelligence (AI) section, it says "Also remember that AI has the ability to destroy sectors and other companies, or at least lower their valuations. Investors need to be careful about what they buy in the AI field, but also about what they own elsewhere in case it is negatively impacted by AI."

Can you please elaborate on what sectors you think might be impacted (or destroyed) or have their valuations lowered. Are there any 5i model portfolio companies or some of 5i US favorite companies that fall into this category.

Thanks so much for the constant excellence advice!

Q: Good morning
I would appreciate comments regarding investing in the Canadian financial sector versus US financials. This is in a tax sheltered account and currency volatility is not a concern. Thank you

Q: Everyone, what is your concerns with the large cap technology sector today and for the next six months. Clayton

Q: My understanding is that if an agreement isn't reached before early June (?) regarding raising the U.S. debt ceiling then there could be significant global economic fallout... leading to unemployment, interest raise hikes, and of course, large market selloffs.

How much weight/attention are you guys putting on this situation? Is this leading to a significant buying opportunity? Is it wise to increase cash position until this plays out?

Q: Should we be concerned about the States debt ceiling? If we look back to 2011 the markets took a massive hit and according to JPMorgan’s top strategist Marko Kolanovic now is a good time to add to gold and hold on to cash. Your thoughts please?

Q: I have always been puzzled by cyclical stocks. By way of example, I hold NTR in a non-registered account and have ridden it up (by 50%) and now down to 15%. Is the strategy for dealing with these stocks simply to ride out the bad times, knowing they will eventually cycle back? Or should I be selling on the way down and trying to figure out the best entry point when the stock starts to rebound? The matter is complicated, of course, by the tax consequences of selling in a non-registered account. Your advice regarding buying and selling cyclical stocks would be most appreciated. Thank you.

Q: Can you provide the fair value of the following stocks: TSLA, SHOP, BN, GOOG, ATZ, NVDA, WELL, GSY, TOI, KXS, ECN, RCI.B ?

Q: What will it take to make emerging ,markets be a top performer? Thanks Ron

Q: Do you anticipate recession in 2023 - 2024 and what impact it would have on stock market in general?
Thank you
Miroslaw

Q: I’m in my mid 30’s and typically have just about all my net worth in equities. I’ve recently moved to nearly a 40% weight in high interest etfs (PSA etc) paying over 4% to park cash in what I think is a pretty crummy outlook for the economy mid term. Do you think I’m being overly pessimistic

Q: Is inflation finally under control?
Will we have a recession? How deep could it be?
Are our banks safe?
Are we losing control of our country to others that seem to play by different rules? We just kicked a Chinese diplomat out of Canada for threatening the family of a member of the Canadian parliament. How will China retaliate?
Russia is still at war against Ukraine. How is that impacting the world economy?
Climate change is threatening economies in counless ways. Almost all negative.

So here's my question. In your opinion, what Canadian and global companies offer a service so necessary or a product that is in such high demand that they will persevere in these troubled times and make profits for their investors?

Q: With the energy sector on pause, is precious metals a good replacement, or can you suggest another. I generally buy on momentum.

Q: What do you think is an appropriate cash allocation of one's liquid assets in the current market environment with some recession and US bank crisis contagion/debt ceiling risks? (Recognizing you can get 4% interest in high yield cash etfs) I recognize this is a personal question so please assume à 34 year old professional with a long term investment horizon.

Q: Why is the VIX so low just weeks prior to a politically driven US debt crisis. A similar crisis in 2011 exhibited extreme volatility until an agreement was reached . In the short term downside risk seems more probable than markets going up. You cannot time the markets but what would you suggest as a near term strategy to protect your portfolio.

Q: I would like to improve my buying and selling stocks. To do this, I understand that one factor could be referring to the Relative Strength Index (RSI). What has your experience been like in referring to the RSI for selling when over 70 and buying when under 30? In other words, how much weight should I put on RSI for buying/selling stocks?.......Thanks for your insights...Tom

Q: During the early weeks of the pandemic (March 2020), my portfolio results - namely Canadian holdings - experienced 3 days in a row of my worst stock market performances EVER. These worst ever performances were approximately 3 times as BAD dollar wise as my BEST ever daily performances. I do understand the immense irrationality of those times, however is this excessive variance in performance a semi normal occurrence where your worst performing days are multiples of your best performing days? For reference purposes please consider that my largest holdings were and are BCE, T, TD, WSP, CSU, ENB, AP.UN, ATD, GIB.A, XBC, and IPL.UN(at that time).

Thank you for your response,

Dean

Q: I am trying to understand what seems to me as unusual volatility in treasuries recently - especially Monday. Has this sort of thing happened in the past ?

Q: Hi Peter,
I have over 6 figures to invest for 3 or more years for a Canadian holding company and am looking for suggestions to invest in each of the sectors, in a combination of ETFs and stocks. I would like to be more tax efficient where most of the returns would be in capital gains (total returns are mostly in the growth of the stocks, less in dividends). Investments can be in any geographic areas. In terms of risk level, I am comfortable with your balance portfolio approach, where it has some elements of growth.

One example I have, closer to income than growth, is HXH-T. It is a dividend ETF, low MER cost, with beta of < 1, pretty risk adverse. The price of the stocks is the index it tracks plus dividends.

Thank you,
Roger