Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Guys,

If one believes that the Canadian dollar is about to strengthen over the coming year, what are good ways to take advantage of that?

Am I correct in that my non-hedged ETFs such as VGRO and XAW would come under pressure? Are there any companies that would meaningfully benefit from a stronger Canadian dollar?

Q: On Friday David Rosenberg was interviewed by Andrew McCreath. He expects inflation to increase due to global debt and recommended real rate return bonds. While I do have some bond exposure I have never owned any of these bonds. Your thoughts please. As always, thank you for your excellent service. Nigel

Q: We have( for me) a quite large sum of money invested in managed products. Any new money is going into Canadian equities ( 30%) following your portfolios and a mix of ETF roughly
30% USA at 10% SPY, 10% VIG, 10%IWO
30% International currently VE
10% emerging currently VEE
( I know "where is your fixed income" you ask, my spouse has a federal government pension which I count as our fixed income)
To date these sums are relatively small. As I start to shift large sums from our managed products to my self managed portfolio ( following the above ratios) I am ok with the mix in the USA spread to 3 etfs run by 3 different companies. With the international and emerging I am a bit concerned about putting all that cash with one fund (and company). Is this concern silly or should I have some diversification within my ETF holdings ( both in terms of funds and companies). For example instead of having 30% of my holdings in VE I would split it 15% VE and 15% XEF. So I guess the short questions are:

1. What is the max an investor should have in any one ETF( %)
2. What is the max an investor should have with any one company ( $ or %)

Q: Hi Peter and Ryan,
The US market has not done well in May and may get worse due to the trade war with China. The volatility of the market increased significantly. People also talk about a possible recession. I am a long term investor. I have some cash available now. I am a bit hesitant to invest in either US or Canadian market, as the two stock markets are somehow connected. Do you think I should wait a bit or invest in some attractive stocks after the recent market drop? What are they if you recommend the latter?
Thank you,
Yiwen

Q: My Question is on General market conditions from Technical point of view

Its seems looking at the technical charts for $INDU (DOW index) it has formed a TRIPLE TOPs with divergence in RSI and MACD with lower lows at each tops and $INDU now breaking off 200MA and from todays action its seems $INDU may run down to 20,000 or even 18,000 unless it jumps back above its 200MA
5i expert comment on this please

Q: Is portfolio balancing different than averaging down? I will be doing my semi-annual portfolio over the next couple of weeks and with the decline of names like MG, MX and TSGI to name a few I suspect I will be a bit underweight in consumer discretionary and materials. I see portfolio balancing as shoring up the laggards and trimming the overweight (winners) but that means buying stocks that are not showing momentum and may even be in continuing decline. So, are these two ideas incompatible and if so, what is the "proper" way to rebalance?

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: With all signs pointing to a long US/China trade spat, what sectors do you see holding their own. I would expect that Tech and Consumer Products will be hurt the most. Your comments would be appreciated.

Q: I was expecting Armageddon/ volatility in the markets with no China deal and more tariffs and China retaliation. What gives? At some point this is going to impact earnings, jobs, etc. In fact the market has risen, what do you make of it?

Q: Hello,
What are the US and Canadian stocks which are looking more attractive due to the tarrif war. I bought TTD and SQ..on the drop. Can you suggest any others. Also can you give your assessment do you think this increased volatility is a temporary phenomenon.Thanks.

Shyam

Q: Peter and those surrounding - as someone with 25% cash due to recent trimming I'm wondering 1. whether you believe the downside is close to bottom or not 2. whether you would wait for further clarity before redeploying 3. whether you would redeploy the growth names on my buy list first (down more) or stay conservative with more stable lower valuation equities being re-purchased first and 4. any general remarks you might offer at this rather confusing moment in the markets. Thanks as always - Ken

Q: Are there ETF's out there that employ both Active and Passive investing under one roof, or do I have to buy one active and one passive to create my allocation to both strategies ?

Q: I have significant USD in my RRSP in cash. Do you have any recommendation for a balanced USD ETF even if it’s trading in the USA that is “low” risk conservative and might expect 4 to 5% annual gains? Thanks. Peter

Q: I am interested in what your general guidelines for sector percentage allocations would be at this time and looking forward in 2019. We are retired with pensions ,investments in registered accounts and a balanced approach investor. Second question-your recommendation re percentage allocation Canada/US investment. Thank you for your assistance.

Q: I almost only read questions related to my specific companies. So may be I have not look in the right place. My question is at this time in the Market cycle, would you recommend allocation changes and also increase cash somewhat?

Q: I have 30% of my money in diversified CDN equities and don't need the money for 20 years.
I am not interested in bonds or REITs. I was considering putting the other 70% in the following ETF's.
45% VFV
18% VUN
18% XQQ
11% XEF
8% VEE
This would put around 57% of the total money in the USA. I am fine with that.
The MER would be around 0.18% based on the blend. I know this breaks your rule of keeping less than 25% in one fund. It also places a lot of money in Vanguard - which has been around since 1975, but nothing is for sure. Wondering what you think of this set up and also maybe I could sub out VUN for XUU. This would make 53% Vanguard and 47% iShares. Trading VUN for XUU would lower the MER a little as VUN is 0.16% and XUU is 0.07%

Q: My Canadian Margin account is up 29% accoding to TDW. I would like to lock in some of the gains but I already sold some stocks this year (ATD.B with ACB of $2.97 and GIL with ACB of $2.77). I sold these stocks for diversification purposes but they are still my two biggest holdings in my portfolio. I cannot afford to sell any more stocks as all my holdings are in the black and I would incur capital gains. I would have to take out a loan to pay the capital gains tax if I sold some more stocks. Would there be any way to lock in gains with options for 2019?

Q: I would like to get your opinion in Agilith and Sparton MMCAP (SPA260) hedge funds and what percentage of a moderately aggressive portfolio should be in hedge fund,

Thanks

Q: We have about $150k in a Family RESP invested in the Fidelity Clearpath 2025 Portfolio Series B ISC target date fund. On the Fidelity fact sheet it says "Series B has the highest combined management and administration fees among the series in the Program". We were put into the fund by our previous financial advisor. Funny how that worked. The current MER is 2.17%. Could you recommend two or three alternative ETF's or funds with more reasonable MER's or even possibly a handful of suitable stocks? The funds won't be needed for another five years. Thanks.

Q: The coming US elections are approaching (2020)
The democrats are NOT pro big business and some candidates are voicing their opinions about breaking up and placing regulation on big tech. This could be considered to be just noise however I am old enough to remember the industry break ups of the past. Question: Is it time to exercise a little caution here and await the election outcome or go along with the apparent belief that Google, Amazon etc. are the way of the future with unlimited potential growth?

Q: Hi, a follow up to my last question, were there any periods where the yield curve inverted in the last 20 years, but didn't lead to a recession? Do you by chance have the dates or chart on that?