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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: David Rosenberg today indicated that the recent rally in the TSX is very similar to the December rally of 1931 and further said that this is not an investors' rally but a trader's rally. Is the current rally a sucker's rally?
I will greatly appreciate your comments.
Thanks
Terry
Read Answer Asked by Terry on January 14, 2019
Q: Hi. 35 years old, currently sitting on 100% cash in TFSA and in RRSP. Looking to get back in with a long term outlook.

Planning on the following: TFSA: 40% modeled after your Balanced Equity Portfolio (or potentially Growth Portfolio), 50% in a mix of a few broad ranged ETFs, and 10% cash for now. RRSP: 20% in BTSX, 20% Dogs of DOW (USD), 20% Growth Portfolio (or BE), 20% mix of ETFs (will diverse geographically), 10% bonds, and 10% cash.

1. Comments to the overall strategy?
2. Any recommendations?
3. I know you can't time the market, but does it make sense to just buy in all at one time?

Appreciate the help!
Read Answer Asked by Chris on January 10, 2019
Q: Having 150K in cash that will want to investment.

1. how many stocks should be in the portfolio?
2. based on the number stocks, then that establishes what a full position or half ?
3. how many sector should be included?

any other items to consider?

Thank Ed
Read Answer Asked by Edward on January 10, 2019
Q: Good morning,
I'm 70 years old and with yet a new year upon us and a review of the holdings in my non reg equity portfolio, I'm concerned that my $650K non reg equity portfolio has slowly grown into a "hodge podge" of miscellaneous holdings that need to be trimmed, better concentrated (minimum 5% per holding) along with the addition of a few additional names in sectors that are not currently represented. My current holdings are as follows:
AQN (3.3%),BCE (11.6%)BAM.A(3.8%),CU (4.5%),DIV(2.8%),EMA (2.4%),KEY(2.2%),XIU(5.2%),XIC (33.2%),XDV(18.4%),SLF(3.6%),T(2.9%),T(2.9%),MAW120(3.1%)MAW102(3%).
I would very much appreciate your suggestions on how to best to adjust my current non reg equity portfolio to make it easier to manage and follow. I'm open to adding an appropriate mix of ETFs or Mawer equity funds as need be. My RRSP and TFSA are pretty much all populated with a mix of relatively low MER Mawer equity funds which have performed well over the years. I thank you in advance and look forward to hearing your sage advice and recommendations.
Francesco
Read Answer Asked by Francesco on January 09, 2019
Q: Good morning and HNY
My wife and I have several investment accounts ( two individual, one joint, one RIF, one RRSP, one LIRA, two TFSA). We recently retired and transferred from an advisor to self managing. My first question is how to allocate both sector and type of investment ( equity, prefs, bonds etc) given the different types of accounts. Should we look at the aggregates or each account individually. Second question. We have roughly 20% of our total worth in GIC’s, largely held in our RRSP/RIF/LIRA. Safe, for sure, but it seems we are just parking our money which is galling in retrospect as our advisor charged his normal fee for said parking. Are we better off with pref shares versus GIC’s. Our prefs have suffered recently with the interest rate increases and they are more “risky” than GIC’s, but having so much money parked is concerning. I would appreciate your suggestions. BTW, we have followed your service for the past year to gain confidence as has our neighbour.Thanks for providing an integrous platform.
Read Answer Asked by alex on January 09, 2019
Q: Hi Group - assuming this market stays choppy and unpredictable it appears the the tech sector may be a good start to generating some cash (I have profits in CSU + DSG + a loss in FB - My question is do I sell now hoping to buy back later a lower price - presently I only have 5% cash in a portfolio worth $1.2 million and am feeling very vulnerable to losing more (presently I am down 18% overall. Is it too late to preserve cash or?
Read Answer Asked by Terence on January 07, 2019
Q: Happy New Year!
Q: Please tell me what is the correct sector allocation for a Canadian Investor in 2019?
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Nicolae on January 07, 2019
Q: Hello Team. It seems the level of negative sentiment in the sector has not diminished since Dec although it has only been two days. Every day there is some new big issue to fret about like Apple today and U.S. growth yesterday. Does the VIX adequately reflect this negative sentiment? Are we still waiting for the "spike"? Would your advice be that, rather than try to adjust equity holdings to conditions, just sit tight and wait it out ?
Clarence
Read Answer Asked by Clarence on January 04, 2019
Q: It feels like the end of 2018 was simply a perfect storm of conditions suited to create an impressive (and painful) but not overly unusual pull back on the TSX. Yet there is talk of recession and looming bear markets (I suppose there always is).

What's your take on this? Would you be buying the many apparent opportunities (like mx, cnr, ctc.a) or would you be cautious still?
Read Answer Asked by Gordon on January 02, 2019
Q: Now that tax losses over would be wise to hold the stocks even though most of them are in loss
specially TSE stocks mentioned in our portfolios.
Some how it apears to me that TSE stocks are much lower comparatively to US stocks. possibly better return,your opinion?
Read Answer Asked by Nizar on December 27, 2018
Q: Hi 5i team,
With the maximum pessimism prevailing in the market, it is the ideal time to invest now at the beaten down price. My question is how an average Joe with limited resources can take advantage of this stock sale. Unless one had sold all holdings to raise cash prior to the big drop, now is too late to cash in and bet the stock market to drop further. So what will you do without going into debt to raise cash to buy? What steps would be advisable?
Let’s take the Growth and Balance portfolios, and let’s ignore the tax consequences and tax loss selling. If I hold most of these two portfolios, should I sell those names that drop the least and buy those that drop the most? Should I sell those that drop the most? Should I sell those that are unlikely to advance in the next half year, and buy the stocks that will most likely have a big rebound? Which are the candidates from the two portfolios that will fit the last approach for sell and for buy? Thanks and merry Xmas to your team.
Read Answer Asked by Willie on December 27, 2018
Q: Thank you for the thousands of questions you've answered this past year on hundreds of different companies. You have been most helpful in providing sound advice and guidance.
My question is of a general nature and so feel free to deduct as many points as necessary.
In your recent 'Market Update Report' you make reference to the recent chatter about a pending bear market, which may or may not occur.
I'm rather confused. With the S&P down approx. 18%, the DOW down 17%, and the TSX down 15%, aren't we pretty much in a bear market right now? If we do go into a bear market/recession does that mean we can expect to go down another 15-20%? As is, I'm down an average of 22%. I don't want to bail at this point, but if going into a bear market means going down another 15+%, then I will be in a bad position. There are those who say, "It's too late to sell at this stage", but surely it's not if going into a bear market means going down another 15-20%.
Some guidance at this point would be appreciated. Thanks,
Jake
Read Answer Asked by Jake on December 27, 2018
Q: On the losing end of these 3 - V down 12%, SQ down 35% and TEAM down 6% - thinking of selling before year end to capture the tax losses and then re-purchasing after the 30 days - question - is this a good idea ? OR should I just cut my losses on these 3 and look for something else that might be more in line with a possible "recession" on the horizon.
thanks
Read Answer Asked by JOHN on December 21, 2018
Q: As an experienced portfolio manager and you see :

1)The worst monthly performance on the markets since 1929 (December).
2)Brexit problems.
3)Fed perceived raising interest rate problems.
4)Escalating tensions in the Far East and the Middle East
5)Trade wars with a very uncertain but potentially lethal impact.
6)An economy which is projected to be slowing
7)Slowing corporate earnings with probably revised downward forward looking estimates
8)Very successful investors like Tepper and Cooperman saying cash will outperform over the next year or two.
9)Corporations are leveraged up to the hilt with debt and many are in danger of being downgraded or worse.

What would you do? To be transparent I am currently in 25% cash and fully hedged on the balance of my portfolio.

Please share your thoughts/strategies.

Sheldon
Read Answer Asked by Sheldon on December 21, 2018
Q: there was an interesting fast money halftime on cnbc today which i watch daily, mike wilson chief equity strategist was on and he was the only analyst period of all of them out there he predicted this correction back in january and he said now is not the time to be selling, we are bottoming but this process could take 3-4 months not weeks because of the damage done,furthermore he likes energy and banks and then they had a segment with lee cooperman and a guy from the sec talking about quants algorithms and computors causing this extreme volatility, and some feel until the vix hits at least 30 maybe even 40 this is not over, and there is tons of value in the market now but you still have to pick your spots slowly.i think you agree with some of this, just wondering your opinion which i value because lets be honest we all missed the severity of this. i think this is as bad as 2008. and everyone was in complete agreement that jerome powell was and is an idiot who cannot communicate properly. and how much is etf selling which causes the underlying stocks to be sold sonething we never had to contend with in 2008 or not as much. dave
Read Answer Asked by david on December 21, 2018
Q: Continuation of my previous question.

After reading your response my understanding is that 5i portfolios will not build the cash position higher for any major downside risks that the market may have in next few years. What about any new money available for investing Do we hold on to buying any stocks in this kind of unpredictable volatile markets until a clear bottom or direction is indicated by the markets ? MLP are not a good option for canadians because of tax implications. What is your opinion about US CEF (closed end funds) and do they have similar tax impact like MLPs ?

Thanks
Ninad
Read Answer Asked by Ninad on December 20, 2018