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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: Hello. Since I started investing, I've been told that selling covered call is the safest and easiest way to earn extra income. However, I've found that the cost of buying and selling covered call options in the Canadian stock market is extremely expensive. If the stock is called away, the bank will charge an extra $49 as handling fee per transaction for both sides (no matter the amount of the contract). Do you know if there are any investment institutions that offer no handling fee at the end of the expiry? I've heard that Interactive Broker may be one of them. Are you aware of any others? If I could switch some of my portfolio to a cheaper trading institution, do you think it is worth the hassle to sell covered call? MANY THANKS.
Read Answer Asked by Esther on May 26, 2016
Q: I bought WAJAX Corp 10 years ago at a much higher price and held it since. After a rough ride it seems that this company is turning the corner with some decent earning and a better estimates from analysts. Could I please have your views and if it is worth holding, if not what I can replace it with. It is a small portion of my portfolio and diversification is not an issue. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Saad on May 26, 2016
Q: Hello,

Two part question. First, thoughts on NYX Gaming's earnings report? Second, Intertain just reported strongly, is considering strategic options and seems to be generally acting better. Would you switch any holdings in NYX to Intertain? Also, from a technical standpoint does Intertain appear poised for a breakout if it can ever shake free of the 12-12.30 range?

Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Tim on May 26, 2016
Q: Have difficulty understanding the sector alllocated for some stocks. For instance I thought NFI would definitely be Industrial but in my BMO portfolio it is classified as cons disc along with DOL - which I get. I want to increase my Industrial sector so could you go thru your three portfolios and list the stocks that would be classified in this sector? Thanks.






Read Answer Asked by Arthur on May 26, 2016
Q: Dear Gentlemen,
I want to add 2.5% from 10.5% to 13% in the Industrial sector.
At the moment I have the following companies in different accounts
BDI 0.5% (-75%)
MDA 2.4% (-3%)
ATA 1.1% (-20%)
STN 2.7% (-1.3%)
WSP 3.8% (+13.6%)
adding on one or two on these companies or add a new one SIS ?
Your recommendations ?
Thanks
Best Regards
Read Answer Asked by Djamel on May 26, 2016
Q: Morning,

Just a question regarding how you determine returns for the model portfolios. Is it based on time weight return (Modified Dietz method), or is it a money weighted return (XIRR).

I'm trying to figure out how to determine my returns on my own portfolios, and have been using XIRR since the beginning, which do you use or suggest for a DIY investor?

Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Sarj on May 25, 2016
Q: Hi guys, I apologise for beating this topic to death but at what percentage of the float do investors start to worry when a stock is being shorted.

Thank you
Read Answer Asked by ron on May 25, 2016
Q: I have held this wonderful stock for the last 4 years and am very reluctant to make any changes. However it has become a fairly large position in my equity portfolio i.e 11%. What are the risk/rewards comparing it to an AQN or SIS which are on my radar ( i know they are in different sectors). What would be a comfortable level in a portfolio bearing in mind that I remember you guys suggesting a few years back that a good company should be held indefinitely.

Thanks

Peter
Read Answer Asked by Peter on May 25, 2016
Q: My partner and I are retiring soon on a portfolio of around a million dollars, comprised of more than 50 stocks. Compared to your Balanced model portfolio (22 stocks), the number of stocks I have in my portfolio seems to be too many. I have both large & mid cap stocks (85% of portfolio) and small cap growth stocks (15%) in the portfolio. The percentage I've allotted to each stock is not equal. Some of the smaller riskier stocks could be as low as 1% weighting in the total portfolio. My questions are (1) Is this a good investment strategy to include both balanced safer equity and higher growth riskier equity in a portfolio? (2) What should be the optimal number of stocks in a large portfolio? (3) Is there a general rule of thumb for the weighting of each stock category (large cap, mid cap & small cap)? I want to make sure that what I've done is correct, especially since we are retiring soon. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.
Read Answer Asked by Esther on May 25, 2016
Q: Lumber prices have gone up, housing prices in US doing well, $C is down.
Why these Lumber stocks are not participating?
I own WEF,WFT,ADN what should I do?
Read Answer Asked by John on May 24, 2016
Q: Hi,I will retire in six months so will need income and security,which do not always go hand and hand.
I have a 5% position in bam.a,but was thinking of just switching to bip.un for the higher yield. Do you feel bip.un is secure enough on its own,or would you go say, 3% of each?
Also do you have two or three go to names that have 3-4% yields for the 5+ year time frame.
Always seem to have a hard time not to panic sell when the markets or one of my stocks are down over 20%.Should my discipline always be to hang-on if I have quality stocks?
Thanks,great work.
Read Answer Asked by Brad on May 24, 2016
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