Investment Q&A

Q: I wanted to follow-up a comment that was made ... perhaps a week ago ... ??? when you responded to another member's request for target pricing: your response suggested you might consider doing a webinar on how investors could construct their own target prices on companies.

YES! A thousand times yes! Consider me first on that registration list, if it ever comes to pass. I have always found it a challenge, and a mystery, when it comes to knowing just when to get out of a stock. Having some sort of mid-level confidence is assessing a company's inherent worth would take away so much grief and second-guessing.

Market timing, as you have inspired in us so well, is a mug's game. So, having some sort of sense of when a stock might be "fully valued" without having to incessantly rely on your analysis of each individual stock in the portfolio, would provide immeasurable freedom to know how to handle -- and to make our own determinations on when to hold 'em, and when to fold 'em.

Thanks for everything on this site! -- as well as for your wonderful endeavour this summer on behalf of children with cancer. An amazing accomplishment for such a worthy cause.

Q: Pardon my lack of knowledge, but what do you mean by "half position" and "full position" for an investor's holdings. More generally, I cannot find a glossary of terms on the web site.

Thanks for all the great info.

Cyril

Q: If you we're forced to invest all your wealth in 3-5 stocks and had to hold those securities for 5 years, what would the names be(ETF's excluded)?

Q: In response to the Sept 17 & 18 questions on Portfolio Tracking I'd like to say that this issue has been brought up at least twice in the past 2+ years in this forum, the last in early July, 2013. Which brings me to a growing problem here: the archive is getting so large that it takes far less time to ask a new question than scroll back through pages in say, Investor Strategies and Resources to find what you want. A keyword search function for Portfolio Tracking, or Balancing, or Diversification etc. would solve this problem, and save the 5i team some work, too. Or you could create subsections within each category, or just cull some of the older stuff...

Back to Antoine's question - he might look at Google Finance.ca which tracks not only dividends paid but dividends scheduled to be paid, once declared, and has a cool chart on your daily/weekly performance. Multiple portfolios for free. I also use Globeinvestor Gold, reluctantly because it's the best of the mediocre lot and definitely has its limitations and inaccuracies. I would love to have a tracker that amazes me with what it can do, and save me time on some calculations I must do manually now.

Q: Relative to Antoine's question on sep 17 about a website to follow dividends, I use the Globe and Mail's Globe investor service and have set up a "watchlist" for my portfolio. It includes the div Yield, Div annual Per share amount and Payout Ratio among many other user selected options. It is a free service and I have been using it for many years. Cheers.

Q: Some of the companies in your Summary, Model and Income names can be traded in the US. For US exposure would you recommend buying your A and B rated companies in the US? Could you indicate the US symbol in the summary where applicable or at least in your answer?

Q: Hi 5i,
This is in response to Tony's query re: the "old", or "basic" Globeinvestor portfolio tracker. I use this free service and as I receive confirmation of my DRIP I go to the Portfolio Menu, Stocks, Record Buy/Sell and record the DRIP as a stock buy. Globeinvestor will have already added the cash value of the dividend to my cash balance. It is moderately cumbersome but does work; the biggest caveat is that often/frequently the cash balances shown becomes hugely inaccurate. I have seen my cash balance in a portfolio change by as much as $1500 after processing a single share purchase from a DRIP. I'm not too sure what their issue is beyond trying to goad me into buying the premium service, but it is annoying. Nonetheless, I can track all of my accounts easily and reasonably accurately using the free Globeinvestor service. I guess my question would be: is the Globeinvestor Premium service worth the money and/or is Morningstar a better, more functional option? I, too, would like to hear other members' thoughts.....
Cheers,
Mike

Q: Hello 5i team and other fellow members,
Do you know of any website where I could enter my portfolio and follow each holding's progression including dividends. I'm currently using the old Globe portfolio service but it does not include dividends; I have to dig them up individually and record them in a separate worksheet. Globe unlimited would do this at a cost of $20/month.
I welcome your suggestions,
Tony

Q: Just a general comment on company identification: if the person asking the question could state the full name of the company instead of just the symbol, (since we obviously know which company we're asking about!) it would streamline the process, making it more clear and more efficient. Then, Peter or Ryan wouldn't have to worry about remembering to quote the full company name each and every time. It puts the onus on "us" to be more clear and precise. : )

Q: I have a question about investment returns and expectations. If I understand correctly, as a momentum investor you expect "above-average' returns, which I will define as 10 -12% annually (is that correct?), based on the current upward movement and interest in a stock. Eventually, the momentum slows down and the stock either drops or goes into a holding pattern as in the case of AVO, BAD, BDI,
AMA etc. Sometimes, when answering questions about these stocks, you say that the market has lost interest or momentum has slowed but that you still expect growth.

Now to my question. When you comment that the stock in question is now more of a "long term hold", like BAD, what should an investor's expectations be for the return on that stock? Should we still anticipate 10% - 12% or should we now expect that stock to return maybe 6% - 8% averaged over that period? If so, this would make it more like the return of a blue chip, only with more risk.

I realize that you will not want to be seen as predicting actual returns but I am trying to understand what I should expect from stocks so that I have a realistic approach to investing.

Thanks so much and stay warm on the ride!

Paul F.

Q: Hi 5i team.
I was just wondering if you were going to offer a portfolio analysis service that looks at members portfolios and suggests changes regarding rebalancing, and or diversification. I believe this would be a very good pay-per-portfolio add-on service for the members. I view 5i as an important and impartial analysis tool and would pay to have my portfolio dissected and suggestions given to help in any given stage of life. What do you think? I would be the first in line!

Q: Would you please put in the name of the company as well as the call letters. It is much easier, especially for some stocks that are not real common. It seems to go good for a couple months, then reverts back to a lot of call numbers, Thanks Ken

Q: Canadian drip program - further to your earlier reply. I would like to start a drip for my 2 kids. Can you suggest few good names with spp and drip discount. Also what is best way to get started. I read few other posts but still not able to get around . Is there a single source that can do the needful to set up the drip. Can I use my direct investing account (rbc direc). Please advise. Thanks

Q: Hi.

I was wondering your thoughts on using a DRIP strategy with Canadian stocks/ETF's?

Thanks,
Dan

Q: The Corrib is in Ireland which uses the Euro. (VET)

Q: On your research reports, how are you calculating the dividend (expressed as a percentage)? I am assume that this is some kind of yield calculation? Also, in the '5i Report Card' sidebar on the left hand side, would you consider adding dividend growth as a criteria?

Q: Is 5i developing an app for the iPad?
Bill

Q: Ryan; I assume you are minding the shop while Peter does his ride so I am addressing this to you. Peter is about $6,000. short of his goal of $75,000.00 if I read the info correctly. I am asking everyone- or just 100- subscribers to ask themselves if they have made at least $60.00 from using this site? Now if 100 of us contributed that $60.00- fully tax deductible next spring- Peter would be at his goal. That's all folks. Rod

Q: Hi Peter & Ryan,
Good luck to Peter on his ride; I have just made a donation both for the cause itself and to support Peter as a way of saying "thanks" for 5i. The weather here in the Lower Mainland is improving and it looks like the sun will be shining for at least the first leg of Peter's ride.
Best of luck and safe journey!!!
Cheers,
Mike

Q: Any thoughts on the surge in WJA's share price today?