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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: Hi,

I have a small (100% in oil and gas) portfolio and am 34 years of age. My investment strategy involves riding the oil and gas recovery in the short term (until early 2017). From this point I would like to reconfigure into a diversified portfolio. My question is, when does a middle/not aggressive/not cautious/average person implement your different types of portfolios? I gather that duration until you require the investment is of most importance with risk tolerance playing an equal part of the equation. But what if neither risk adversity or time are an issue? Should I be 100% positioned towards the growth portfolio?

What are some general rules of thumbs and what are some 'ballpark' milestones for someone who is investing for retirement? I'm after a generic answer that looks something like until:
age 40 100% growth,
until age 50 100% balanced,
then by age 60 100% income.
Read Answer Asked by Marc on July 11, 2016
Q: I currently have no exposure to energy or pipelines. I'm trimming some overweight positions and sectors and I'm considering adding a small position in HWO. While I'm interested in total returns, I favour companies that show a profit, pay a dividend and are inclined to increase the dividend - In short, while I'm not an income investor as yet, I certainly prefer a mix of income and growth. At first blush, HWO seems to fit the bill. Your thoughts? Beyond the energy sector in general, are there other risks that concern you about this company? If so, other options?
Read Answer Asked by Gordon on July 11, 2016
Q: I own the Paramount 2019 bonds. In the press release there is a paragraph about the 2019 notes. The redemption option is pretty straight forward. Could you explain the consent to keep the bonds part.
After the deal Paramount will have more cash/assets than debt, even though it's 3 years away, it seems they'll likely be able to pay back the principal, I'm leaning towards keeping the bonds. Would you agree?
Read Answer Asked by Ian on July 07, 2016
Q: In Jan 2015 I had 7.55% of my portfolio invested in Energy companies. BP (ADR), SU, CVE, Encana, and Total SA (ADR).

I watched these companies fall to all time lows earlier this year and now recently they are going back up again along with price of oil.

I plan on selling one or two positions in Energy and reallocate the funds into other sectors.

How would you rate the companies I have listed above and which would recommend selling.

Regards

Read Answer Asked by Stephane on July 07, 2016
Q: I've own WSP since 2014, though still sitting on a 10% gain, I'm frustrated by the poor results of the last year or so. If I choose to reduce this holding, I would like to pick up something in the renewable energy sector. The two candidates I have in mind are BLX and INE. Which one of these two, in your view, has the higher growth upside and the potential for sustainable increase in dividends? Or staying with WSP would be a better option than switching to either of these two?

Thanks.

Read Answer Asked by Victor on July 07, 2016
Q: I have transitioned a substantial part of my own RRSP from mutual funds to individual stocks & other investments, with the help of 5i (thanks! Done quite well), over the past 3 years.

My wife is still reluctant to do the same, so we are transitioning her RRSP from mutual funds to ETF's, with only one purchased so far. The specific ETF our advisor put us in was BMO ZDV. At the time, I specifically wanted an ETF with lower exposure to the energy sector.

Unfortunately, we bought in at the August 2014 peak, and are underwater by 20%, even after distributions. Moreover, the distributions have been steadily dropping since we bought in.

Is it time to bail out of this ETF, and if so, what would you replace it with?

Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Lotar on July 07, 2016
Q: I got wacked on my WEQ shares yesterday. A drop of 50%+ is it worth hanging on to see if they can get this watered down company headed in the right direction. Will the troubles of Fort McMurray be a real boon for this company and others like Badger and Black Diamond? Who are the winners in Fort McMurray. mike
Read Answer Asked by Mike on July 06, 2016