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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: I am retired, living on dividend income and looking for more yield to supplement my income. Thanks to 5i, I recently became familiarized with covered calls and chose ZWU yielding 6.5%.
Now I am interested in Debentures. I recently read in 5i Q&A a question on CSU.db debentures that guarantees 6.5% plus inflation rate to yield 7.5-8%, and your response was that it's a quality security.
Regarding Debentures, are they simply traded like a regular stock with scheduled dividends paid that can be bought and sold as I see fit without penalty?
Debentures seem like a low risk way to get a higher yield as the price hardly seems to fluctuate. Is this an accurate assumption?
Would you recommend for an income investor to invest 5-10% of portfolio into 1-2 debentures for higher yield? If so, can you recommend 1-2 that look most attractive for a 1-2 year hold?
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on October 13, 2017
Q: I recently read a recommendation to sell rate reset preferreds because "the 5 year GOC has moved too far too fast from 0.40% one year ago to 1.80%+ now." They further worried that upside is limited from here, and downside is huge if there are no buyers.

I thought that we seemed to be in a period of rising rates and that a laddered portfolio of rate reset preferreds was a healthy option for part of one's portfolio, given a desire for some income. I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thanks in advance.
Read Answer Asked by Bill on October 02, 2017
Q: I am 85-years old, locking for a safe income investment. Like to have your advise on ENC.Pr.c Min Rate reset, FFH.PR.k 5-year rate reset, BMO.Pr.s 5-yr R.Rest Preferreds. How safe are they in a rising Int. rate rise? I would also appreciate you expert advise of your chaises. Many thanks, J.A.P. Burlington
Read Answer Asked by Joseph on September 29, 2017
Q: I am becoming more interested in debentures as part of the fixed income portion of a portfolio.

1) Doing the math on CSU.db it would not pay to buy them if they are called in 2020. What things do you look at to forecast whether or not a company would ever call them. Is calling them a rare or regular occurrence? I realize each company has different needs.
2) Are debentures normally fully explained on the company's web sites re terms and conditions?
3) Are there any other websites, publications etc you would recommend so I can learn more.

Thanks

Paul
Read Answer Asked by paul on September 25, 2017
Q: I am 70 years old, been retired for 14 years, and can't risk losing capital. Thus my portfolio is currently 100% in fixed income.... 65% in laddered 1-5 year GIC's, 10% in bond ETF's (CBO, CLF, XBB), 5% in preferred shares, and 20% in cash. In the preferred share category, I currently hold CPD, HPR, and ZPR equally. Given a steadily increasing interest rate environment, would you recommend selling CPD and adding to HPR and ZPR, due to their leanings towards rate re-sets? Is a 5% total weighting for preferreds appropriate for this fixed income portfolio? What do you recommend for the remaining cash, given my mandate for "safe" investments? Should I stick with additional GIC's or expand the bond allocation? Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Paul W on September 18, 2017
Q: hello 5i:
could you detail the differences between HFP and HPR, please, and what type of interest rate environment would be optimum for each? Would holding BOTH be a strategy and is it necessary?
And, could you include backtest results as to what could be expected in the case of an extreme drawdown?
thanks
Paul L
Read Answer Asked by Paul on September 14, 2017
Q: Brookfield has a new offering - 4.75% rate reset preference shares, Series 48. Would this make a good addition to an RRSP?
Read Answer Asked by Brad on September 14, 2017
Q: I hold the above preferred TA.PR.H CUSIP 89346D727
Holders have been given the following conversion privilege option:
Conversion-to convert on a one to one basis any or all of their cumulative redeemable rate reset series E ist pref shares of TA corp INTO Cumulative Redeemable Floating Rate Series F ist pref shares of TA (89346D719)
Is it better to convert or not and an explanation would be helpful
My sincere thanks
Read Answer Asked by Indra on September 12, 2017
Q: Hi 5i,for some reason I didn't get a reply for my yesterday's question. I would like your choice of the above, perhaps suggesting better ones. Can you explain why are they trading substantially below their book value. How will future interest rate increase effect their price. Can you suggest a web site for rate rest prefers. Many thank, J.A.P. Burlington
Read Answer Asked by Joseph on September 12, 2017
Q: Hello i5, Please help me to understand why cm.pr.p @$18.26,paying 4.26%div,redeemable @$25.00 with a floating rate feature trading at, in my view, a large discount price? or is it? Please explain how the actual floating is, in terms of %div on this preferred. Also would appreciate receiving a couple more alike rate reset ones at lower than redeem Price. How would the reset preferred be effected by the prime rate change. Many thanks J.A.P. Burlington
Read Answer Asked by Joseph on September 12, 2017
Q: What is your take on the safety of the dividend with GMP.PR.B? Why is it poorly rated by the agencies? GMP Capital doesn't seem to have much debt. The dividend yield and chance of a higher reset in a rising interest rate environment seems attractive.

If you don't like it, what rate reset preferred would offer a better combination of risk/return?
Read Answer Asked by David on September 11, 2017
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