Investment Q&A

Q: Hi. Our19 year old granddaughter has received a small 5k inheritance. We would like to start her on her way to portfolio construction. Please advise your best suggestions.
Have thought of VGT or some combination of stocks at present lows. Thanks

Q: If buying US shares in my TFSA am I better to buy USD then purchase the stock? Or just buy the shares using CAD?

Dealing with about 75K CAD

Q: Hi

We want to give each of our children $50,000 each as a Christmas gift, as we believe that we would rather see them enjoy it as we are still alive..

The plan is to take it out of our TFSA and not our cash accounts as we would have to pay capital gains.

We should be able to reinvest the amount taken out of our TFSA in the next year,.

Does this make sense?

Your comments are most welcome

Thank you

Mike

Q: Good day. This is a follow up question to a couple of previous questions related to my daughter's TFSA account with a 5+ year hold period, moderate risk with growth and dividend prospects, Based on your responses she holds the companies mentioned in her portfolio. Based on her weightings she has enough cash left to invest in one more equity. She is considering adding either T, TIXT or LNF. In your opinion which if any would be the best choice and do you have an alternate selection and perhaps a comment on the portfolio? Thanks for your learned guidance.

Q: In the forums section there is a discussion on how much trading in a TFSA might cause the CRA to consider the activity as carrying on a business. I know you cannot get a straight answer from CRA but I'm curious if you guys have any knowledge of a DIY investor/trader (not a financial industry employee or someone holding a private corp in their TFSA) running into problems because they were trading excessively in their TFSA. The media has warned us what might happen or could happen but has it actually happened to anyone that you are aware of?

Q: Hi All, I am looking for a recommendation for for a TFSA at this time. Doesn't matter about sector, etc. as pretty well diversified in RRSP and 2 TFSA accounts, just looking for one or two of your gems. Your service is superb, thanks so much.

Q: I have held AQN in my TFSA since 2012. Given your recent comments on it as more of a "hold" than growth as well as my attempt to pivot my TFSA away from income to more of a more growth tilt am wondering if it is time to "graduate" AQN to my income-with-growth leaning non-reg account before year end? I also hold FTS, BEP and BIP in my non-reg accounts. I am retired investor but do not depend upon my investment income and challenged by a 43% marginal tax rate with this move.

Q: Good morning,

VGG is currently held in my TFSA and given that VGG is a proxy for VIG (US Dividend ETDF).

Q1 Is there a withholding tax on VGG in a TFSA account?

Q2. Would it be more advantageous to hold VGG in my Non Registered account?

Thank you and and I look forward to your sage advice.

Q: Hi Team, We hold CNR and BIP.UN in our TFSA accounts and would like to free up space for other holdings from our non-registered account. We hold AMZN, BAM'A, CSU, GOOG, and QCOM in a non-registered account. If we switch out CNR and BIP.UN before Dec. 31 will we be able to transfer in some of the non-registered holdings in 2022? If so, in which order would you rank the non-registered holdings to take advantage of the TFSA account?
Would it be better to replace BIP.UN with BIPC in the non-registered account?
Thanks

Q: I think Brookfield Asset Management is a great company to invest in for the long term. I'm debating whether to acquire more BAM in CDN or USD but wanting to better understand the USD option. Can you help me understand the pros and cons of holding BAM:US in a USD TFSA vs. a USD RSP vs. a USD non-registered account? Thanks very much, your answers are always really helpful.

Q: I am trying to steer my and my husband's TFSA's more toward growth. The stocks listed are some of the stocks in our TFSA's that I am considering swapping out in favour of growth-oriented stocks on my watchlist. Can I get your opinion? Do you think that any of the listed stocks have enough growth potential to belong in a growth-oriented TFSA?
Thank you, Doris

Q: Hello Peter,

It’s that time of the year where I contemplate moving a stock from my cash account to my TFSA. Which of the three above would you move into a TFSA? Or would you move cash into the TFSA?

Q: Hi Peter,

In response to Robert’s question of Nov 10 regarding your thoughts on what folks will wish they had done before interest rates start going back up, you said “…we would reduce very expensive growth stock exposure…”

My 24 year-old has a concentrated, strongly growth-oriented TFSA (at least 10+ yr investment horizon). He’s comfortable in holding higher weightings and “letting the winners run” of those companies that seem to have “staying power”, recognizing that there will be inevitable periods of under performance in their stock performance from time to time (LSPD, for example) but that over the “long-term” they should produce attractive returns. The growth stocks that have done well for him so far include:

GSY (+434% return/16% portfolio weighting)
LSPD (+432%/9%)
KXS (+161%/15%)
TOI (+42%/12%)
HUT (+103%/6%)

He also has the following growth stocks that (so far) have been less than stellar:

AT (-39% return/4% portfolio weighting)
MAGT (-29%/3%)
NVEI (-10%/4%)
WELL (-1%/7%)

Which of the above would you consider “very expensive” and reduce exposure to, regardless of current weightings? In general, aside from personal risk tolerance/comfort levels, how do you determine by how much or to what level, you would reduce “very expensive” holdings to versus simply “letting the winners run” over the long-term? Which of the above stocks that are currently in the red would you reduce exposure to given this is a TFSA (no tax loss benefit if selling for possible later buy-back) - rather than riding out (potential opportunity cost) what is hopefully just the volatility inherent in growth stocks and a period of under-performance (of indeterminate length, admittedly) - assuming no changes in the investment thesis and fundamentals of these companies and the long-term investment horizon.

Thanks, as always, for your insightful help.

Q: My daughter is starting a TFSA account with $20,000 to invest and a 5-10 year horizon. She wants a balanced portfolio with moderate risk and room for growth and dividend income. Based on some of your recommendations she is thinking buying the above combines in equal weight. What would you add or subtract from this list? Should she try for more sector diversity?

Q: "We are not tax experts, but it is generally wise for dual citizens to avoid TFSAs" This was your response to an Oct 25 question. I have been contributing to a TFSA since they started in 2009 with limits soon to exceed $80,000. There is some paperwork required as the Americans consider TFSAs a 'foreign trust' rather than a self funded, self directed investment vehicle. The paperwork time is worth the investment advantage. Some general guidance from US tax accountants would be beneficial to your subscribers with dual citizenship and those filing US tax forms. I use RLB with offices in KW/Guelph (Jeff Hood is the US tax person)

Q: I want to put money into TFSA's in the New Year. Thinking of transferring shares of BEP.UN from open account to TFSA's since they do not receive the dividend tax credit - but wondering if this is a good idea or bad for taxes?
It will trigger capital gains - but any stocks transferred from open to TFSA will do the same.

Q: I WAS THINKING OF DOING THE FOLLOWING: ONE, WITHDRAW $20,000.00 FROM THE CANADIAN TAX FREE SAVING ACCOUNT THIS YEAR. TWO, NEXT YEAR TRANSFER $20,000.00 IN SECURITIES FROM US MARGIN ACCOUNT TO US TAX FREE SAVING ACCOUNT. WOULD THERE BE ANY CAPITAL GAINS TAXES? WHAT WOULD BE THE BENEFITS? ANY OTHER HELPFUL INFORMATION WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

Q: My 28yr old son is looking to build a diversified ETF portfolio with 100% equity exposure with a bent towards growth given his long investment horizon.  These will be spread across his TFSA, RRSP and Non-Registered accounts.  Since he will be contributing smaller amounts on a regular basis a zero commission platform such as Wealthsimple is appealing.  However, they charge 1.5% fee for all currency conversions making it only practical to hold Canadian traded ETF's.  As a result he is considering the following:

ZSP 40%
XIC 25%
TEC 20%
VIU 10%
VEE 5%

ZSP + XIC + VIU + VEE together create a mix of ETFs that are globally diversified and very similar to the structure of XEQT/VEQT.  Versus XEQT/VEQT This portfolio has a slightly lower weighted-average MER at 0.16% and also has 20% in TEC (in place of something like QQQ) which is more growth oriented. Here are how the sectors would be weighted with this portfolio:

Info 31%
Financial 15%
Cons Disc 11%
Industrial 9%
Healthcare 8%
Communica 7%
Cons Staples 5%
Energy 5%
Materials 4%
Utilities 2%
Real Estate 2%

These would be the top 10 holdings with this portfolio and these top 10 would account for 24% of holdings in this portfolio:

AAPL5.1% MSFT4.9% AMZN3.2% GOOGL1.8% FB1.7% GOOG1.7% TSLA1.5% SHOP1.4% RY1.2% NVDA1.2%

If this was you at 28, can you please comment on
- are the 5 ETFs he has chosen ones you would go with given his objectives, if not, what changes/substitutes would you make along with recommended % allocations?
- is his % allocation across the 5 appropriate or would you make changes? For example I thought there might be too much overlap between ZSP and TEC as they are both highly invested in AAPL, MSFT, AMZ and FB and he is looking at 60% going into these 2 ETF's. That may well be what you want at his age but  I wonder if he is better served by reducing ZSP to 25% -30% and TEC to 15% and add  the remaining 15-20% to CDZ or VGG (or something else?)
- given he will be making contributions to his TFSA, RRSP and Non-registered, which ETF would be best in which account and why? 

Thanks for all your help, 
Scott

Q: What type of account is best suited for beginning a position in ECN?

Q: Hi 5i,
I currently use my TFSA as my primary investment vehicle. As such, I've been trying to keep it as diversified as possible which has resulted in purchase of both growth stock and dividend stocks across various sectors. Examples of the dividend stocks include: TD, FTS, and T.

I am close to maxing out my contribution for the TFSA and now find myself in a bit of a pickle as I want to move out the dividend stocks in favor of growth names.

My plan now involves:
- selling the dividend positions in the TFSA
- opening a new RRSP account and re-buy these same dividend stocks
- redeploy the 'freed-up' cash within my TFSA into growth names

1.) Are there obvious pitfalls you can see with this strategy? I can't see any issues other than being a little clunky in execution.
2.) What are your current top-5 growth names (regardless of sector)

Thanks,
Kyle