Investment Q&A

Q: Hi Re Rod,s comment has there been a change to the TFSA?
Stan

Q: In a response to a comment of TFSA's you mentioned that the TFSA should be used for growth and not safety. Of course I have a GIC ladder to the tune of $50,000 over 5 years in both our TFSA accounts. Should I take them out of the TFSA accounts? If I do what would be the suggested replacements? Or should I just continue with growth stocks in the upcoming years leaving everything as is? We are in our 70's with 50/50 equity/fixed.
Stanley C.

Q: Just a comment this morning... the Conservative Government, at the time of introduction, should have named TFSA's 'Tax Free Spending Accounts'. The original idea was to allow people to save money so they could then spend it on cars, washing machines, dryers etc. The government has the statistics of whom is using this account and whom is not. It has been the biggest (and best) 'savings' tool since 1956 when they introduced RRSP's. I agree with 5i that if people have made 500K-1M in their TFSA for sure they have taken a chance on companies in the TSX , investing in the country ...good on them.

Q: I read with interest Stan (1)'s comments on TFSA's. Of particular interest was the comment "It appears the gov't wants its cut now."
Could you please reference clearly how specifically the TFSA has now changed, how it could impact us moving forward.
Please include the date of these changes.

Much Appreciated

S.

Q: An observation/rant regarding TFSA accounts.

It appears per the media that the good ol' gov't lied to us CDN.'s about what we could do within a TFSA account or at least set people up so they could get their taxes from people's TFSA (TAX FREE Savings Account) in the future (starting now).

As I understand, the gov't said stock(s) could be bought & owned within a TFSA. But the gov't never said there was a minimum time period that any specific stock had to be held and owned for. So the smart ones who know how to trade during shorter time frames, or put lots of the their TFSA into say, SHOP-tsx, CSU-tsx, KXS-tsx... have grown their TFSA to as much as $1 million dollars and a few have even grown theirs beyond that per the media.

It appears the gov't wants its cut now.

As a long time (decades) investor and trader I take objection to the media and financial world's BS around the issue that "Investing" is holding for a longer time and "Trading" is "Gambling" when done in shorter time frames.

I have always seen Trading and Investing as the same thing. That being, speculating that the stock's price will be higher in the future, (setting aside Shorting) be it, 5 minutes, 5 years or 5 decades. It is an unknown and some may say either is pure speculation or gambling. Both are trading over different time frame periods. That is the only difference. Period.

Technicals and Fundamentals are both used to project (speculate) about the future.

To use a real but just singular & extreme example, of the original big companies from the original DOW only GE remains. So if anyone bought the original DOW (or if there had been a DOW ETF) and "Invested" by holding they would now be on welfare as they would be broke. So Investing is not any better than Trading (knowledge is required to succeed in either).

5iResearch also trades regularly, as do investors like Warren Buffet.

So I wish our gov't, the media and financial industry would stop playing games with us so regular people can make some $$$ so as to support themselves, spend $$ on goods, start businesses to give people employment, ...

Lastly, if those with a TFSA of say $100k, $500k or $1 million have not removed any $$$ from the TFSA are they not SAVING it in a TFSA (Tax Free SAVINGS Account)?

Have a great day!

Q: Re Jim's question 26th June about his daughter's RSP & TFSA.
Don't think she can get the dividend tax credit if shares are held in these accounts. Did I miss something?

Q: First of all,many thanks for your valued services.My granddaughter is starting her first investing at 23 years old and possessing $6000.We assume she should open a TFSA and would like your advice as to what to put into it. Thank you, Anne.

Q: 5i

I am 75 years old and have $30,000 DOLLARS of cash in both my TFSA and my wife's TFSA. Regardless of sector weighting how would you invest the funds. Great service you provide for both the educated and less educated investors.

W

Q: Hi

I have 25000 investable cash for my tfsa acct, can you recommend 3 stocks I can pick for a long term(5years)hold.

Thanks.

Q: I just saw my daughter's TFSA and she is down 31%, with the above stocks well in the negative. The only positive stocks were the 3 we recommended to her from 5-I; CGX, PHO and SIS! Would you recommend selling these stocks and moving on? If so, any suggestions would be welcome. She has a cash balance in the account of 9,000.00 and she is down around 11,500.00 at the moment. Thanks for any help you can provide. We have been very pleased with our progress since we joined 5-I! Lesley

Q: Just wanted to say that successor holder for TFSA can only be spouse otherwise has to be beneficiary. Beneficiary will get the money whereas successor holder can merge the TFSA market value into their own TFSA.

Thanks for all your work.

----

Q: If I may add my two cents worth to the question from Valdis re RRSP or RFSA, another advantage for the TFSA is estate concerns. When a person passes on, should there be say, $100,000 in an RRSP or RRIF, that RRSP or RRIF will be added to the final net income and therefore, attract a huge bill from the tax man. On the other hand, the TFSA will be passed on to the heirs tax free. In this situation, an individual is better off to convert as much as possible from his/her RRSP/RRIF to the TFSA, depending on the current income tax situation (take every opportunity to do so). The TSFA is, of course, paid with tax paid dollars whereas the RRSP pre-tax dollars.

5i Research Answer:
Good point; thank you. It is best to name a successor holder to facilitate the tax free transfer. Otherwise, income generated post death may be taxable.

Q: If I may add my two cents worth to the question from Valdis re RRSP or RFSA, another advantage for the TFSA is estate concerns. When a person passes on, should there be say, $100,000 in an RRSP or RRIF, that RRSP or RRIF will be added to the final net income and therefore, attract a huge bill from the tax man. On the other hand, the TFSA will be passed on to the heirs tax free. In this situation, an individual is better off to convert as much as possible from his/her RRSP/RRIF to the TFSA, depending on the current income tax situation (take every opportunity to do so). The TSFA is, of course, paid with tax paid dollars whereas the RRSP pre-tax dollars.

Q: Advisable to put RDSP and TFSA in low-cost ETFs ?

Q: I was looking @ holding growth w/o dividend stocks in USD in my TFSA. Are there any disadvantages if you remain under foreign threshold for US taxes?

Q: I am designing my portfolio more and more towards steady and reliable blue chip names. I would like to have your opinonion on what blue chip stocks ands or etf's would be good to hold in a TFSA. I have quite a good profit in New Flyer and Savaria in my TFSA, and although tempted to keep them thought i might trim them and begin filling the tfsa with the afore mentionned type of stocks.
thanks

Q: If a Canadian who has lived in the U.S. for the last 10 years moves back to Canada, and wants to start a TFSA, what would his contribution limit be.

Q: Let's say I contributed $51K into my TFSA, and my portfolio grew to $100K. If I decided to liquidate my portfolio and withdraw all of the cash from my TFSA in December, how much can I contribute back to my TFSA in January? Would it be the new year's contribution limit plus the $100K that I took out?

Q: Hi,
I'm young and have good income, good risk tolerance and no need to withdrawal any of my investment dollars anytime soon. I'm looking for long term growth mostly. Currently I hold the listed stocks, do you see any names that jump out as really bad/ should sell? Is anything really lacking and maybe should be added? Right now everything is held in a tfsa.

Thanks!
Dave

Q: My son is diligently saving to purchase a house and currently is taking advantage of the benefits of a TFSA. I have mentioned that he should also consider opening an RRSP to take advantage of their home buyers plan. He can contribute an extra $15k and get an additional 35% tax refund. He has about a 4-5 year time horizon before he needs the money. Is this sound advice? Can you recommend what stocks he should consider?
Thank you

Q: Looking for growth in my TFSA among REIT'S. How would you rate this foursome.