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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 a retired non-resident and living on dividend income. My portfolio is a collection on higher yielding dividend stocks such as TD, BCE, FTS, AX.UN, ENB etc. (80% of portfolio focused on income)
I also have some lower yielding but higher growth stocks such as SIS, GSY, CCL.B, PBH, WSP. (20% of portfolio focused on growth)
To offset the lower yield of my growth stocks, I am looking into covered call ETFs such as ZWU (yield=6.6%) to bump up my income. I am not concerned with capital appreciation with the covered calls, only safety of dividend. Is a covered call such as ZWU for utilities as safe as it appears for dividend income? Are there any additional risks to be aware of holding a covered call such as ZWU vs the individual holdings within its portfolio?
Are covered calls the safest strategy to generate a 6-7% yield in a portfolio? Any other recommendations for higher yield (such as CEFs, BDCs)?
I am considering investing 10-15% of the income generating portion of my portfolio into higher yielding investments.
What 3 funds/stocks would you recommend I invest in to bump up the yield and thus offset the lower yield of my growth stocks?
Read Answer Asked by Curtis on October 02, 2017
Q: I have acquired shares in several new companies over time, as a result of spin-offs. Sometimes these are terrific, such as BIP.UN. I'd like to either add to some of these 'stub' positions or sell them to keep my number of stocks manageable. Can you please divide these four companies between (in your opinion) 'worth keeping and adding to', or 'sell to redeploy the proceeds elsewhere'. The four are Trisura (TSU), Brookfield Business Partners (BBU.UN), Express Scripts (ESRX) and Brighthouse (BHF), recently spun off from MetLife. Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by James on September 29, 2017
Q: Like many others, I really appreciate this site and the help you give us.

I have a half position in both Fiserv and Vantiv in my TFSA, mainly because I couldn't choose between them. I know you like Square and am considering adding it as well but it seems like it is in the same business as the other two. Is this correct?
Assuming it is, does one of the three stand out as being better or worse in terms of potential return or risk? Is there any point in owning all three?
Read Answer Asked by Todd on September 29, 2017
Q: From 1-5, how would you rank the FAANG stocks on growth prospects over the next 5 years? How would you rank them on risk profile over the same 5 year period?
Great website.
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Dave on September 27, 2017
Q: Re the question on why Facebook shares dropped, here is the probable answer

Facebook (FB) shares dove Monday as Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg revealed plans late Friday to nix the creation of a new class of shares and to also sell a big chunk of stock

As part of that plan, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday said that Zuckerberg anticipates selling 35 million to 75 million shares of Facebook stock over approximately 18 months "in order to fund the philanthropic initiatives of Mr. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, in education, science and advocacy."
Read Answer Asked by John on September 27, 2017
Q: I was surprised at the extent to which Facebook dropped yesterday on no company-specific news. I don't recall a worse day in a long time. I know the Nasdaq took a hit but Facebook was harder hit than anyone other than the stocks which had prices in the stratosphere. It is generally not that volatile a stock. Certainly it's less volatile than Amazon or even Alphabet, and has a lower PEG ratio than either. Yet they fared far better yesterday. Alphabet was down .81% while Facebook dropped 4.5%. Is there something else at work I'm not seeing? Perhaps a huge block of trades from someone exiting the position? I do want to have tech exposure but not if a stock is going to be one everyone will hit the sell trigger on for the slightest reason.
Read Answer Asked by John on September 26, 2017
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