Investment Q&A

Q: Can you please describe how you approach "swaps" in a portfolio? By that I mean swapping out one company for a very similar company in the same industry. You did this somewhat recently in removing Sun Life from the BE portfolio for Intact. (In that case I recall it was due to a better growth profile.)

My general sense is you have liked CNQ better than SU for a while now, for example. And TD better than BNS. Feel free to correct if this is not how you see it.

Appreciate there is a benefit to a certain amount of stability in the portfolio, so you won't bouncing stocks out every time the wind changes. But I'd interested in your thoughts on how you think of this aspect of portfolio construction. For example, in what circumstances might precipitate a swap in these or other cases? When would you hold still even if you like an alternative stock slightly better?

Thanks very much.

Q: It is time to make my 2025 RRSP contribution. I follow the 5i Balanced Equity Portfolio (mostly) for this account. I would like to add to 4-5 positions, which should I add to at this time?

Note that I am currently overweight BNS, BAM/BN, OTEX, PBH, SIS and do not wish to initiate a position in SU.

Thank you.

Q: Hi there, a couple weeks ago I asked if you were to build a US portfolio to replicate the BEPORT using CDRs, which stocks would you use. Thank you for the great guidance. Recently there has been 10 new CDRs added. Would you make any changed to your original list from a couple weeks ago based on the new CDRs below?


Airbnb CDR (CAD Hedged) – ABNB
Applied Materials CDR (CAD Hedged) – AMAT
Arista Networks CDR (CAD Hedged) – ANET
Blackstone CDR (CAD Hedged) – BX
Chipotle CDR (CAD Hedged) – CMGS
Merck CDR (CAD Hedged) – MRK
Occidental Petroleum CDR (CAD Hedged) – OXY
Oracle CDR (CAD Hedged) – ORAC
Palantir CDR (CAD Hedged) – PLTR
Wells Fargo CDR (CAD Hedged) – WFCS

For reference, this was your previous answers:

"We are not going to allocate via sector nor weightings here, but some of our favourite CDRs would be: BRK.B, ISRG, BKNG, JPM, RTX, GOOG, AMZN, MSFT, NVDA, LLY, CVX, COST, CRWD, UNH, PG, UBER, XOM, V"

Thanks!

Q: What would you buy in the BE portfolio with new money today, leaving aside weight considerations--what looks good? Thanks!

Q: I always hear that we should not hold more than 5% or max 12% on any given stocks. So why would PAY hold one company that is the majority of their income. If that is the case would 5i management would be comfortable buying any of their stocks.
My question does any of the Growth, Balanced or Income portfolio stocks holds where above 50% of their income comes from one source. If yes please share the company name since I usually buy from that portfolio. I don’t want to see another company collapse if they lose that contract or they don’t renew.

Thanks for the great service

Q: Hi,

Do you think that the Growth Portfolio is poised to outperform the balanced portfolio moving forward? You've mentioned in other threads that small caps have underperformed in the past 5 years; is that compared to large caps, or is that compared to an index?

Also, when comparing both portfolios to American ETFs such as VFV, they both seem to underperform. Which portfolio would you recommend for a long-term 40-year hold in a TFSA to maximize returns? Or would you recommend a different investment into an American fund to maximize returns over that same time horizon?

I like the strategy of investing in small-cap stocks for higher growth but also don't want to disregard the balanced portfolio if you believe that small-caps will continue to underperform moving forward.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts

Q: Weightings and portfolio considerations aside, what BE stocks would you be most inclined to add to today? Thanks!

Q: I follow the Balanced Equity portfolio and have enough new money to add to three of my underweight positions. Of the following, which would be good to add to now?

CAE, CCL, KXS, MG, RCH

Thank you.

Q: It is time to make my 2024 RRSP contribution. For this account, I follow the Balanced Equity portfolio. I would like to add to two or three positions and am currently underweight in BAM, CAE, OTEX, CCL, KXS, and MG. I do not own any RCH. Which of these would be good positions to add to/initiate now? Thank you.

Q: Since noting the increase in the holding of IFC in the 5i BEPORT I have compared it to my holding in DFY to see if I should switch, but what I see is that IFC trades for a much higher PE and that performance since Nov 2021 has been only 27% vs 73% for DFY.

I understand that IFC is the industry leader, much bigger market cap, higher dividend etc but what is the real attraction here or is it that DFY is too small for the BEPORT?

Q: Hi!

I am wondering if Peter can take some time to put together some words or a video about the Balanced Equity Portfolio and path forward here. We used to get regular commentary on the Portfolio via appearances on shows like Market Call but now we don't get that anymore due to the BNN change in their rules.

Can Peter walk through where he thinks things are headed, potential to find the next great multibagger stocks for the portfolio, view of the current holdings, etc.?

There's a number of solid long term companies in there. Do we ever see a point where they run their course and we sell them BEFORE they have problems and destroy a bunch of our value (thank god we trimmed some ATZ at $60 a little while ago!).

Thanks!

Q: When looking at the results since inception for both Growth and Balanced Portfolios I find that ultimately the BPORT generates a lot more return than the Growth .
BPORT generated 263% since inception against the S&P 229% during the same period. The GROWTH is not even close to that of the S&P and the growth part of my portfolio suffer from that . Do you have a comprehensive explanation?

I love the service but I can't wait to hear from you on this topic.

Yves

Q: good morning, I have a portfolio that follows the Balanced Equity Portfolio for the Canadian holdings. I have new money to invest and wonder if you could list the first four that you would add to with new money. (It's not enough to spread across 20 stocks)
Thanks, Rod

Q: Hi,

Based on the start up of each portfolio, what would be the dollar value of each portfolio today, roughly?

Q: Could you suggest a diversified mini portfolio of Cdn stocks from your BE portfolio? The portfolio is too small to accommodate the full BE set of stocks. Thank you and happy new year.

Q: Hi,
OECD will implement new international minimum taxes in 2023 and 2024.
Any idea which canadian or US companies will be most impacted, I guess negatively. Any positively? Thanks

Q: I follow your Model Portfolio and want to add CDR Stocks - (AAPL, NVDA, GOOG, AMZN, META, DIS, and V) since I want to keep 25 stocks. Which one would you suggest selling from Balance Equity Portfolio and replacing it with 7 CDR stocks?

Thanks for the great service

Q: Hi there,

I'd like to start a concentrated version of your balanced equity portfolio that is focused on growth. What are your top 6 ideas from the portfolio are you most bullish on, sector agnostic? The purpose would be concentrated growth.

Thanks!

Q: Hi there, I am a big fan of your Balanced Equity Portfolio. I like the more growth oriented names in it and was wondering if you were to swap out the less growth names for names that have a little more risk but for higher return, which would you swap and for what names? Thanks!

Q: It's time for my annual RRSP contribution; I follow the Balanced Equity Portfolio for my RRSP.

I am currently underweight in AEM, AC, BYD, CAE, CCL, KXS, MG, SHOP, SLF, TOI.

As of today, which three or four of these should I add to?

Thank you!