Investment Q&A

Q: I opened a self-directed RESP for my new born. Do you suggest starting with ETF's or specific stocks? If ETF's or stock, what do you suggest is a good starting investment and dollar amount for ETF or stock given that we have at least 18 years before needing the funds. If ETF's first at what point do we start investing in specific companies? I guess I'm also trying to get an idea of how to build my sons RESP portfolio.

Thanks.

Q: Hi,
I am new to your website and service but find it great so far. I have not seen any discussion of stop loss orders. I use them on occasion to protect profits and cut losses, but sometimes with misgivings. Sometimes they save me money from a deteriorating position that I might otherwise be ambivalent about selling. Sometimes I just get stopped out and have to buy back higher. I am always trimming and adding and hence may be viewed more of a trader than a long-term investor, but that is my style. C'est la vie! Anyway, do you use stop losses in your portfolio management or do they not fit your approach to the market?
thanks
dave

Q: To Micheal,
Tangerine is offering a special interest rate of 2.75% on new deposits between Oct 4th -,Dec 31st. To a maximum of 500K. It's not posted on their website but I got an e-mail about with in the past week and just transferred cash to take advantage. I've banked with Tangerine/ING for over 15 years w/o any issues.
Thanks,
Kerri

Q: Hello 5I.
I was interested in your reply to Adam re his question about Loblaws as a "forever" hold.
You reply stated that a "forever p/f" should have exposure to at least one hi-quality Co. in each sector.
Could you give us your thoughts on one (or two) potential "forever" Cdn companies in each sector.
Much appreciated, thanks.

Q: I am about to start converting the cash in my sons (he is 21) TFSA and RRSP. He has $1,050 in each account right now and is in his budget to add another $4,000 to $5,000 in 2018. Should I start him with companies like PBH, SIS, ZCL? or should he start with an ETF or two for immediate diversification? Whatever he buys will be long-term holds (unless they are in the model portfolios in which case I will either hold/sell/buy as directed by 5i when you adjust the portfolios) but I would like to see his accounts growing steadily as well and help him get excited about investing. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Thank you as always for the great service and information.

Paul

Q: David Driscoll was on BNN Market Call early last week, and while killing surplus time at the end of the show he underscored the importance of eliminating correlation risk in a portfolio (also mentioned in his point #6 here: http://www.bnn.ca/david-driscoll-s-top-picks-august-21-2017-1.835439 ). If I understood him correctly, this would mean not holding significant positions in multiple stocks within similar industries or with overlapping product/service offerings, presumably so that if one industry got hit, it wouldn't pummel two or more stocks at once and do damage to the portfolio as a whole.

Is this the thinking behind you not holding CSU and OTEX simultaneously in any of your model portfolios? Are there any [other] noteworthy correlations of this sort between any of the other stocks you cover and routinely recommend?

Q: I currently have a little over $250,000 in cash which I want to park in a "no risk" account.
One of the big banks has a deposit rate of 1.15 for $250K and 1.05 for less than $250K. My first question: Is this my best option or can you recommend something else? My second question: should I be concern with the CDIC Deposit Insurance limit of $100K and spread the deposit over 3 banks?

Q: In considering Vanguard and BMO ETFs for possible investment, my question is about the choices between CDN-hedged and, I guess, "non-hedged" variants of US and foreign ETFs. My impression is that the latter typically offer better returns. But does the risk of random currency exchange fluctation trump that advantage? Many thanks.

Q: Further to the cash balance question of Oct.10, iTrade has a superior product to the cash optimizer 0.25%. It is the Scotia Investment Savings Acct. run by Dynamic, so technically a MF, symbol DYN1300, min $1000 paying 0.95% (same as TD's ISA).
Tangerine often has special temporary deals for large cash amounts to 500K (current one is 2.5% till end Dec.). I don't deal with RBC but you could probably find something competitive with the above rates if you poked a bit.

Q: The question of what to do when one is worried about the possibility of a sharp market correction often arises. In the past you have proposed increasing the portfolio allocation to cash. As a complement to that strategy, what about tilting the portfolio more toward low beta (less than 0.5, say) stocks? I’m thinking of stocks like L, ECI, CSH.UN, KBL, SJ, SLF. How much protection - qualitatively speaking -do you think that would provide against the possibility of a sharp correction of, say, 10-15%?

Q: Hi, Are there any companies out there that provide advisory services on stocks to short? It can be US based or Canada based advisor but i am interested in shorting US stocks. Can be a newsletter provider as well. I am mostly interested in shorting for hedging purposes either shorting stocks or shorting with options. Thanks

Q: Is there no summary for September 2017 - thank you- Hanna

Q: Hello Team,

I have a regular CDN TFSA, with $43,000 invested, and i have a portion of cash allotted to a USD TFSA with $15000 invested. Between the two i need to generate safely with minimal risk $300 dollars per month? Can you suggest some income producing strategies that could help me obtain my goal? please include some equities.

Are the US and the CDN TFSA'S treated the same for tax purposes, when withdrawing investment income? charge me as a two part question!

Thanks,
Stephen

Q: This is further to the question asked by Maurice on Oct. 10
My brokerage (BMO) converts dividends from US $ to Can. $ for Canadian stocks that pay in US $. I have asked that the dividends not be converted thinking that the brokerage must be making money on the automatic conversion. Can I demand that they not convert the currency? If there any benefit in having them convert it?

Q: Hi
Can you explain to me why this BMO preferred has a 7% yeild? The rest seem to have normal yeilds.
Is there a reference list of preferreds on the TSX? I cannot seem to find any such list on their web site.

Thanks
Don

Q: I am new to this website but really enjoy the Q&A. A lot of people seem to target 5% as a full position, or 20 stocks. Your portfolios target 20-25. Over the years, my target has been 12 -15 stocks, or 7-8% being a full position. No particular reason, other than willing to take a bit more risk and easier to manage a smaller portfolio. In any event, how big would you let a winning position grow before you started trimming back to your original full position? SHOP being the current example of a stock that really took off but is now falling back.
Thanks for your great insight.

Q: Hello 5i crew..Do you have any recommendations on a dividend paying emerging market fund... thanks again...Gary

Q: Will you be making any recommendations on probable 'tax loss selling' opportunities?
Using an example of a recent member question about Peyto Exploration. (I don't own it). The price keeps drifting lower yet it appears to be good value at today's price. is it likely to go lower still due to tax loss selling making it a better opportunity in the coming weeks? Are there a number of other stocks acting this way today that you might 'predict' being a better opportunity soon?
Thanks!

Q: This may have been asked before but is there a link which provides the specific date or month a security was added to each of the model portfolios? Can this be added to the monthly report? Thanks

Q: How do you recommend investors handle cash balances while they are waiting for a compelling investment opportunity? Presently, I use a combination of bank "high interest" e-savings accounts (.75% at RBC; 1% at Tangerine) and the "Cash optimizer" within Scotia i-trade accounts (.25%). How can I do better?