Investment Q&A

Q: Good morning Peter,

When looking at reversion to the mean, the near-term chart can be different from the long-term chart. For instance, the one-month chart for QQQ at closing on Friday, July 7, shows it to be below the mean suggesting a good buying time. However, the 10-year chart shows it to be significantly above its mean suggesting a good time to take profits.

Which is the more important indicator?

Thank you.

Milan

Q: STH. V STELMINE CANADA Ltd.
A Quebec mining exploration company.
Recently completed a private placement and starting exploration.
Any thoughts or guidance for this company.
Thanks so much for everything..
Barry in Montreal.

Q: Hello Team
Can you provide your recommendations for the top 5 preferred dividend shares?
Thank you

Q: Hi 5i team,
You recently mentionned that you expect the downturn in the technology sector to be short lived, because it is one sector where investors can find growth, and that the down trend could/would/should be reversed when second quarter results start to be released. What companies (presumably in the USA) will start this release period in the technology sector and at what dates? Thank you, Eric

Q: Electric Cars. With Volvo announcing they will only produce Electric Cars in the future and China making statements they will only allow Electric Cars in the future ( a great idea with their pollution ) . What are best plays towards these moves towards electric cars. Lithium, battery manufacturers, Silver what other commodities. How do you make money in the future if all auto manufacturer move more to electric cards as demand builds ? RAK

Q: Hi Peter: I see another question on the % in each of the 10 sectors. Would it be possible for you to add this to the bottom of your 5i Coverage Summary each month with the up and down arrow if you feel a sector weight should be adjusted? I follow your sector %s and believe it helps me to sell high and buy low. The last time I saw this list energy was 5% and industrials was 20%. Thanks, John.

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: I have read in the past in which you give a suggested total % weight for the 10 sectors but I can't find the question in which you answered this question so if you could give the suggested % again I appreciated this.

Thanks

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: Surely, among the 58,000 questions which you answered there are some about your views on John Bogle's idea of "Don't look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack." How can I find them?
Alternatively, can I have your views now?
Thank you

Q: A year or more back I read an article in the Globe that said if you wanted to exchange currency USD/CAD you could purchase an interlisted stock through an exchange in one country and then sell that stock through an exchange in the other country.

Is this correct and is it that simple? If I held RY, say, purchased on TSE could I place a sell order that specified it be sold on the NYSE? Just like a regular transaction - no phone calls, no special fees?

Q: How useful have you found valuation methods like Earnings Power Value, Graham Number and Discounted Cash Flow analysis in stock selection?

Q: I see a couple of concepts repeated in your answers: 1) if you have a short term need for cash (buying a house within 1-2 years eg) you should hold cash or cash-like investments (i.e., not equities), and (2) in general, some equity investments may be ok, but only for a 3-5 year hold.

Can you walk through the mechanics of how to deal with the situation of investing when you know you'll need cash after, say, 4 years? Do you buy good diversified equities (eg BE portfolio) and hold for 4 years, committing to yourself to sell only on the day before the 4-year period is up? Or do you buy such equities, but then slowly rotate into cash (when?)? Or commit to rotating into cash at the 2-year mark or some other arbitrary date? Or do you assess the situation at the 2-year mark (e.g.) and hang on, or not, depending on whether the portfolio is high or low?

Wondering what your thoughts are on buy/sell strategy in such a scenario. Thanks.

Q: Are there any reasons to buy bond ETF now ? They almost certainly will go down in the next few months. For the fixed income part of the portfolio is it not better, at this time, to simply stay with GIC ?

Q: How do you suggest playing the upcoming increase in interest rates >

Q: Hello 5i.

I'm currently putting together my RRSP income portfolio.
My plans are to invest approx 50% stock or Stock-ETF and 50% secured.
At the moment 50% secured is in GICs.
I have 30% stock exposure now. ENB-BNS-EMA-BCE-SRU-ECI about 5% in each position.
I'm looking for ideas to diversify my last 20%.
It has taken me 6 months to put this together.

I look forward to your suggestions..

Q: Hi,
I have approx $90k balance in US dollars in my US$ account. Additionally I have a number of unhedged Mawer Funds which have a significant exposure to US$. With the rising CAD$ I find that my account size is shrinking just due to US$ currency exposure.
I was thinking of buying several inter-listed Cdn Banks on the US side and then getting them transferred to my Cdn Acct to lessen my overall US$ exposure. Do you think this would be a prudent move or have you any other suggestions.
Thank you.

Q: Currently in the ETF Model Portfolio (Money Saver) you have the following US ETF's" XLY VGT IWO VIG SPY. Can you give me a Hedged substitute that I can buy on the TSX. As an example I would use XSP for SPY. XSU for IWO. Make sense? If this is OK in your opinion what would I do with XLY VGT VIG.

Thanks for the discount on the Monthly Fund and ETF report. I spent Canada Day reading it and found it very information. I know you are thinking I must have a very boring life!!!

Regards

Q: Is writing covered calls on a US Market Index ETF (e.g. SPY, QQQ) safe?

Q: My RRSP portfolio is comprised mostly of individual stocks and I am considering moving to an ETF portfolio. I would like some US exposure and I am looking at the BMO suite of ETF options for this. Are there selections that should be avoided for withholding tax reasons? I understand that a withholding tax may apply even inside an RRSP for US holdings that pay dividends.