Investment Q&A

Q: Hi. I have cash in my rrsp that I want to invest with safety of principle in mind for 1 year. I was thinking of Cbo. Could I have your opinion and other recommendations. Thank you.

Q: Hello 5i,
I need to add some geographic diversification to my dividend stock holdings. I only have Canadian companies at present. Is there a mutual fund or ETF that you would recommend? I'm looking at the Sprott Global Dividend Fund. What do you think of it?
Dennis

Q: Hi Peter,
It's an interesting question by Brian re: Mega Bears, and your response makes total sense. I've always appreciated the view of Jim Rogers but he has been looking for total collapse as long as I recall. To your point eventually he will be right. A telling comment I read about Marc Faber is that he has correctly called 20 of the past 3 recessions. Where do you put the views of David Rosenberg in all this ?
Thank you. Paul

Q: I am planning to move some of my U.S. holdings gradually to an etf style. Below you will see a 60/40 split that i found on an american site. It looks good like a good mixture of growth and safety to me. I was wondering what your thoughts would be. I noticed that a few of the symbols don't work, so i would have to find equivalents. But, this gives an idea of the sector breakdown. Thanks again:
All Century Portfolio
20 percent total U.S stock market (VTI) Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF
5 percent U.S. REITs (VNQ) Vanguard REIT ETF
5 percent U.S. small cap value (VBR) Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF
15 percent Pacific equities (VPACX) Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund
15 percent European equities (VEURX) Vanguard European Stock Index
10 percent U.S. TIPs (AGG) iShares Barclays Aggregate Bond Fund
10 percent U.S. high yield corp bonds (VWEHX) Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Fund
20 percent U.S. total bond market (TIP) iShares TIPS Bond

Q: For weeks now ETFs have dominated on the TSX new high list. Is this because foreign markets are doing better?

How does the performance of your ETF portfolio compare to the
performance of 5i's Balance portfolio. Are we wasting our time
and do you expect this to last.

This is not the case with the NH list of the NYSE.

Q: Have you given much thought to having a preferred share portfolio. With the yields available they clearly have a place in an income portfolio. I realize you Income portfolio is designed for this but does not focus a lot on preferred.

Thanks
Paul

Q: Hello, I would appreciate your suggestion for one additional holding to add to an existing RESP with the following (roughly equally weighted) positions: BNS, SlF, BCE, OTEX, PBH, SIS, WSP, VGG. Withdrawals are 10 years out.

Thank-you

Q: I am looking to add 5 Companies to my cash {Non Registered} account with some growth and safety for a long term health.
I'm currently overweight on Telcos, Energy and Financials.

Thanks Valter

Q: Spring cleaning of my portfolio, I have many small positions that did poorly over the last few years but that I never sold (hoping for a comeback I guess...). Here is the list, can you please adivse if I should sell or hold (keeping in mind it s a small portion of my portfolio and I have excess cash to invest outside these positions) :

Bellatrix BXE
Capstone Mining CS
Argonaut AR
Black Diamond BDI
Canyon FRC
Newalta NAL
Baytex BTE
CDN Equip CFL
RMP Energy RMP
Wi Lan WIN

Also, are VET and Peyto still your top picks for the energy sector (long term hold). Thank you

Q: Over the last few years, I've become familiar with the likes of David Stockman, Marc Faber, Jim Rickards, Peter Schiff, Jim Rogers, and other well-known perma-bears. They spend a lot of time warning about sky high stock valuations, extreme asset inflation generally, the banning of cash, the importance of precious metals, impending market crashes, runs on banks, the freezing of stock exchanges, and other light fare. I try to balance their dire outlook with more sanguine perspectives, but I'm always wondering if some of the extreme scenarios they envision will ever materialize.

For instance, Marc Faber appeared on BNN a few days ago, warning that the share prices of some of the most successful companies are headed to zero in the coming years. He didn't specify which ones.

Are you familiar with any of these pundits, and should any of their warnings be taken seriously? Thanks for your thoughts. I'm due back at the bunker now...

Q: Hi 5i Team,
I recently learned that Canada has enacted a "bail-in" regulation so that systemically important financial institutions can recapitalize by converting some of their liabilities (deposits) into capital should another financial shock occur. Is this fact? How does this regulation work and How does one avoid forced conversion of savings?

Thanks for you great service.
Regards,
Danny

Q: Hi 5i;
Just a curiosity question . My current Financial planner has me invested in a couple ETF`s with MER`s of about .96% . That MER expense gets paid out of my fund but who gets that amount , my Financial Planner or the company the ETF is purchased from ?
Thanks
Bill

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: Almost every investing article we read state "investors" doing whatever... Whenever I read that, I think of us little guys poring over our computers at the kitchen table. But I know better than that. I know "investors" are dominated by the big funds, insurance companies, pension funds, etc. But I'm curious. What percentage of investors are the retail investors?

Q: Hi, I recently joined 5i. I see a lot of remarks about full and 1/2 positions. Does a full position mean 5% of your portfolio?

Q: Hi 5i
I have 4 different trading accts, Can.cash,US Cash TFSA & SDRRSP, when measuring ones diversification % do you include all accts into the mix? If heavy e.g. Finacials which acct is best to move or sell from, what is recommended TFSA or Bank stock?
Thanks Scott 60yrs and trying to catch up.

Q: HI PETER, MY QUESTION IS ABOUT PPS (PERSONALISED PORTFOLIO SERVICE) PORTFOLIOS OFFERED /PITCHED BY CIBC IMPERIAL. MY ADVISOR IS OFFERING THIS AS 1 STOP SOLUTION FOR RRSP @ 200K. HIS SELLING PROPOSITION IS TACTICAL ALLOCATION BY THE PORTFOLIO BASED ON MARKET CONDITIONS. ARE YOU AWARE OF THESE PPS. NOT SURE IF THIS IS WORTH THE FEE AROUND 2.2% FOR A BALANCED PORTFOLIO. WOULDYOU RECOMMEND OR SUGGEST ALTERNATE. THANKS AS ALWAYS.

Q: Can you explain how expected earnings for a company are determined? And how accurate those earnings usually are? As an example, I was thinking about the recent run up in SIS before the quarterly earnings and its decrease after the actual earnings were reported. Thanks!

Q: im paid up until the 8th month can I get etf and etc all in new renewl

Q: I see that 5i has an app on Google Play. Are there any plans for an app for Apple users?