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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 have the above securities, as well as RBC Cdn Equity Inc, Sentry Cdn Inc, Sentry Global REIT, and fixed income via Fisgard Capital, Annuities, a company pension, CPP and soon-to-be OAS.

I really focus on asset allocation and am a little light on Consumer stocks, holding CGX, PBH and TCL (although some consider TCL to be in the Industrial sector). I am normally a buy-and-hold investor who trims-adds around core positions.

Question 1 = I am looking to add 1 more consumer stock and am looking for a dividend ideally > 3%. Based on my stock-ETF-MF mix, are there a few stocks you could suggest that would fit in my above set of securities.

Q2 = if I was to consider ideas from the Income Portfolio, is there an issue with having multiple food stocks....like PBH and A&W and NWC. Why have more than one food stock?

Q# = because A&W is a ".UN" company, how are their dividends treated for tax purposes? Are they eligible for the dividend tax credit?

Deduct as many credits as you deem appropriate....got loads and will never use them all up.

Thanks as always...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on March 21, 2019
Q: Hi Peter and Team,

The Info Tech component of equities in all our accounts is 16.2%. The following stocks and ETFs are held, followed by their weightings:

CSU 7.1%
ENGH 1.4%
KXS 2.2%
OTEX 2.3%
SYZ 1.0 %
TXF 1.9%
XIT 0.3% (used to put small amounts of cash since there's no commission with iTrade)

Would it be prudent to trim CSU, and if so, to what level?
What is your opinion of the other holdings, and are their weightings appropriate?
Are the Info Tech holdings too high a percentage of the overall portfolio?

Thanks in advance for your valuable guidance. Please deduct as many credits as you deem necessary.
Read Answer Asked by Jerry on December 12, 2018
Q: I have the above securities as well as RBC Cdn Equity Inc-D shares, Sentry Cdn Income, Sentry Global REIT. I am a retired conservative dividend income investor with a company pension, CPP, annuities and Fisgard Capital for fixed income.

I currently own ECI and will sell and look for a Consumer stock to replace it (not interested in BIP...I have a full slate of Utilities). I filtered several candidates using fundamental metrics (P/E, beta, P/BV, P/CF, P/S) and technical metrics (200 dma, etc), as well as yield and price targets (for what they are worth).

I will keep my CGX and PBH. I'm looking for a long term hold (conservative, liquid stock with a good and growing dividend). My short list of candidates include CLIQ, CTC.a, PLC, TCL.A. I already flushed ADW.A, KBL, RSI and since I already have 1 food stock, I flushed L and NWC.

Please provide your insights into the appropriateness of these Consumer stocks (CLIQ, CTC.A, PLC, TCL.A) for my portfolio, given my circumstances and existing stock positions.

Are there other securities I should consider, even those that I have flushed?

Thanks for your help...Steve

Read Answer Asked by Stephen on August 02, 2018
Q: In our grand-daughters' trust accounts, they each have exposure to banks, insurance, pipeline, energy E&P, utility, and REITs. There is available cash in the accts to open a new position. Would you add to a present sector or start a new one (i.e. materials,industrial, health care, etc) If starting a new sector, which looks the most promising at present and could you recommend 2 or 3 dividend paying ETFs in the sector ( ideally over 3%). Looking at a 5-7 years time frame. Thanks so much for a great website and much valued advice. don
Read Answer Asked by Don on November 09, 2017
Q: I am a retired, conservative dividend-income investor with a company pension, CPP, annuities, Fisgard Capital and the following equities:
1. 17% Mutual funds (RBC Cdn Equity Income, Sentry Cdn Income, Sentry REIT)
2. 10% ETFs (ZLB, XIT, ZWE)
3. 41% stocks (listed above)
4. 32% fixed income (annuities, Fisgard, but not including my pension nor CPP).

I plan to reduce my Sentry Cdn Income holding from 9% to 5% and purchase ZWC. The benefits would be a) saving $1k in hidden MER fees, b) receiving an extra $1k in dividends and c) a better asset allocation. I like the covered call strategy that ZWC provides, as well as the 30 companies inside the ETF.

Question = is this the right ETF product? Are there other Canadian Covered Call ETF choices that offer this diversified asset mix that I should consider? Are their other ETFs that have slightly less financials, less utilities, and more industrials that would result in a better asset allocation for me?

Thanks for your help...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on October 05, 2017
Q: Have over 20 years until retirement. VVL has been a disappointment , seems to be holding too many stocks that underperform and has substantially low dividend yield compared to VCN/VUN.

RRSP Account
ZUH 10%
VVL 7%
ZGI 8%
COW 10%
XWD 6%
ZLU 7%
ZLB 7%
VXC 5%
ZID 2%
VUN 7%
CWW 9%
XGD 6%
XIT 8%
Cash 8%

What would be your top 5 etfs for a long term hold?
Read Answer Asked by Thomas on August 18, 2017
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