Investment Q&A

Q: Could you provide the top (and rank) 3 or 4 stocks from each of the Income, Balanced and Growth portfolios to buy today.
Thank you

Q: I was planning on adding some or all of these to an RRSP and /or an RESP.
Any issues or better ideas. I am thinking ETF's and one or two blue chip.Thanks,Paul

Q: Can you please provide your analysis of whether AI software developments will negatively impact the businesses of OTEX and ENGH? Both companies seem solid, reasonably well-managed, and pay nice dividends to compensate for their low growth. Should I be concerned that their revenues will decline over time such that my retirement income will be in jeopardy? Should I move on to a more stable dividend payer, for example FTS, that is less likely to be hurt by AI?

Q: My daughter is starting her TFSA. I have suggested a couch potato strategy to start - can you recommend a good all in one ETF that rebalances and any suggestions for 1-2 buy and hold Canadian stocks if she wants to try that out too.

Q: Hi Peter & Team,

My observations are that, at the present, owning BNS is much better than being a client of BNS.

I've noticed, for example, that the customer service at Scotia iTrade, which incidentally has among the highest commission rates in the online broker category, has recently deteriorated to the point where they don't acknowledge that 'they'll get back to (me) within several days' or a similar phrase and response used by most other organizations. Indeed, with some issues I raised with them via a secure message and/or the 'service @' email, they don't respond at all.

They recently let go 3000 employees.

https://financialpost.com/fp-finance/banking/scotiabank-laid-off-3000-people-2025

In my view, going forward, their client base will drop over time unless their customer service improves, making BNS less of a viable investment.

Q: I'm thinking to rotate some profits in BNS, MFC, POW & TD into GSY for a long term value/income and BANK or HMAX to add some extra income.

What do you think of the move and how would you rank BNS, MFC, POW & TD, are all worth keeping a position in?

Of BANK/ HMAX which would you prefer or is there a better name for a banking & insurance extra yield ETF.

Q: BNS, like all the Canadian banks has had a good run. would it be a mistake to cash out and look to some small caps?? Thanks Jim

Q: As a retired investor I am looking for dividend income. Please rank the buying order you would have for the above stocks with the emphasis on rising dividends, dividend stability, and safety of dividend. My holding period is 10 years plus

Q: I am a buy-and-hold total return value investor. I have a concentrated portfolio of eleven stocks. I don't worry about asset diversification. I hold FFH and BN in the financial space right now, but I'm considering selling BN and replacing it with a Canadian bank (not an ETF). What do you think of that plan? Which Canadian bank would you think would best fit my strategy? Could you please list three banks, in order of preference?

Thanks.

Q: We are looking to inject more growth into our TFSAs - can accept reasonable degree of risk. Looking for concentrated list 10 stocks for 3-5 year hold.

Q: My financial holdings are TD, BNS, BMO, MFC and SLF. With the recent surge in the banks I am looking to rebalance back to a 50/50 split between banks and insurance companies. If you were to add a third insurance company, which would it be? Or should I add a non-bank/insurance company like BAM or X which is still classified as financial? I am only interested in large cap, dividend-paying stocks.

Q: How would you define a "core holding" in a portfolio? The above listed companies I consider to be core holdings. Does this list broadly match your definition of what type of companies should make up core holdings in a portfolio? Are there names in that list that you would NOT consider to be "core holdings"?
Thank you for your work and please deduct as many credits as you see fit.

Q: Similarly to the question asked by David regarding your Income portfolio, for B-E portfolio, what would be your top 10 stocks in the order you would buy. Based on anticipated total return (dividends + stock price increase) for the next five years expectations. I would also appreciate if you could add to these stocks your return expectations and risk ratios on the scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being highest. Thanks.

Q: Thoughts on the results just released?

Thx

Q: I have owned all the Canadian banks at one time or another, and currently own shares in Royal Bank.
All of the banks seem to have done quite well just recently, but the dividend on the Royal Bank is not as high as the TD for example.
Is it time to change? Which do you think looks best going forward for a total ROI?

Q: Good afternoon Troops. 65y/o retiree looking to reduce my holdings and consolidate into an easier to manage portfolio. I have chosen six ETFs to give me some international and US exposure, some using covered calls for income. For the Canadian side of my portfolio I have chosen these ten stocks that would be my core holdings going forward. Can you please comment on this strategy and if these stocks are suitable for my situation. Cheers.

Q: I was underwater with BNS for over a year and I just stopped looking at it. Reinvested the dividends and collected more shares and waited it out. Today my shares are back in the black, up 30%. Nice to see BNS getting some recommendations in the questions too, over the last month or so.

Now I am just waiting on BCE...

Q: Good morning,

I'm trying to help my daughter (who is in her late 20s) with her portfolio which is a bit difficult because she is morally opposed to several lines of business (crypto, oil/gas, AI, defence to name a few) however I did notice she doesn't have any major CA bank equities at the moment. Some of my co-workers use a different research company who I think recently advised their clients to sell TD. I didn't see any recent questions on here about the CA banks lately so could you please tell me what your preferred bank is at this time (regardless whether I listed it or not.) It will be for a long term hold in her FHSA.

Cheerio,
Zara in BC

Q: Hi. I have tried a couple times to submit this question now...

My kids have a family RESP. Oldest child will be starting post-secondary in 9 years.

Currently have GLXY, BN, SIS and T.
What will be good holdings to add to this? If sector diversification is not taken into consideration, what will be good to add?

Thank you.

Q: Good Day, in an earlier question you indicated that the above 5 companies could be acquired for dividend income. What entry price would you recommend?
Thank you.