Investment Q&A

Q: US dividends - not a question.
The Canadian stocks above also pay US dividends.

Q: Not a question but information about dividends received from the above. I have my investments at Questrade, and hold the Canadian-listed in my LIRA and TFSA and the U.S.-listed in my Spousal RRSP. I have been receiving the Canadian dividends (as per close of day Bank of Canada exchange rate) paid into my Canadian account without any fee and U.S. dividends paid as announced into my U.S. side of the account. This occurred without me making any request of Questrade. I believe it is because Brookfield pays the dividend to the brokerage in the currency of the stocks held.
Cheers, J

Q: Thank you for for answer yesterday about setting up my parent's investments. To summarize, they are very conservative, above 80 years old, and looking for safety and income.

I would now like to ask you about the distribution of the equity component of the investments (composing only 17% of the total, the rest being in bonds, preferred, and GICs). Those below are all in equal weight. What do you thing?

BEP.UN, BCE, BNS, CM, CU, ENB, TRP
XHC for healthcare exposure
IWO for US growth
VGG for US exposure
XEF (in a half position) for international exposure
VEE (in a half position) for emerging market exposure

Could you please suggest some more to round things out? I need another 5 or 6 stocks.


Also, do you have any objection to using ZAG and HYGH as bond substitutes for their conservative portfolio? I am buying individual preferred shares for that component.

Thank you once again,

Fed

Q: I am looking to increase my Utilities sector to 10% ;currently have BEP.UN at 5% and FTS at 3%. I just reviewed both companies 2018 Annual Reports and noted FTS 's Revenue Growth ,Earnings and ROE are all lower relative to 2017 whereas BEP.UN(although a smaller company ) increased in all areas relative to 2017. With this information I am not inclined to invest further in FTS and in fact I am wondering if I should take profit from my Fortis (in RRSP) and then diversify in a third utlity. Second question -what other utility would you recommend at this time? Thank you for your time.

Q: Further to Fred's question about where to put Trust Units; my experience is never in a Family Trust (or other Trust) as the reporting deadline for BEP.UN is the same as when the the Family Trust return is due, ie. March 31. If you hold BEP.UN in a private corporation you also cannot finalize your corporate tax return until the tax information is received. This goes for all Trust Units (.UN) as well as investments similar to ZQQ.

Q: Thanks for all your help.

It is tax season, and trusts are giving me issues with their reporting being complex and late, generally. Being late, I’ve have to update my taxes that were already done by my accountant.

I am trying to figure out where best to put trusts, like BEP.UN, for tax and reporting purposes. Are they best in a Corporate account, personal, RRSP, or TFSA?

Thanks again,

Fed

Q: I own several Canadian stocks in my TFSA that pay dividends in USD. Are the dividends eligible for the Canadian dividend tax credit?

Q: I hold a half position of AQN and wish to add further renewable energy holdings. I am considering increasing AQN or initiating positions in NPI, BLX or BEP.UN
Would you please rank these four. Should I consider others?
Thank you,
Werner

Q: CAN YOU TELL ME THE NAME OF RENEWABLE ENERGY STOCKS I CAN PURCHASE

Q: 7:10 AM 4/11/2019
When I search the BIP.UN website I find:

"Specified Foreign Property
For the purpose of reporting foreign property by Canadian investors, pursuant to section 233.3 of the Canadian Income Tax Act, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. is not a specified foreign property and therefore does not need to be reported on Form T1135 - Foreign Income Verification Statement."

However when I search the BEP.UN website I find no comparable statement. But I get a statement from TDWaterhouse Wealth to the effect that BEP.UN IS a foreign property.

Does this mean that BEP.UN needs to be reported as foreign ownership or is BEP.UN just like BIP.UN and TD has made a mistake?

Thank you....... Paul K

Q: In my TFSA I own 4% of BEP.UN & am considering buying 4% of BAM.A .Would you consider that too much of one company or is there enough difference between the the two branches to cancel out the duplication? I'm looking for something conservative. Could you suggest some other conservative companies ?

Q: I would like your comments on the Brookfield group of companies. You have BEP.UN in your income account. How would you rank these. I am a retired 77 year old interested in a conservative dividend generating portfolio. Have have BEP.UN and BPY.UN in my portfolio.

Thank you.

Q: I own 1500 SHS of BIP.UN in my non-registered account and a 1000 of the other in a registered account. I noticed that my Mar. distribution for BIP.UN was $1012.00 not 1500 x .5025 = $753.75? This is what> The difference is ROC? These type of securities should probably be held in a registered account, I would think? Very complicated at tax time with the T5013. Unfortunately, you cannot exchange securities - ie. BIP.UN to registered account in exchange for securities of same value. BIP.UN has been an awesome investment.

Q: Hi, I am looking at buying minimum rate preferred share trust units in BEP and BIP and similar to the common shares a portion of the distribution is return on capital. I will hold them in an RRSP account. I am trying to better understand what ROC actually is. It almost sounds like it is just returning part of your capital invested back to you. If so, is it a ‘real return’ to the shareholder or just getting part of your money back. If so, what is the attraction? I’m confused. Thanks.

Q: Hi. looking to pick up 3 cie , for a 10 yr period in a RRSP account , would you recommend any of them or any others that are not on the list.

Thanks

Q: I would like clarification of the dividend reported for BEP.UN. TD states the yield is 6.5% with a quarterly dividend of .52 Todays price is $42.07. Annual dividend would be .52 x 4 = $2.08 $2.08/$42.07 = 4.94%. Can you explain the difference.

Thank you

Q: Hi, if I hold either of these stocks in a TFSA would they be exempt from any U.S. or foreign tax reporting? From a tax reporting perspective would it be the same as if holding them in an RRSP? Thanks.

Q: Reading through 5i answers to questions regarding Cdn. coys that pay dividends in USD made me wonder if there is a way to increase my cash holdings in my USD account without incurring FX charges and being eligible for the foreign tax credit.

I currently have AQN and HOT.UN in my TFSA that pay dividends in USD that are converted to CDN$ with the extra wrinkle of HOT deducting withholding taxes that are not eligible for the foreign tax credit because it is held in TFSA. Also hold BAM.A and BEP.UN and BIP.UN in Cdn. cash trading account that also pay dividends and interest in USD$ and are converted to CDN$ when paid.

Can I as owner 1) TRANSFER my AQN (up about 150%) and HOT.UN (down 25%) shares this year from my TFSA to my USD cash trading account to get dividends/interest in USD and 2) do the same with BAM, BEP and BIP from Cdn. cash trading account to USD cash account to capture and keep the USD payments and avoid FX conversion fees and build my USD cash reserves in USD cash account without incurring any fees and charges from my online broker? Or do brokers and CRA have rules against clients benefiting from structuring dividend/interest transactions in a manner like this?

Obviously this would open up SOME space for extra contributions to my TFSA in early 2020 above and beyond the TFS $6000 contribution limit to provide for increased flexibility for sector rebalancing and re-allocation opportunities. Also this would make the USA withholding tax payment on the HOT.UN dividends eligible for the foreign tax credit when filing my tax return to CRA?

Comments?

Q: Hi,
I have approx 10% weight in these in a long term RRSP following your porfolios(Only 1% WN as spin off)
I have about $!0,000 to add. What are your thoughts?
Add to a few laggards or add new?

Q: From your previous advice to other members, I am aware that these securities are best held in RRSP/RIF accounts for tax purposes. My question is whether the same advice applies to each company/partnership for their Canadian dollar preference shares? Are the dividends impacted by withholding taxes and are the shares eligible for the Canadian dividend tax credit.

Thanks