Investment Q&A

Q: Peter; In reply to Alan's comment- ant government ,any time can reverse any promise. The Income Trust debacle was the most recent debacle and now the TFSA. Almost as bad as those South American countries that continually cancel mining licenses.

Rod

Q: A number of posters list off several holdings in a given sector. If you hold several stocks in each sector, don't you end up with an unwieldy number of stocks? Are there sectors where diversification is more important than others? How does one determine how many stocks in each? Am I missing something in thinking you'd end up with insignificant amounts of a large number of stocks? i know: a lot of questions. Dock whatever seems appropriate.

Q: Hello 5i team,
I’m 74 years old; with due diligence and with the contribution of people like you, my RRIF portfolio is behaving very well. My plan is to deplete the RRIF portfolio at age 90. The revenue from this portfolio will continue at the same level if I get a 7% compound annual total return in the next 16 years.
Unfortunately, we expect a recession sometime during those years. If I were to ride the recession, the value of the portfolio would stand still for (let’s say) 5 years and if the portfolio were to grow by 7% in each of the remaining years, my revenue would drop by a whopping one third. In order to maintain the expected level of revenue, my excel projection model indicates that I should obtain a 20% growth per annum instead. That is unrealistic.
Alternatively, I could do what I did in 2008. I sold my holdings after incurring a 15% decline and re-entered the market a few months after it bottomed and started on its recovery path. If I did that and planned for a 7% growth per annum, the revenue would drop by 13% only. That is quite acceptable because there is a 10-15% safety margin in my revenue forecast…a cushion of sorts.
If, however, I knew when the recession will occur, I would exit the market ahead of time and re-enter after the bottom…”but that is another story”.
I would greatly appreciate your collective opinion.
Best regards,
Antoine

Q: Just a comment this morning... the Conservative Government, at the time of introduction, should have named TFSA's 'Tax Free Spending Accounts'. The original idea was to allow people to save money so they could then spend it on cars, washing machines, dryers etc. The government has the statistics of whom is using this account and whom is not. It has been the biggest (and best) 'savings' tool since 1956 when they introduced RRSP's. I agree with 5i that if people have made 500K-1M in their TFSA for sure they have taken a chance on companies in the TSX , investing in the country ...good on them.

Q: Regarding sector percentage allocations, please suggest an appropriate mix for someone in their 70's with protection of capital as the main goal and being aware of the changing interest rate environment. Thank you.

Q: Hi- can I have your analysis of this IPO? Do you know anything about mgmt. and experience? The concept sounds interesting but the lack of liquidity gives pause. Thanks

Q: I've spreadsheet-ed all 5i stocks plus others and populated each stock's core fundamental and technical factors. If you could only sort & rank by "Earnings per Share" Growth Rate (i.e. 2016, 2017, 2018) or Earnings Yield (TTM) which one would you choose to rank stocks by and why?

Q: On July 7, 2017 in answer to question about ENGH posted by KC, you state that "...We really do not expect the tech decline to last long." How so? What parameters you look at? Are these fundamental or technical? Thanks

RR

Q: Hi Peter & co.: I often hear the term "full position or half position " what exactly does that mean?
Secondly, how many companies should one monitor in their portfolio? Thanks

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?