Investment Q&A

Q: Just curious what you think of the last three days of market activity.

Q: Dear 5i;
My financial planner charges me hst on his management fee which i`m sure is typical.
The MER would be the ME (management expense/fee) plus hst plus accounting fee`s plus whatever right ?Thanks.
Bill C.

Q: hello,

I have a relatively large portfolio with Funds, REITS, FNB, with high distribution (dividend, capital gains, return of capital) and will ad to some.
What's your position for these three funds, and perhaps for HPF too.
Thanks.
Francois

Q: Which stocks make sense today for long term holdings, ARE SIS,SHOP,PBH,KXS,TC,GUD,CCL.B,CSU, GOOD BUY EVEN AT TODAY'S PRICE.

Q: Do you have any recommendations for a US money market ETF to park cash?

Q: There was a article in the Financial Post regarding Canada's REITs. Basically saying to stay away from them and that they are over valued. Do you believe this is true?

Q: I was looking @ holding growth w/o dividend stocks in USD in my TFSA. Are there any disadvantages if you remain under foreign threshold for US taxes?

Q: What is my true yield, if I do not cash / take my dividends that I receive whilst holding a stock, (a) the dividend divided by the cost / share or (b) the dividend divided by the adjusted cost / share (where my cost / share is reduced by the accumulated dividends received)?

Q: I'm looking for companies to invest in that deal in water. do you have a suggestion, and if so, why that particular company.

Q: Copper has pulled back from its recent highs in the 2.70's, and zinc from the 1.30's (USD/lb). Could you comment on any possible headwinds for these base metals? Would this be a good time to add a new position in our favorite copper and zinc stocks since there has been a corresponding drop in their prices?

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...