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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: As I grow older I find myself more risk adverse. You receive many questions regarding going to more cash when one fears a market correction and you claim, and I agree, that market timing is very difficult to pull off. None the less I am fearful of large loses similar to those encountered 10 years ago.
Now to my question. If one is investing for income, as I understand it, if the dividend is safe then a capital loss while not good can be tolerated with the hope of recovery because of the steady income flow. I am setting up a RRIF and am concerned about equity draw downs from a recession as well as increasing interest rates. In conclusion an income investor should be able to sleep at night knowing there is a steady income stream. I am trying to generate a 5% annual dividend stream. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Richard on June 26, 2017
Q: I am puzzled about the fact that some mortgage lenders offer as low as 1.9 to 2.1% mortgage rates. Why would someone lend money as such a low rate, when you can get more (and garanteed) investing it with a CDIC backed GIC. If the amount is huge and not covered by a set of CDIC accounts, such a lender could get the same yield from a short-term bond ETF like ZCS. My theory is that those lenders hope that a small percentage of their borrowers fail to carry the mortgage, in which case, they somehow profit from re-possessing a house that has appreciated in price. If that is not something a lender can do, what am I missing? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Matt on June 26, 2017
Q: Doc as many questions as required....

I am looking at moving out of a managed portfolio for which I pay about 1.5% management fee plus the fees for the products in the fund ( averages about 0.29% for a net of about 1.79%). The managed fund has not beat its benchmark net of fees in last 5 years so I am giving my manager and the product the boot.

Main reasons are:
1. I am paying for an "actively" managed fund that really is performing like a index fund ( I can buy the fund benchmark as ETFs for %0.23 mer)
2. I dont really need it to be balanced due to my other investments. It was useful when I had less money, less time and less knowledge.
3. I have the time, temperament and knowledge to move it all to be self managed

My plan is:

1. Not have any fixed income holdings as my wife's federal government pension counts for all required fixed income/bond. It is also the anchor that allow me to be more aggressive with our other investments

2. All Canadian exposure will be via stocks loosely following your balanced equity portfolio.

3. For the US-global exposure I am considering adopting the US/global portion of the CME ETF portfolio with the following weighting: 10% VEE, 10% VE, 20% SPY, 25% VIG, 25% IWO, 10% ZWU. ( ie cut out most CAD and bond stuff and kept the same weighting as CMS portfolio for the rest)
4. Simplify the number of products I have across multiple account. In other words balance globally vs balancing within each individual account.

So my questions are:
1. At a high level what if any changes would you suggest to this approach
2. My portfolio is a mess with multiple products across TFSA, RSP, RESP, and unregistered accounts for both me and my wife. Very generally can you remind me which products should be in which account for tax efficiency.
3. Any suggestions on how best to transition...general plan is all new money goes to ETFs, move 1/3 each year out of managed fund to ETF portfolio.

Tom
Read Answer Asked by Tom on June 26, 2017
Q: Hi there, I currently only own Canadian equities and am thinking of investing in a few US companies for diversification. What would be your top 3 ideas from the US that would be good additions to your Balanced Equity portfolio? I am okay with names with a tilt towards growth but not super high risky - probably similar to names to CSU, SHOP, KXS, SIS, NFI, TOY, PBH etc.

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on June 23, 2017
Q: The fourth article ("Dividends for the long run")in the last "5 from 5i" by Michael was kind of thought provoking. There was research by Credit Suisse that found that "Cash Cows" (high CFROI/low growth) and "Dogs" (low CFROI/low growth) had outperformed in cumulative shareholder return going back 4 decades. If I understood correctly the thesis seemed to be that performance is a function of expectations versus what really happens and that for stocks that were "Cows" or "Dogs" expectations tended to be consistently too pessimistic which actually ended up leading to better share performance as expectations were exceeded. Are there any Canadian companies that come to mind that you think fall within those two profiles just to help me relate to some real life examples? Thanks,
Read Answer Asked by Stephen R. on June 23, 2017
Q: Hi Peter and Team - Although nobody can predict the future prices of resources, with the knowledge and experience you have do you think we are in a long term bear market for oil and gas. Besides the effects of the supply side, is it possible that the investment in green energy and resulting increased production in those fields could work also on the demand side to keep the prices of oil and gas down at some point. With all this in mind, do you think it advisable for me to substantially reduce my holdings in oil and gas stocks. I am not really overweight in this area, probably in the 5 to 8% range.
Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Rob on June 22, 2017
Q: Dear 5i,

Please critique the following proposed index ETF portfolios (only equity portion provided, fixed income allocation will be identical in each)

1.
20% VCN
20% ZLB
40% VFV
10% VIU
10% ZLI

2.
20% XIC
20% ZLB
20% XUU
20% ZLU
10% XEF
10% ZLI

3.
40% XMV
40% XMU
15% XMI
5% XMM

With these portfolios, I am attempting to achieve greater sector diversification than if I went with strictly broad-market indices, with a defensive tilt. Which do you think is best (in terms of long-term, risk-adjusted total return potential) for long-term hold/accumulation with annual rebalance to initial weights, and what changes would you suggest (if any)?

Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Walter on June 22, 2017
Q: My wife and I are voting these days on a number of proxy votes. My questions are about directors:
-- For some companies, particularly oil and gas companies, the proposed directors sometimes seem to be affiliated (director or executive) with a competitor. Is it reasonable that directors are affiliated with competitors?
-- Some directors who are a Chairman or CEO of one company are also directors of multiple other companies. How can they have the time to do this? How many outside directorships is it reasonable for a Chairman or CEO to have?
Read Answer Asked by Doug on June 21, 2017