Investment Q&A

Q: Many comments are made about diversifying outside Canada; Europe is thought to have good potential. I would like to take a look at it and thought to go with an ETF. But I am very uneasy about "Brexit" and every fund I look at has a 20 % or more weighting in Britain. Can you suggest an ETF or other suitable product that has no British exposure? Thanks for your help. BTW, first time question for me...I quite enjoy your work. Leonard

Q: An interesting comment I read on CNBC from Warren Buffet when he was asked why he invested in IBM instead of Amazon or Google he said:``in one word stupidity``. Made me feel better about my own !

Q: Hello,
I have some cash that I would like to invest but my investment horizon is limited to 2 or 3 years for this portion of my portfolio (planning to buy a house and would like to inject a sizeable cashdown). What would you recommand as an investment. Thank you.

Q: A couple of times I have asked a question, NOT changed the option to 'private' but the answer has come back as 'private'

fwiw

Q: My current portfolio is concentrated on 4 sectors of; Technology,Materials,Consumer/non-cyclical,and Industrial,total of 12 stocks mostly of your Balanced Portfolio.So far they are doing very well.
To balance my portfolio I want to add 7 new sectors : Real Estate,Financial,Healthcare, Energy,Utilities,Consumers Cyclical and Telecommunication,for holding term 2 to 3 years.

Please provide me with your current favorable choice of stocks for each of my 7 new sectors to buy now.
I prefer CAD stocks but I have no problem with some of US choices.

Thanks Andrew

Q: Hello,
Is it possible to use a portion of my RRSP or LIRA to invest in an apartment building ? How complicated is it in terms of forms to fill and accounting. Would the net rental income remain tax free in a segregated account ? Thank you for your help and please fill free to include website with relevant information in your answer if you know any. Thank you.

Q: If a Canadian who has lived in the U.S. for the last 10 years moves back to Canada, and wants to start a TFSA, what would his contribution limit be.

Q: I appreciate your suggestion for a low monthly fee (or free) stock tracking program. I was satisfied with Yahoo Finance but the changes they made to their program last week make it no longer functional. I did my export my data from Yahoo to Google Finance but it is somewhat limiting.
Thank you for reply.

Q: Hello Peter, Ryan et al:

A while ago you had shared your experience after reviewing portfolios for the members. I vaguely recall you talking about sector allocation , asset allocation and such.
Is the magical number of 100 k per year income/withdrawal ( that seems to the number most articles seem to suggest that one needs to retire comfortably) realistic in the current climate? To me it looks as though one needs enormous amount of money to generate this kind of steady stream of money.

What type of portfolios you suggest to would be seniors to generate this kind of steady stream with a lot less money!
I know you can only give broad stroke suggestions.

A suggestion: You can also through your blog give your recent experience after reviewing members' portfolios, of course masking the identity etc., That will be useful.
Thanks in advance.

Q: I have less than 2% cash in the U.S. dollar portion of my RRSP and would appreciate an idea or two for something speculative with a reasonable expectation (if that's possible) of success.
Thank you

Q: I must convert my RRSP to a RRIF this year. I want to add about 10 good company stocks that have 1,3,5&10 year compounded returns > 10% to boost the overall annual performance. I have identified the companies and now I want to pick the least volatile ones. I have data regarding beta, return on equity and debt to equity. I'm inclined to do my selection based on the lowest beta, highest ROE and lowest debt to equity in that order. Does this seem effective to accomplish my goal and/or can you suggest a more effective selection process? Thank you.

Q: I'm looking at very long term investing. I like the buffet/jarislowsky style. I'm thinking years if not decades. If you had to pick 4-5 stocks that should be in a portfolio looking that far ahead, what would they be? I'm looking for strong management, good growth and consistent dividend growth in sectors/businesses that have very low probability of becoming obsolete. I understand that these are going to be big short term growth stocks, just a good foundation for a portfolio to be supplemented with some higher income and more speculative short term growth stocks.

Q: Which are your favourite high dividend stocks?
Margita

Q: Just a clarification on TFSA. If I had run up my TFSA to 200K and this year I cashed out, next year I could put back in the 200K I had withdrawn plus the 2018 contribution , is that correct. thanks, Jean

Q: i own wcp as a long term hold in the sector. id like to buy a few more names in the sector that will go up a lot when oil recovers but also arent at risk at going under if the recovery takes a while. what do you suggest for 3 or 4 names

Q: Hello team, I am fully invested (stock/etf's leaning toward growth) but am getting somewhat concerned about where the market is at. It seems (in my layman's eyes) that valuations across the board are getting stretched relative to fundamentals. I can take some profit and am wondering about some "insurance" in sectors such as gold; either cdn stock or etf's. For context, this is a registered account, 5 to 7 year horizon, mid 3 figures. Any suggestions

Q: Hello 5i,

I am a 20 year old university student. Through my CO-OP position I have built up just over 2000 dollars in savings that I am able to invest right now with an additional 500$ a month until September. Due to the fact that it is such a low amount of money I have been strongly considering putting all of it into one or two ETFs in order to avoid hefty fees. I am looking to grow my money as much as possible over a 3 – 5 year time period. I am new at this and therefore was wondering if you guys had any recommendation as to what I should do and which type of ETF I should put my money into.

Thank you so much for your help and have a great day.

Q: I have sold 40% of my shopify position to take some profit and am now sitting with 6% cash in my non registered investment account. What options might be available to me to park the cash until I see some exceptional buying opportunities. Second question is that I am seeing several investment articles recommend a larger cash position as there may be a correction given very high valuations that appear to have too much "hype or anticipation" factored in. What percentage would you recommend I maintain in my investment account. I am sitting at approximately 6% in my non registered account and 10 % in my RRSP. Thank you for the great service.
Deborah

Q: Dear 5i
I am two years away from retiring and currently positioning my portfolio to be 60% fixed income and 40% equity.
Of the $600,000 fixed portion what bond ETF`s would you recommend and what dollar amount would you put into each ? Obviously lower MER`s and higher yields are preferable .
Thanks
Bill

Q: i know this is a dumb question but i am going to ask it anyways. what are your top 3 picks from balanced equity portfolio and top 3 picks from growth portfolio from now until year end. i prefer growthier names. dave