Investment Q&A

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 If I had run up my TFSA to 200K and this year I cashed out, next year I could put back in the 200K I had withdrawn plus the 2018 contribution , is that correct.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

Q: Thanks for putting the Sector for each stock in the model portfolios.

Q: I don't have much experience with investing, but from what I've seen, the share prices of companies in the days after an IPO are almost always higher than the initial IPO price. Is it a no brainer then to try and get into as many IPOs as possible, particularly if they're of the "high profile" variety?

Q: I tried to search the site in the blog section for information on the 5% suggestion for individual stocks. No actual search feature for individual articles. so could I get a reason for the purpose of the suggestion. How it should work ie if you have 7% do go back to 5 or let it ride and wait what would the top percentage when to trim. I have TD up 0ver 200% at 12% of portfolio but it is a good dividen payer and stable stock??

Q: Hi.

Im borrowing funds for investing purposes.Since this is my first time doing this, I want to ask your advice if I use in non registered acct or my TFSA.I know I can get a tax credit for interest payment of the loan but with TFsa everything is tax free except theres no tax credit for my loan.Jist dont exactly known the calculafion.Im in 40% marginal tax bracket.

Appreciate your help. Thanks.

Q: Let's say I contributed $51K into my TFSA, and my portfolio grew to $100K. If I decided to liquidate my portfolio and withdraw all of the cash from my TFSA in December, how much can I contribute back to my TFSA in January? Would it be the new year's contribution limit plus the $100K that I took out?

Q: Thank you so much for the sector column in your portfolios.
Decision making just became so much quicker and easier.
I bet a lot more investors will looking at balancing their portfolios.
Something I thank you for convincing me how important it is.

Q: I would like to make a long term purchase of three or four growth stocks in my RRSP. There are many that I have looked at but their valuations are so high now eg. SHOP, SIS, PBH. I would appreciate your recommendation of four or five growth stocks that look good for the long term.

Q: Hint : If you keep your DRIPs in a TFSA , you won't have to keep confirmation slips and piles of dividend records, and you won't have to spend forever determining your ACB when you sell ... the lessons we learn later in life !