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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: Under the heading miscellaneous there are questions about a particular stock but the stock's name does not appear. On April 7th the following question was asked “Q: Our financial advisor has exposure to other countries with this mutual fund (3%). This is in my RRSP. Your thoughts please.” Your answer refers to the stock but never mentions its name. Could you please explain why that is. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by cal on April 11, 2017
Q: Hi 5I, I need some clarification on time horizons and when to switch out and/or sell a company. If one says that they are holding long what time frame are we looking at? Sometimes I hear 3 to 5 years, other times 5 to 10 years. But in all of your portfolios what is the design factor? If one is long term investor and a stock has gone up 40%+ why would you need to sell it if the time horizon has not been completed? Timing has not done well for me. So I know that re balancing a portfolio means not going over a certain weighting per stock or sector for safety but what are you usually looking at to get out of a stock. Sometimes you say you are comfortable in people getting into a stock for long term but then you might turn around and move it out of the portfolio. So should I follow a multi-year hold, or follow the portfolio with the recommended in's and out's as you try to make the model better. Thanks for your advice.
Read Answer Asked by Ben on April 11, 2017
Q: Peter, as a former portfolio manager, how do you buy large volumes of shares? Would you execute the order yourself or would you have a team to do this? My personal portfolio is over 8 digits so I always question myself on how to execute positions. I currently only buy companies greater than $400 million and always calculate the average daily volume multiplied by the current price to see if my trade will change the market. I take a current price and discount it by an educated guess % and enter the whole trade in and let it sit and the market move into my buy. This way I am not bidding up the stock. The bank has offered block trades, but I am not in control. In your experience what is the best way to enter and/or exit a large position?
Read Answer Asked by Terry on April 11, 2017
Q: Hi there, I am an investor in my early 30's and follow your Balanced Equity portfolio and understand that it is an excellent mix of growth and stability names. I am curious to know what adjustments you would make if I were looking to substitute the more stable, less risky names with names with higher growth torque - names similar to KXS, NFI, PBH, SIS etc (so maybe not as small and volatile as some names in the Growth portfolio). Thanks for your awesome service!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on April 11, 2017
Q: Hi,

I’m 67 years old and rely on dividend income. I think it may be time to transform my 45 stock portfolio into something more in tune with my age and risk tolerance. It would hopefully reduce the amount of decisions I would have to make since they say the older we get, the more our decision making skills start to slip.

Right now my portfolio follows a 60% 5i Canadian equity market sector balance, and about 20% US equities and 20% cash. My thought is to create a portfolio with the following asset allocation:

30% Gov & Corp Bonds VAB

15% Canadian Equity VCN or Canadian Div CDZ
15% Individual CDN small & Med cap stocks

10% US Equity VUN
20% US Large cap individual stocks already in Portfolio

10% International Equity VDU & VEE

Your comments would be appreciated.
Thank You
Frank
Read Answer Asked by Frank on April 11, 2017
Q: Hi 5i Team:
While I have a good sense of how my overall portfolio is performing I am struggling to find an uncomplicated method of assessing the contribution of individual holdings. When I try to apply a formula for CAGR say, I find myself stymied in almost all cases by having bought and sold shares over time,or having return of capital issues, or at the very least not necessarily re-investing the dividends in the same stock over the time frame in question but just somewhere in the portfolio. Can you suggest a workable way to bring some discipline (objective "hard numbers") to assessing the contribution of individual holdings to the overall portfolio given the above types of complications (and more)? If the answer is too involved/lengthy for Q&A perhaps you would consider the topic for a future blog?
Thanks,
Read Answer Asked by Stephen R. on April 10, 2017
Q: As a new member, I am puzzled by the composition of the Coverage Summary spreadsheet and accompanying 70-company report database. Perhaps I am missing something, but it seems to me that the research database would be more useful to an investor if it contained 70 companies all of which are highly rated. I don't understand the rationale for including companies that are rated lower than B. There must be more Canadian companies that would fall into the A or B categories. It also puzzles me that many of the companies in the model portfolios are not covered by the research.

In summary, would it be possible to include some notes on the website or accompanying the spreadsheet/database explaining how the 70 companies were chosen, how this research is to be used by an investor, and how and when companies are added or removed from the coverage.

Thanks in advance.
Read Answer Asked by Gordon on April 10, 2017
Q: When I see a company say that they are redeeming senior notes for example due in 2021. What does that mean? Is that good for the stock. Is it something they do because they may be putting themselves up for sale at a future date and don't want to have any debt outstanding? Please excuse my ignorance but I need to be educated on why a company redeems senior notes or whatever other notes early. Is it just because they have the cash to do so and it reduces the cost of their debt? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Helen on April 10, 2017
Q: I am retired. I have a small locked-in RIF (100k) and I will start to withdraw the maximum amount permitted this year. So far, the money was invested in 3 Gics of an equal amount. That approach suited me when the interest rates were higher . But, since the interest rates remain low it does not work anymore.
I need a higher return and i want to protect the capital and keep things simple.
I am willing to put 50% in fix income and 50% in equity with dividends.

1) what will be the most efficient way to invest that money?
2) For the fix income ,should I use monthly income fund like Pimco or Sentry NCE 1032?
3) Which Etf or fund can I use for the equity portion and in which proportion?

The balanced portfolio was launched in March. In your report, does the annual return refers to the calender year or the 12-month period ending on March of each year?

Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Monique on April 10, 2017
Q: I did last year forex trading and have $300. loss do I follow same TAX rule as stock.

If you are not aware of forex rule can you please guide me.

Are you aware of any membership site for TAXES that can give the same service as you do for stocks.

I want to join your ETF membership do I wait until my renewal so both will expire same time or I join now and will expire both at the same time.
Do you have estimated time when you will have portfolio setup for ETF and do you have to be an ETF member to have access to ETF portfolio

Thanks for your help.
Read Answer Asked by Hector on April 10, 2017
Q: Hi,
I currently own 8 of Mawers Funds (MAW-102,104,105,108,120,130 & 150) to provide broad diversification to the individual stocks I own. I just noticed that they have a new Emerging Markets Fund MAW160. As this is a relatively new fund I know that information is limited on it but can you comment if you think this would be a suitable fund that would add further diversification to the funds I currently own and if I were to purchase it which account would it best suit i.e.- non-registered-TFSA-RRSP?
Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Alan on April 10, 2017
Q: Hi 5i, As one who remembers double digit interest rates, I've been wondering if and when the worm will turn again. It sounds like expectations are becoming pretty entrenched for higher rates in the US, and if that turns out to be true would expect Canada to follow with a year or two lag. Is there a typical pattern or approach that suggests which sectors and investment types benefit in a rising rate environment?

Thx for your excellent service!
Read Answer Asked by Rick on April 09, 2017
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