Investment Q&A

Q: My portfolio is a combination of the Balanced and Growth model portfolios. I'm torn between your advice to "let winners run" and your advice on keeping sectors reasonably balanced. Tech is up and energy is down....so in theory, I should be selling some Shopify and Kinaxis and buying more Whitecap and Raging River. SHOP and KXS are not yet over 5% of my portfolio so I don't need to sell them to reduce risk. My instincts tell me to let the winners keep running until I see some life in the energy stocks, even if that means being very light in that sector. Your advice, please. Thanks!

Alan

Q: I am a senior , I am of the view that bonds , preferred shares, fixed income are not as effective an investment device compared to Canadian bank shares. I don't see a lot of risk over the years, but large and consistent yields. Besides liquidity in a bad recession, where else do you see downside by treating bank stocks as fixed ,long term income investments, hence overweight positions in a portfolio.Thanks to a great team for your exceptional service, Jerry

Q: Dear 5i
My son has $6000 to invest and prefers solid earnings growth companies . He does not need the money anytime soon . What stocks would you suggest at this time .
I suggested no more than 5% in any one stock but this would not be much per stock with this amount of money . How many stocks should he have and what would you consider a full position under this scenario ?
Thanks
Bill C.

Q: My son is diligently saving to purchase a house and currently is taking advantage of the benefits of a TFSA. I have mentioned that he should also consider opening an RRSP to take advantage of their home buyers plan. He can contribute an extra $15k and get an additional 35% tax refund. He has about a 4-5 year time horizon before he needs the money. Is this sound advice? Can you recommend what stocks he should consider?
Thank you

Q: Would you rank the following companies as to your expectations for total return on a 3 year hold.GPS,ITC,AT,PIH,MPVD,IFR. Thanks.

Q: THANK YOU!

Today May 2nd all of these stocks that I own hit new record highs: CSU, SHOP, KXS, OTEX, L, NFI, AQN, CGX, T, and SIS.

These 3 that I also own came very close to all time highs as well: WSP, BEP.UN, and FTS.

In one day 35% of the stocks I own hit new highs, or came very close. Many of these I would not have bought had it not been for 5i Research.

Again, THANK YOU.

Paul J

Q: Good Day,

I slowly building a US portfolio and already own (DIS, MKSI, and JPM.) What other names would you suggest for the remaining sectors? Mostly looking for long terms growth.

Thanks
Marco

Q: I am interested in investing in small cap companies and am fully aware of the risks involved. However, conversely, I believe that there are potential mid term gains. Please advise me of your top 5 small cap companies that I could put on my watch list with the possibility of eventually investing in them. Thanks for your considered thoughts

Q: Can you please give a brief overview of Modernadvisor and Wealthsimple, the advantages and disadvantages of using them over the do it yourself approach and also perhaps how long they have been in business.

Many thanks!

Q: The recent decline in CAD/US exchange rates has me somewhat concerned for my US investments. If you believe,as I do, that the CAD has reached its low point and may move up slowly from here, should you buy US shares in CAD funds? Or is it best to convert now and hold these in US dollars? In general do you believe it is best to have a mix of US shares in an even split of US and CAD currency? What should the factors be to determine how this is handled individually? Or does it even matter?

Q: Hi 5i

I am looking for investments that distribute primarily through Return of Capital, such that the cost base can be ground down to a point where it may make a lot of sense to donate the shares to charity, shelter the entire gain while having extracted most of my cost base. I imagine that most of these things will be in the REIT space, but I am open to anything.

Thanks,

David

Q: could you please suggest a ETf similar to ZWE FOR :

1. EMERGING markets
2. asia
3. india
thanks
yossi

Q: Hello, I would like to "park" some money in a safe dividend paying stock. Your service provides lots of choices/recommendations. However, can you say with any degree of comfort which sector or particular dividend paying stocks therein would be less sensitive to an interest rate hike, and less of a bond proxy. Or, are all stocks paying a reasonable dividend subject to this risk. I was thinking of Enbridge. Thanks very much. Bill.

Q: Not a question but a THANK YOU for the U.S. % breakdown of portfolio stocks as per my previous question. I have been worrying that my VGH/VSP holdings of 5% were insufficient. The information you provided, shows I have another 20% which sounds about right. The 5i team provides a fantastic service !!

Q: For the past couple of years i have been building my Canadian equity portfolio. I have approx 25 names and the portfolio is approx worth 250k with a fairly even 8-10k per name. Up until now when i added new money i just purchased a new position in a company based on sector need. Now that i am at the point of not needing any new positions i am struggling to decide which companies i should be adding my new money too. What in your opinion is the best strategy for adding new money into an established portfolio?

Q: Hi,
Are robo-advisors safe to invest with? Are there any government insurance protections?I am thinking to set up an RESP a/c for my grandson.

Q: Greetings 5i,

Looking to further enhance geographical diversification in my overall portfolio. I have fairly balanced exposure to NA, about 8% Europe, but only 1% Asia so I am looking to bring up my exposure in that region. My question is regarding exposure to India specifically. I wish to dollar cost average into this geographical region therefore I have been looking for a mutual fund rather than an ETF due to cost prohibitive transaction fees of $9.99 with my institution. What are your thoughts on Excel India Series D fund (EXL770)? I have it as No load, Mer 1.75, Min $250 and subsequent $50. Im open to suggestions and or direction keeping in mind the dollar cost averaging is preferred to me over a big initial commitment to a geographical region like this.

Cheers!

Q: Dear 5i, I've read some good questions lately on REITs and return of capital, dividends, business income, and the adjusted cost base for these securities.
I just wanted to follow up and ask if my understanding of the different tax treatments is correct.
1. RRSP: all monies paid to the RRSP is basically exempt and no need to keep track of ROC, dividends, etc.
2. TFSA same as RRSP
3. Cash Account, monies paid to the account must be kept track of and the ACB will be reduced each time ROC is paid back to the investor.
Please confirm this means over a very long period of time the ACB could be reduced to zero or even negative? Is the ROC, Box 42 on a T3, the only amount I have to keep track of?
and another question, on BYD.UN, Why is BYD.UN allowed to operate under .UN status and in your opinion will they eventually be required to convert to a Corp.?

Q: New member here, would like your opinion on TGF.UN for a diversification into global real estate. Are there better alternatives?
Thank you!
Michael

Q: Just reading your response today to Brad re his BCE query and your thoughts on analysts recommendations. Could you please provide any additional comments on this as we tend to view these summaries of analysts as a reasonable guide in our thinking when buying or selling, but I'm not not sure how totally prescriptive these are. How much faith should we place in these summaries?