Investment Q&A

Q: This is a general question on IPOs: my son works for a small laser company in the USA - medical lasers used for all kinds of cosmetic procedures that people pay for directly - mostly women. He is in sales and is doing very well. They are going to market with an IPO in the near future. Any general comments on buying IPOs?

Q: Hello 5i team,
I never held any gold or gold related equity; with today's significant drop in their value (don't know why), would it be a good time to get some exposure or do you foresee further drop?
Thanks,
Antoine

Q: Good Afternoon
After almost two years should I change my asset allocation? I have 40% of my portfolio in 3 High conviction equity funds, Canadian, U.S., and International. What % would you suggest at this time? Other holdings are mainly income with a few specialty holdings.

Thanks to the team

Q: Over the last few weeks a few precious metal experts have been on BNN and the majority of them predicting $1,400 gold by year-end. How could these professional people be so wrong on live TV?
Dennis

Q: When a dividend is paid, where can I go to determine the breakdown between the true dividend vs the return of capital?

Q: Hi Team,

When buying a stock, sometimes there is mention of "full position or half position". How much are these in percentage terms of a portfolio? Also how small a position can be in absolute dollar terms to be a meaningful contributor?

I really admire your ability for quick turn around and succinct answers to all the questions all day long.

RR

Q: I don't know if this question comes under your umbrella. It concerns money borrowed to invest, with the aim to claim the interest for tax back. I have done a Google check but i am not sure whether all loans can be used this way. currenly I use a small margin credit on my accounts, which comes to 3.75 per cent. I know that I can do much better than that, if i borrow on my house. But, would such a loan be seen as tax deductible for investing services.
thanks

Q: I have found that my best returns are when I reduce my portfolio size to 8-10 stocks.I know that according to almost all experts that my portfolio would not be properly diversified.I find that a investor such as myself can not spend the amount of time needed to keep up to a 20 stock portfolio.
The easy answer of course is to hire someone for my investments,but I have unfortunately been burned twice by investment professionals,and unwilling to strike out the third time.
Is there anything wrong with keeping a 8-10 stock portfolio, where I can keep a close watch on the news and the financials.
I personally think that is why your site is so helpful because the average investor do not have the resources and staff of a professional money manager.

Q: Kudos to Ryan on his strong performance on BNN last Friday. Great ambassador for 5i!

Q: Ryan, great job on BNN Friday! I noticed they evaluated you on your top picks for only a 3 month period. Don't they usually do one year time frame? Why did they deviate? It's so misleading...

Q: If you were asked to create a Canadian dividend Aristocrat ETF what holdings would you include? Would you equal weight the holdings? Would you diversify it across sectors? How would you base your selections against payout ratios or higher dividend payers? How often would you review the selections and how many names would you hold. Why might you want to do this type of ETF over another example such as growth, small cap index, value , GARP, etc.? Also please compare your Model portfolio to such an ETF. What makes the model portfolio different from this approach? Sorry for the longer question. To sum it up I am hoping to get a feeling of your strategies from the answer. Thank You Jeremy

Q: Heizel is correct. In each of our RRIFs with Scotia Itrade we pay $30.00 a quarter and our U.S. purchases and sales are made at the rate for the bank,not its customers.

Q: Besides subscribing to 5iResearch, what are some investing books/annual report letters or any document you recommend your subscribers read to become better investors?

Q: What 2 or 3 companies are the best leveraged to the price of copper (Canadian or US listed),

Thanks

Rob

Q: Hi 5i team!! I am at a conference in Arizona, and just the feeling I get polling my colleagues, all of whom are academics, the general consensus is that Trump will be the next US president. Hillary is not a favorite because of allegedly crooked behaviour which I was unaware of. The way I look at it, neither one, Trump or Clinton are a good choice but that's a moot point. So, to my question...what do you suggest.. If the Donald gets in ...should we sit tight on your suggested portfolios or sell certain stocks, or sell everything and head for the hills ? Which stocks will do poorly and which ones may do well? Cheers, Tamara

Q: Hi Folks, have been wanting to put some of my investments into US funds.
Recently read an article by John Heinzel in the Globe and Mail stating that the best way to invest in US funds is through an RRSP or RRIF which seemed to make sense from a tax point of view.
When I contacted my broker, Scotia iTrade, I was told that only Canadian dollars not US dollars could be in my RRIF account.
Could you please give me your opinion as to which is correct and if Heinzel is correct, how is it done?
Many, many, thanks for all you do. I certainly would not have done as well over the last few years, as I have being a member of 5I. I pass your name onto all my investor friends.
Congrats to your team.

Hal

Q: A headline article in Globe and mail " Why it feels like another financial crisis ----" gives a current p/e for the tsx of 23.6 Your macroeconomic report has it at 17. Is this a difference between trailing and forward earnings or am I missing something?/

Q: Hello Peter and Team,

Looking to set up an resp for my grand kids. In sk it works to 3250 per year for the grants. Looking to add one stock a year. What 5 would you consider today to be a good candidate?

Thanks,

Wes

Q: The news release was buy ICG on Sept. 19th, and yes I believe you are right, they are re-ferring to zones. Is there a book would recommend for reading up on mining.

Q: Peter; It looks to me that the vaunted LNG projects in BC are not going ahead in the next 5-10'years. Are their specific gas companies that will be affected if this happens? Thanks,
. Rod