Investment Q&A

Q: Healthy 93 year old has enough cash flow from pensions, GICs, etc to cover all long term care expenses. We have a million in fixed income such as Gic, 3 year bond ladder. We have $200k in prefered shares. We are purchasing $10k positions in the income and balanced portfolios. Any thoughts about this approach to managing our fathers money?

Q: I have prov of B C bond at 3.2% maturing June 18, 2044. I have an unrealized gain of 29.64%. What is my best strategy here hold or try to sell?

Q: My son turns 18 this August, when can he begin his TFSA?

Q: Total return index ETF; is it good ?

Q: what would you recommend as your top 5 growth stocks that are relatively stable but strong growth potential?

Q: Good morning gentlemen. I had a 1000 shares of Boyd Group and took some profit.$50K.
The funds are in my rrsp. I will open a position in Savaria $10 K. Could you give me a couple other good small cap growth stocks to ponder?
Thank you
David

Q: Hello Peter, I have some money to invest and looking for earnings in a relatively safe investment. Have been looking for some preferred and/or convertibles. Like to have your opinion of BCE.Pr.k perhaps you can recommend others in the area. Also, have your view of the idea.
Best wishes, keep up the great service, J.A. P. Burlington

Q: I notice that the CDNX is in the process of what seems to be a dramatic turnaround since January of this year moving from 468 to its current level of 763. What is the preferred instrument for taking advantage of this index?

Q: Hi Guys,

After reviewing my sector allocation, I noticed that Consumer Cyclical was at 31%. They are all "5I APPROVED" companies (ATD.B,CCL,CGX,GIL,AW.UN,BYD.UN,DOL, DIS and SBUX) and I hold approx. 3.5% in each. How should I handle this?

thanks,

Jim

Q: Could you pleases provide an update on your top ten US companies for an option writing strategy. Of these, which would have a strong balance sheet/ cash position? Thanks

Q: Hi 5I team. Can you please tell me if companies in general have been increasing their dividend payout ratios? Where might a little guy like me find this information? Benjamin Graham had written something like "Never buy a companies stock only for its dividend." Probably pertaining to value traps but in this environment many people are being forced to do this. This makes me worry about some of the higher debt levels and earnings decreases perhaps many companies that are increasing their dividends are chasing investors in hopes of higher stock prices. I realize every company has a different story but market sentiment pushes everything in the same direction irrelevant of what is happening individually. Thank you
J

Q: Recently I overheard a retired investment advisor talking at a luncheon I attended. He said that since the liberals were spending so much lately that they will be soon looking for ways to increase government income. His feeling was in increase (up to 75%)in capital gains tax. His suggestion was to sell anything which had large gains now. This kind of concerns me as I hold shares in firms like Bell and others which I have had for over 30 years. Thank you for your thoughts on this. I read all the questions people submit and feel I am learning a lot from them
Ken Beatty

Q: Hi Peter;
I am looking to purchase two energy stocks that have a majority of their portfolio in natural gas, a medium and a large cap. Would Birchcliff Energy (BIR) and VII Seven Gen do the trick? If not, which ones would you recommend?
Thanks,
Ron

Q: How do you use trend analysis to determine if a stock is trading at a good entry point? For example, WPK is trading at $46.52 as I write. Its 10 year trend line value using linear regression is $36, but the 1 year comparison is $49. Is WPK trading above or below its trend line ie based on 1 years trading it appears under valued, but using the 10 year value it appears currently over priced. Thank you.

Q: The new version of rate re-set Preferreds with a re-set floor seems to have found favour with investors. A quick survey of such recent issues finds them all trading in excess of $25.00 par issue price.
What are your general thoughts?
Can we expect all future issues to include this floor feature?
Might future isssuances not be quite as generous given the apparent demand?
While not true fixed income - they now seem closer(?) ; and yields are attractive.
Considerations / Thoughts?

Thank-you

Q: I have been dabbling with momentum investing recently after reading endorsements of a 70% value 30% momentum approach. I haven't been able to find too many concrete details on momentum process, mostly vagaries. So far, I have been keeping things simple - buying names with reasonably good fundamentals and strong momentum over the last 6 or so months and riding the momentum until 10 day SMA crosses below 30 SMA. The results have been mixed so far, I reckon I've come out about even. Does this approach seem more or less sound based on your experience? Are there other details you might include in the process (i.e. absolute loss limit in addition to SMA trigger)? Finally, how to stick to the process when markets are in a down trend (i.e. very few stocks have good performance in last 6 months) -- I assume it's important to stick with the process to catch momentum when it turns.

Q: I'm looking at my big losers from the growth portfolio: AVO, BOS, CXR, DHX.B, DRT, IT, PEO, & PUR and would like your perspective whether to just take the losses and move on, or why should it still be held.
I'd also like similar comments with EFN and XTC (even though I've already gotten out of them).
Thanks!

Q: Please let me know your general theory on the following. Assuming one believes in getting dividend ( predominant ) income, interest income and capital gains what are your thoughts in allotting these between a TFSA, RRSP and regular margin account. Assume that RRSP and TFSA are maxed out contribution wise.

Thanks

Paul

Q: In one of your answers today you said, "In Ontario, if dividends are you ONLY source of income, you can receive about $58,000 completely tax-free if you just have Canadian dividend income." Can you please provide a source that would confirm this? (A link would be appreciated.) I looked at the tables on www.taxtips.ca, and it appears the threshold is $45,282.

Q: Hi Peter and Team!! My investment adviser is really enthusiastic about Canadian Equity Notes. She has a Bank note based on the TSX 60 that pays 4.5% . It has a 45% downside and is callable as soon as the market is up 10%. ( same type of investment as CBL9436.) I am a little leery and have a few questions. 1) Are these good investments. 2) what are the potential risks 3) because these sound too good to be true, how do the banks make their money? What's the catch. She claims that these are as good as fixed income with minimal risk and got a little upset when I seemed not to be so keen on them. Thanks for your insight, Cheers, Tamara
P