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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: Good Morning Team,

Just wanted to confirm the following:

- Capital gains on a US or Canadian stock held in an RRSP and TFSA are not taxed either by Canada or the US
- Capital gains on a US or Canadian stock held in a non-registered (RRSP) account are taxed
by Canada only.
- Dividends on a US stock held in a non-registered (RRSP) account are taxed both by Canada and the US.

Thank you for your confirmation or corrections!
Read Answer Asked by Saeed on June 15, 2018
Q: Hi there, I watched an interview this evening with David Rosenberg who was predicting a recession in 2019. My first question is what is your thoughts on this and do you agree with his perspective and second - while I know you are not in favour of timing the market, how would you approach/adjust your portfolio if you believe we were heading into a recession? For a person no fixed income portion, would you stay 100% invested in equities or move into a partial cash position - if so, how much cash? This bull market seems like its in extended innings, however the economy seems to be doing well overall and earnings seem strong. What do you think the best approach for ones portfolio heading into the 2019 or 2020?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on June 11, 2018
Q: Re: Your 3 portfolios
-Why not list companies in the growth portfolio in alphabetical order as they are in the balanced & income portfolios?
-Why not show the date of the 1st purchase in the since inception return so there is a better idea of the true rate of return?
I don't consider High Artic, Raging River & Trevali as growth stocks as they are tied too closely to commodity prices.Why not replace them with better growth stocks such as Premium Brands, Savaria ,etc?
Your comments please
Read Answer Asked by Terry on June 06, 2018
Q: Gentlemen, Good morning
Just a comment, its better to check with the broker, for exemple Direct Investing NB, even if the CSU is on US side, DIBN will convert the U$ div in Ca$ and than in U$, there is a double conversion.
''Q: Derek
You need a Cdn. & US brokerage a/c.'s
e. g. you buy 100 shs. CSU in your Cdn. a/c.
After settlement call the broker & tell them to tfr. the 100 CSU to your US a/c. Now the US div. will go into your US a/c. Should not be a problem buying CDN Co.'s that pay US divs. & accumulate those divs. in your US
brokerage a/c.
Joe"
Read Answer Asked by Djamel on June 04, 2018
Q: Further to a question about directing USD dividends (paid by Canadian companies) to a USD bank account: I think the question is both more complicated and more simple than 5i's answer suggests.

As is generally understood, a number of Canadian companies - for example, CSU, NSU, and OTEX - can by bought/sold in either CAD or USD, but pay dividends in USD. At the same time, many Canadians have occasion to make purchases in USD. This leads to three questions:

1) is it better to buy/sell in CAD, or in USD?

2) how do you accept USD dividends without paying currency conversion costs?

3) how do you move USD from a brokerage account to a banking account without paying currency conversion costs?

As concerns (1): supposing that the stock were equally liquid on Canadian and American exchanges, the question comes down to tax-preparation preferences. If you buy/sell in CAD, then you don't have to do currency conversions when determining the adjusted cost base.

As concerns (2): any competent brokerage will have some way of accepting USD-denominated dividends without currency conversion. For example, at TD, if you held CSU/NSU/OTEX/etc in a USD-denominated account, then dividends would be accepted in USD. To move a position from a CAD account to a USD account, you ask the broker to 'journal' the position from one account to the other. Journalling incurs no currency conversion fees, but you will have to remember to ask the broker to do the journalling for you, each time you make a purchase (or sale.) And, of course, you will still have to currency-convert the amount of each dividend for tax-preparation purposes.

Note that some brokerages - for example, Interactive - do not segregate CAD- and USD-denominated stocks in separate accounts.

As concerns (3): some banks - for example, TD - provide for USD-denominated accounts/cards. Once you've set this up, you should be able to move funds from a (TD) USD brokerage account to a USD bank account or credit card in much the same way as you would CAD-denominated funds. Of course, the bank will charge you a fee (or require a minimum balance) for this.

Clearly, there are certain dependencies, here, on the services of particular banks/brokerages. In general, however, it should be possible to do as the member asked: direct USD dividends to a USD bank account without (double) currency conversion.
Read Answer Asked by John on June 04, 2018
Q: For your member looking to receive USD dividends after buying a CAD stock:
You should be able to buy BIP.UN or BEP.UN in your CAD trading account then have Scotia transfer the position to your USD trading account and make an election to receive the dividends in USD. This way the dividends will be paid in USD and remain in USD. From there the cash could be transferred to your USD bank account as needed.
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on June 03, 2018
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