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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: I use Adjusted Cost Base.ca to track my ACB. I have been with TD Direct Investing since 2012. They do an ok job of tracking ACB of stocks (including DRIP's and commissions) for stocks bought and held on one side or the other (CDN or US) of the account. This tends to go off the rails if I buy CDN stocks that pay USD dividends I journal them on the US side to get dividend/drip. If I move any portion of a given stock back to the CDN side of the account to sell or donate, I find the ACB is not accurate. It's easier to keep track and more accurate with Adjusted Cost Base.ca and it's free. Also, at tax time, TD only records the market value of sell transactions. You're on your own to calculate the book value.
Richard
Read Answer Asked by Richard on October 24, 2017
Q: Thanks for your great service.

I would like to know if I can extend for more than 2 years at old price or do you offer a lifetime membership.

I dont need more for next 15 years.

Please advise where is the best place to hold dividend-paying stocks ie Register or non-registered.

Is this a correct approach to hold growth stocks in TFSA and Registered. Dividend in Non-registered.

Thanks again
Read Answer Asked by Hector on October 24, 2017
Q: Many of your subscribers discuss their weightings on individual investments.
If I have 5 accounts and a total invested capital of 2,000,000 and if I want to have a minimum of 5% weighting on each stock,ETF or mutual fund would you suggest that 20 holdings averaging 100,000 each would be appropriate?
Or, in the case of some of your smaller capitalized companies like sis and aar.un, would a smaller percentage allocation be more appropriate?
I am 71 and have been in the market for over 40years.
Read Answer Asked by Dave on October 24, 2017
Q: I just read the Dividend article you sent to subscribers. Thank you. I'm one of those investors that doesn't want to spend a lot of time researching companies....which is why I'm a subscriber! But I'm also an investor that loves dividends. The question.... Have you thought about keeping a list of 'Top Canadian Dividend Stocks' that subscribers can refer to at any time if they want to add to their portfolio?? I know you have the 'Income porfolio' that may be close. 5i gets a lot of questions asking you for top dividend stocks....this could be an ongoing list that may change slightly from month and?? Just a thought.
Read Answer Asked by Graham on October 23, 2017
Q: Regarding Grant's question earlier today on tracking gains and losses, I also use TD WebBroker. While there is no field in the Order Entry screen, the data is there. In Account Detail, there is a Tab for Performance, which shows your ROR Yr to date (and other intervals) and a Tab for Gain & Loss which shows the total $ Gain and Loss for the year and individual $ Gain and Loss by security. TD cautions that it should not be relied upon for tax purposes.
dave
Read Answer Asked by Dave on October 23, 2017
Q: TD WebBroker: Click Accounts > Gain & Loss.

Paul

October 23, 2017 - Asked by Grant

Q: How do people track their overall performance as traders? I use TD Web Broker and after I make a trade there doesn't seem to be a filed that tracks the loss or gain on the trade. Do people track this in an Excel Spread Sheet or is there a program/app for this?

Thank you for another great year of smart stock picks!

5i Research Answer:
From what we have seen, most automated programs don't do a great job of tracking this as withdrawals and deposits tend to skew results. Excel is likely the most reliable way to do this albeit can be a bit more time consuming.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on October 23, 2017
Q: In your recent report on Absolute Software, you refer to Van Berkom and Associates as a major stockholder of that company.

Checking their website I was struck by the astounding track record for their Canadian Small-Cap Strategy Fund. Over a period of 25 years it generated a compound annualized rate of return of 13,93%. However the website does not give any specific info on the stocks that currently make up the portfolio.

Do you have that piece of info or do you know of a site where it is available?

Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Guy on October 23, 2017
Q: Hi 5i team. There maybe a few questions here so please deduct as required. Knowing that bonds need to be part of a well diversified portfolio, more on the income side, what are your thoughts about establishing a position now with the current yield curve. I'm covered with a diversified mixed of stocks and pref's and individual bonds but would like to move or grow into a mix of bond ETF's for 20 - 30% of my total portfolio. Thinking more of corporates, both Canada and US with the following on my watch list; ZCS, ZHY, HYI, PFH, XHY. What other ETF's might I be missing or should I consider.

Many thanks, steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on October 23, 2017
Q: More of a comment. Its really nice to see Peter on BNN. I really like the fact that we get to see someone from 5i. Would you guys consider to make a video or two to accompany the reports of a company? I know I would be interested seeing you guys discuss companies on the 5i site in the future.

Thank you for the great advice the i5 team provided this year.

Brad
Read Answer Asked by Brad on October 23, 2017
Q: Good morning
On september 13th I asked a question about a suggested portfolio set up.
The answer given was:
Canadian growth: CAE, KXS, GUD, TOY, DOL, CAE
Canadian dividend: PBH, ZCL, SIS, FTS, GSY, ENB, ET, BEI.UN, AQN, T
US: CGNX, GOOG, NVDA, COR
For the US could you please clarify which stock is COR ?
Are there any changes to this lineup if initiating positions today?
Thanks
Victoria
Read Answer Asked by Anna on October 23, 2017
Q: Hi 5i:
Thank you for the continued great advice, insight, and the opportunity to renew at the existing membership rates.
I would like your opinion on an article in the Globe and Mail last week – Scotiabank’s AT1 security a hit; other banks expected to follow suit.
BNS issued 1.25B$ internationally through a sale of a new hybrid security that has many of the attributes of a preferred share, but is legally classified as debt. This note qualifies as additional tier 1 capital, pays interest at 4.65% for 5 years and floating thereafter, has no scheduled maturity and converts into equity in times of distress. The new hybrid security also gets around the 25% tax on any passive income generated by investors who are not resident of Canada.
There are more details in the article.
If other banks follow suit what do you think will be the effect on the retail rate reset preferred share market in Canada? Would there be a probability of the banks redeeming their preferred shares currently issued when the first redemption option comes due and replacing with this new hybrid instrument?
Thank you.








Read Answer Asked by Dennis on October 20, 2017