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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: This is a tax / accounting beef, but it may apply to a lot of subscribers.

I'm doing my taxes on my own, and it is extremely time-consuming and frustrating when it comes to investments. CRA wants all the US numbers converted to CAD.

I have a US-based margin account to avoid the constant back and forth with losing money on exchange rates. I own relatively small amounts of many US stocks. Almost half of my tax time is related to accounting for stocks, looking up the original purchase date or settlement date, figuring out the US exchange rate (from the Internet) on that particular day, then adding to the cost base another day and a different US exchange rate when I added a few more shares to it, then subtracting that from the sell price with the sell date's foreign exchange rate. If that’s not enough, CRA wants us to include the commission in the cost base, but then the sell price needs to have the commission stripped out (with its US exchange rate calculated). What’s that all about?

I don’t know why the trading platform doesn’t figure all this out for you. Are there any smarter ways of doing this, other than switching brokerage accounts?
Read Answer Asked by Ed on April 01, 2021
Q: Retired, dividend-income investor. I own the following Cons Staples = NWC, PBH, PLC, as well as I am building a Cons Discretionary position in Leon's.

I am looking for another Disc stock. I remember seeing a related question on this a few days ago, but couldn't find it. What are your favorites right now for me to do further research on? I must admit I lean towards value stocks, as I have difficulty in buying something that has already had a good run.

Could you give me 3 Discretionary names on the conservative side and 3 on the more aggressive side...no speculative names. If we can't find a suitable Discretionary stock, I might add another Staple name, like possibly ADW (it is listed as a Staple, which is absolutely true in our household, but it could be Discretionary...compared with food). Could you therefore give me 3 Staple names that might fit well with my existing Consumer holdings? So, I need 9 names, if possible. The cash available is in my TFSA, so while a dividend is nice it is not imperative.

Thanks for your help...much appreciated...Steve
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on April 01, 2021
Q: Gold in general due to the massive Fed and provincial deficits in Canada

Hi Peter and team
even before Covid, the Fed govt was running a substantial deficit in good time
(comparatively)
the Fed deficit for the next few years (1-5) would be enormous no matter which party takes power
with the debt, for an average investor, I do own gold stocks and ETF
today at 11:30 Wed , one speaker on BNN felt that investors are not keen on buying gold (now off the peak season), he does not like bitcoin either

From your perspective, this could be a good time to buy some more quality gold
stocks and ETF (I know the names that your services recommend) ; I wonder
if you feel that this would be a prudent move, (up to 5 plus percent in ones portfolio)
or there is another sector one could buy as an insurance of the massive printing of our money due to the huge deficits (the US called it Quantitative easing)

looking forward to hear your expert opinion,
thanks

Michael (do own some gold stocks and the ETF for gold)
Read Answer Asked by Michael on April 01, 2021
Q: Regarding their year end release. I noticed they have a cash balance of 16.3M which increased in 2020 despite the terrible year. This is almost 1/3 of its market cap in cash. How positive do you view the ability of this company's ability to weather the storm in 2020 and be diligent enough to increase its cash position. Looking for your thoughts as I am getting more inclined to increase my weight slightly as a spec play. thank you.
Read Answer Asked by David on April 01, 2021
Q: Of the above mentioned stocks, which would you choose as a current buy with the most growth potential.
Thanks 5i I am so grateful for your excellent service.
Read Answer Asked by Cathy on April 01, 2021
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