skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A
You can view 3 more answers this month. Sign up for a free trial for unlimited access.

Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Why is tax-loss selling considered to be a December activity or at least an activity that most people practice then? If you are down on a stock and want to sell for tax purposes, why not do it now (or in March or July) and then reinvest when you see the opportunity? It seems to me that by waiting until mid-November or December it not only means that you will get even less for your stock (sure you get a bigger tax loss) but that you will be wanting to repurchase it when everyone else is too, thereby having to pay more for the stock.

Am I missing something here?

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on September 30, 2019
Q: Do you have any idea why MX charts so closely to many Oil and Gas stocks? I don't think they are in the same business but maybe they are after all. I thought part of the problem with Oil was excess supply (abundant shale oil for example). Is there just too much Methanol out there for the existing demand? Since Methanol is used as a substitute or an additive to gasoline and also used to create plastics do you think we are experiencing an emotional rejection of Methanol instead of a verifiable decline in use?
MX on their website illustrate the use of Methanol to power cargo ships. Is this a new growing use of the product?
Thanks,
Jim
Read Answer Asked by James on September 30, 2019
Q: Hi: What is your opinion of EWU for a long-term hold? It pays a pretty good dividend, but I note that it has a fairly high concentration in banking and energy. I would use it to increase my international diversification. Also, is there a similar ETF that is Canadian dollar denominated? Thanks J
Read Answer Asked by John on September 30, 2019
Q: My ears perk up whenever you guys like a US growth stock, recent question about hypothetical growth portfolio included AYX, GH, ISRG, MMS, TER.

I am aware of your prior answers and why you like AYX, GH and ISRG and own 2 of the 3 for some nice gains.

So seeing MMS and TER I am wondering if you could give a quick reason as to why you chose those companies as I am not familiar and cannot see any prior questions on them. Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Michael on September 30, 2019
Q: I have all three in a taxable account, both FSZ and CIX down quite a bit while IGM which I held for a long time with considerable gain. None of them is considerable weighting in my portfolio and I am contemplating between selling all and buying either SLF or MFC or consolidating them to only one. Reading answers to questions it appears that your preference is FSZ. But you also like SLF. I am looking for growth more than dividends, Any suggestions? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Saad on September 30, 2019
Q: Hi Peter - Regarding the issuance of corporation shares by BIP.UN to existing units holders, will this be like a stock dividend or will it have the effect of a stock split? If it is like a stock split, my understanding is that the unit price of the original .un units will drop by 0.11% when the new corporation shares are issued and begin trading. Is this correct? Many thanks
Read Answer Asked by Andrew on September 30, 2019
Q: We have a few blue-chip, all well underwater, reset preferreds. I'm ok with that for these reasons. One is no need to sell for some time. Two is the dividends are much better than GIC income, which is my comparable for our preferreds. Three is my anticipation that these (more tax-efficient) dividends will still much better (than GIC interest) even if rates drop even further if they don't get recalled, ie because the dividend amounts over the next five years will all be a function of the original $25 share value. Q1: Is that anticipation correct? Q2: I'm still fuzzy on roughly how the market price will compare with what it is today (under a no-recall scenario) if the 5-year anniversary is tomorrow or, put another way, will our market price should we need to sell probably still be underwater until interest rates start back up? Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Bill on September 27, 2019