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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 have equity positions across my wife's and my accounts ... tfsa, rrsp, and taxable. A good portion of my equity is in etf's mostly covering us and international positions. When I calculate a full position with my Canadian individual stocks(5%) do I use my full equity amount or just the amount invested in the candian stocks (I.e. The 5% of my Canadian portfolio would be closer to 2% of my total equity portfolio).
Read Answer Asked by Paul on September 27, 2017
Q: I have been an investor in small and midcap stocks for over 20 years with a willingness to accept additional risk in my portfolio.I am now transitioning my portfolio to a more Income focus, as i will need dividends to supplement my retirement.
Questions i have are about construction of income portfolio?
Do you feel it is still important to diversify in other countries and regions outside of Canada?You would lose some of the favourable tax benefits!

In trying to classify many dividend stocks in sectors i find that they cross the line into numerous sectors,(example many pipeline stocks are said to be oil and gas stocks, many are said to be utility type of investments)
What sector do you put an ETf in?Seems like a lot of investors drive themselves crazy in the allocation to sectors

I have looked at your income portfolio and your fixed income portion that is addressed by a few Etf.I have taken positions in individual preferred shares,debentures, a couple of instruments with bond like qualities.What is the percentage you would advocate for fixed income or there proxies?

Many Blue chip income stocks pay quarterly dividends,when i prefer monthly dividends.This again can skew my portfolio so that diversifying by sector and country becomes difficult

I find that the construction of my Income portfolio has given me many grey hairs(which i dont need help with"thank you very much")
Read Answer Asked by Randy on September 27, 2017
Q: I own VET and am considering adding to it, mainly for the 5.6% dividend, but also for some growth in this beaten up sector. The Globe and Mail had an article the other day, "France bids VET adieu ...." Should this cause me to NOT add to VET, or is the 2040 deadline too far in the future to have much negative impact on VET?

So "buy, sell, hold" ?

Thanks for your guidance here.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on September 27, 2017
Q: Re the question on why Facebook shares dropped, here is the probable answer

Facebook (FB) shares dove Monday as Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg revealed plans late Friday to nix the creation of a new class of shares and to also sell a big chunk of stock

As part of that plan, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday said that Zuckerberg anticipates selling 35 million to 75 million shares of Facebook stock over approximately 18 months "in order to fund the philanthropic initiatives of Mr. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, in education, science and advocacy."
Read Answer Asked by John on September 27, 2017
Q: I thought this might be of interest to all. From a mining blogger I follow.

So I get this message from a short seller firm...
Posted: 25 Sep 2017 02:46 PM PDT
...this morning, quite a well-known one in fact, that said (quote) "When you have a minute to chat I want to run something by you". I think fine and replied "Tell me". Just a couple of minutes later the phone rings and the representative of the short selling firm offers me a gig. What happens is that they would do the legwork on A.N. Other stock then send over the information, I would publish the info on the blog, presumably they are already short when they give me the juice, the stock goes down and as a result they would profit. The short selling firm would then pay me 20% of their proceeds for my time and effort. He also said that the firm in question already has this type of arrangement with other outlets, so I can only presume their business model works just fine. I told the person in question that I'd think about the offer. He can consider this post as my definitive reply and if he wants to push his luck, next time names will be named.
Read Answer Asked by Gerald on September 26, 2017
Q: I was surprised at the extent to which Facebook dropped yesterday on no company-specific news. I don't recall a worse day in a long time. I know the Nasdaq took a hit but Facebook was harder hit than anyone other than the stocks which had prices in the stratosphere. It is generally not that volatile a stock. Certainly it's less volatile than Amazon or even Alphabet, and has a lower PEG ratio than either. Yet they fared far better yesterday. Alphabet was down .81% while Facebook dropped 4.5%. Is there something else at work I'm not seeing? Perhaps a huge block of trades from someone exiting the position? I do want to have tech exposure but not if a stock is going to be one everyone will hit the sell trigger on for the slightest reason.
Read Answer Asked by John on September 26, 2017
Q: Great Canadian Gaming is now down 10% in the last three days. Could you explain this to me? I get that there was a story about money laundering in BC casinos. But these stories have been around for years and no illegality on the part of GC is even suggested. As I understand it, the fear is VIPs, primarily from oversees, are buying chips with bags of cash, and then, later, cashing out the chips. GC reports these as it is obligated to do but is under no legal obligation to do anything further. If the government decides to change the laws to stop them accepting bundles of cash is that going to cost them a lot of profit somehow? I don't think they're making anything if people buy chips then cash them out again.
Read Answer Asked by John on September 26, 2017
Q: Further to the earlier questions on the Constellation Software debentures, the prospectus indicates that 5 years notice of redemption must be provided by the company. Given this, the earliest possible redemption date would be March 31st, 2023. Is my understanding of this correct?

"During the period beginning on March 16 and ending on March 31 of each year, the Company will have the right, at its option, to give notice to holders of Debentures of its intention to redeem the Debentures, in whole or in part, on March 31 in the year that is five years following the year in which notice is given, at a price equal to the principal amount thereof plus accrued and unpaid interest up to but excluding the date fixed for redemption. For example, if the Company chooses to exercise its right to redeem the Debentures in March 2015, the Company would be required to deliver notice of such redemption to holders of Debentures during the period beginning on March 16, 2015 and ending on March 31, 2015, and the effective date of redemption would be March 31, 2020. Given the foregoing, the first possible redemption date is March 31, 2020."
Read Answer Asked by Stephen on September 26, 2017
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