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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 multiple questions in this post, feel free to take as many credits it requires.

I am right now rethinking my portfolio and your advices-suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am investing for the long-term 10+ years

In the past 2 years, the size of my portfolio has tripled, mostly due to savings. Both my RRSP and TFSA are full, and I am now putting my new savings in an unregistered account. My full position (5%) size is currently between 8 to 9K$. When I began investing, in my TFSA my positions were more of 2-4K$. Here's a list of what stocks are in which account :

TFSA : ATD.B, GSY, MG, NA, OTEX, PHO, POT, SNC, T, and TD
RRSP : AQN, FTS, GUD, SIS, KXS, SLF
Un-registered : BAM, CCL.B +50K cash

I was thinking of selling SNC to buy back WSP in un-registered, and also moving TD to un-registered. So I could add to PHO, OTEX and GSY (my smallest positions). Is there other stocks in my TFSA that would better fit in another account? Do you have suggestions?

Also, I know I have some more growthy names in my RRSP that would might be better in a TFSA, but that's where I had room at the time of buying. Do you you think it's worth moving stocks from this account or it's OK leaving it as it is? I am at least 30 years away from retirement and don't plan to use money in my RRSP soon.

I would like to add gradually 4-5 positions to my un-registered account with my cash position. Do you have suggestions for quality long-term stocks (as I want to avoid as much as possible to sell in my un-registered) that could improve my portfolio?

Thank you!
Read Answer Asked by Julien on July 19, 2017
Q: Hi 5i,
Just a comment. For anyone looking at historical returns to evaluate the future prospects for a balanced (equity + fixed income) portfolio, it is extremely important to consider that the next 30 years of fixed income returns are virtually guaranteed to be significantly different than the past 30 to 40 years. Bond yields (interest returns) were in a generally declining trend, originally from nosebleed levels, for about 35 years from approximately 1980, during which even government bond yields dropped from double digit peaks to the negligible rates available over the past couple of years. The portfolios of investors who held bonds of significant duration early in that period reaped high interest rate bond returns while they watched the paper value of their bonds increase with each downward tick in interest rates. The fixed income component was potentially a tremendous contributor to very good portfolio returns over much of that extended period of declining interest rates.
Looking out over the next 30 years, the prospect is vastly different. Bonds don’t have anything remotely approaching the same kind of return potential. Current interest rate returns are still very low as rates are recently just beginning to move off what may later be viewed as ‘the bottom.’ The prospect for people who hold bonds of any significant duration while rates rise is that their holdings become less valuable. Low interest instruments may need to be held to maturity in order to avoid a loss of principal. In the meantime, those low interest bond returns will be a drag on any better portfolio returns that may be generated by equity holdings. If you have 50% of your portfolio in bonds that pay 2%, and you hope for an 8% overall portfolio return, you have to generate a return of 14% from your equities. Maybe bond yields will return to levels where they are not so detrimental to significant portfolio returns over the next 5 to 10 years but maybe they won’t. If they do, then holding bonds while the rates are rising can be painful. If they don’t, then they may go through an extended period where the chief value in bonds is the secure return of capital at maturity but the return prospects until maturity are relatively dismal.
The fact that someone buying a 10-year Canada Bond in 1982 got a 16% annual rate of return on it is not an indication of what anyone putting together a bond portfolio or balanced portfolio today can expect it to realize. It is completely irrelevant.
To assess the return prospects of a balanced portfolio today, you need to consider the relevant details and prospects for today's bonds, not the irrelevant details and portfolio contributions of bonds that have long since expired.

(Please print only if you think doing so may be helpful.)
Read Answer Asked by Lance on July 19, 2017
Q: Given the recent questions concerning FIH my interest in India has been piqued.

My question might be outside your scope .... but I just received what appears to be an email promotion from Deutche Bank India. The offering is for a FD (fixed deposit) GIC for 5 years with a graduated interest rate starting at 6.9% for years 1 and 2 and moving up from there to 8%. Too good to be true? Obviously the interest rates are appealing.

I could try to copy and paste the ad if you are unable to find it.

Thanks for your help.

A dividend seeking senior!
Read Answer Asked by Donald on July 19, 2017
Q: 5i team :
I have some cash available (10% of portfolio) with the intention to have it ready if the market (TSX or S&P 500) go on a sharp downturn. Assuming that this does not happen what would be your recommendation for the safest of all stocks (or 2 or 3 of them) in case of a downturn in the markets. (I am asking for a yield of 2.5%) Most of the safe stocks tend to have high P/E ratios , which makes me think they will drop anyways. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Alejandro (Alex) on July 19, 2017
Q: Hi 5i Team

I'm aiming to increase exposure to US growth in the tech and industrial sectors (preferably with some dividend ) I am open to moderate risk and tend to hold positions for years.

Could you suggest 3 names in each to look into?

Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by mike on July 19, 2017
Q: Good morning Peter,

Thank you for your thoughtful-as-usual, prompt answer to my recent question.

You feel that over the long term, a 50/50 portfolio (50% US Market Index ETF/50% US Money Market Fund) would return about half or less than one that is fully invested in the US Market Index ETF.

Writing in San Francisco's MarketWatch on Sept. 2, 2010, Jonathan Burton showed that such a portfolio "...has made almost as much money as the more aggressive, stock-heavy strategy over the past 25 years and topped it over the past decade."

Why would investors not reasonably expect a similar future performances?

Thank you.

Milan
Read Answer Asked by Milan on July 18, 2017
Q: a bit of granurality for the benefit of your readers following your response on Fairfax.
The last time I checked they had I think no more than 5 positions, one of them is an important position in the BANGALORE AIRPORT growing ''exponentially''.
On the bad side :
1 it trades in US dollars and I have no hedge
2 It has I think a pretty hefty MER similar to a hedge fund, I have a call wainting to be answered but nobody answers as I want to know how the MER is calculated.
All and all seems not bad and signifantly better than ZID so far
Print at will
CDJ
Read Answer Asked by claude on July 18, 2017
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