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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 think it's time that I put some money back into emerging markets. Currently my only holdings (other than ADR's held on International stocks thru New York) is my investment in ZDI. All in, these current investments represent less than 3.5% of my equity portfolio. So my two part question is as follows: 1) what rough percentage would you recommend for international holdings in total (tough question I know), and 2) please give me your opinion on the relative merits/demerits of VEE vs ZEM (on a line chart they track almost identically in terms of performance, so I'm wondering if there's something "under the hood" in either of them that might be important for my decision)? Many thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on May 08, 2017
Q: Hello team, I am fully invested (stock/etf's leaning toward growth) but am getting somewhat concerned about where the market is at. It seems (in my layman's eyes) that valuations across the board are getting stretched relative to fundamentals. I can take some profit and am wondering about some "insurance" in sectors such as gold; either cdn stock or etf's. For context, this is a registered account, 5 to 7 year horizon, mid 3 figures. Any suggestions
Read Answer Asked by Harry on May 08, 2017
Q: Hello 5i,

I am a 20 year old university student. Through my CO-OP position I have built up just over 2000 dollars in savings that I am able to invest right now with an additional 500$ a month until September. Due to the fact that it is such a low amount of money I have been strongly considering putting all of it into one or two ETFs in order to avoid hefty fees. I am looking to grow my money as much as possible over a 3 – 5 year time period. I am new at this and therefore was wondering if you guys had any recommendation as to what I should do and which type of ETF I should put my money into.

Thank you so much for your help and have a great day.
Read Answer Asked by Patrick on May 08, 2017
Q: Hello 5i

My wife and I will retire in 6 years. We plan to take 15/yr out of our RRSP's at full retirement.

After pulling most of our investments from mutual funds we have the following:
- 250k RRSP to invest into non-CDN (most likely ZWE, VUN, EXC, and a few stocks or XAW)
- 100k RRSP Mutual funds in bonds (transfer to ETF's or stocks over time to reduce fees)
- 100k RRSP for CDN investment (VCN or portfolio stocks?)
- 25k for TFSA now + 20k/yr to add to TFSA

We are not sure if purchasing 100k of VCN is the right choice.
Would you recommend 100k into the balanced and/or income portfolio instead, or a combination of VCN and balanced portfolio?

If RRSP funds are allocated to portfolios, which stocks are best suited for an RRSP? We can purchase the remaining stocks through our TFSA (higher growth stocks).

Please take the appropriate number of credits for the question.

Thank you for your great service.

Jerry & Debbie

Read Answer Asked by Jerry on May 08, 2017
Q: I own 100 shares of MDA, purchased at 80.95. Down by 15K now. I am supportive of the stock and appreciate the dividend they pay. My shares are in an RSP. My question is this: I am trying to decide if I should buy more. Everyone says "buy on dips" and at the same time everyone says "don't double down on a losing stock". How do I figure out if this is a good stock that I would be buying on a dip, or if I should avoid buying more and maybe even sell it? I have looked at the fundamentals but am stuck. Thanks very much again, Marilyn
Read Answer Asked by Marilyn on May 08, 2017
Q: I have sold 40% of my shopify position to take some profit and am now sitting with 6% cash in my non registered investment account. What options might be available to me to park the cash until I see some exceptional buying opportunities. Second question is that I am seeing several investment articles recommend a larger cash position as there may be a correction given very high valuations that appear to have too much "hype or anticipation" factored in. What percentage would you recommend I maintain in my investment account. I am sitting at approximately 6% in my non registered account and 10 % in my RRSP. Thank you for the great service.
Deborah
Read Answer Asked by Deborah on May 08, 2017
Q: Dear 5i
My current financial adviser has me in a large position of a global bond etf. I can`t continue with this etf when i switch toQuestrade as it is not tradeable there .
The question is should i continue to remain in global bonds and if so what would you suggest in terms of an etf or should i just stick with North American bond etf`s?
Thanks
Bill C.
Read Answer Asked by Bill on May 08, 2017
Q: Hi Team, Sorry about just copying this info, but RBC is doing a better job than I could:
12:23 PM EDT, 05/03/2017 (MT Newswires) -- RBC Capital is initiating coverage on TSO3 with an Outperform, Speculative Risk rating and C$4.25 target. TSO3 has recently commercialized a proprietary and highly differentiated device for the sterilization of medical devices, particularly endoscopes, in healthcare settings, the brokerage reports, adding that the company is therefore uniquely positioned with its marketing partner, Getinge (a world leader in infection control sales). "We expect greater than ~40% returns over the next 12-months."
Price: 3.17, Change: +0.08, Percent Change: +2.6
Would you agree or disagree with RBC on TSO3?
Thanks, Chris
Read Answer Asked by Chris on May 08, 2017