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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: Hi 5i,
Can you recommend one or two good broad market, low cost etfs? They will be held long term in a tfsa. I'm not really planning on holding individual stocks at all. I will be maxing out my tfsa and buying into the etf 2-3 times per year. I'm looking for good long term growth, and maybe some dividend. Any dividends will also be reinvested. Can 1-2 etfs cover all markets well enough or should a variety of etfs be held in the account?

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by david on July 14, 2016
Q: I have been holding for 3 years Direxion Gold Miner BullX3 (nugt-n) (long before I discovered 5i Research) hoping for a recovery in the price of gold. It is about 10% of my portfolio and I am 60% in the red. To balance things off, I bought Direxion Gold Miner Bear3 (dust-n) earlier this year and it amounts to 7% of my portfolio; I am now 70% in the red with it. On top of that, about 18% of my porfolio is in mining stocks I bought some 5 years ago and held while waiting for a recovery in gold prices: they are Argonaut Gold (ar-t)(60% off)Vista Gold (vgz-t)(46% off), both in my registered portfolio, and Alamos Gold (agi-t)(18% off), Endeavour Mining (edv-t)(30% off) and Silver Standard Ress. (sso-t)(30%off) in my non-registered portfolio. I don't need to create capital losses as I have a lot already.

I realize I have been foolish and that I am in a very bad fix. Is there any way out without loosing my shirt ? I am 76 years old. I am in line for a badly needed portfolio review with your team, but in the meantime, what do you think I could or should do ?
Your well informed views will be greatly appreciated.
Read Answer Asked by Jacques on July 14, 2016
Q: Transcontinental recently completed its third acquisition in the packaging area - would you be able to give me a sense of how much of the company this division now accounts for?
The company has been able to fund these acquisitions out of FCF ie no debt: the stock is cheap and provides a 4% dividend.
How would you evaluate the company's prospects for transformation from a declining legacy printing business into this new area.
Thank-you
Read Answer Asked by William on July 14, 2016
Q: Hi Peter and Team!! My investment adviser is really enthusiastic about Canadian Equity Notes. She has a Bank note based on the TSX 60 that pays 4.5% . It has a 45% downside and is callable as soon as the market is up 10%. ( same type of investment as CBL9436.) I am a little leery and have a few questions. 1) Are these good investments. 2) what are the potential risks 3) because these sound too good to be true, how do the banks make their money? What's the catch. She claims that these are as good as fixed income with minimal risk and got a little upset when I seemed not to be so keen on them. Thanks for your insight, Cheers, Tamara
P
Read Answer Asked by Tamara on July 14, 2016
Q: I am retired, have a 50/50 asset mix, moderate risk tolerance, and hold GWO (along with financials TD and BNS) in a diversified portfolio. If interest rates stay low (or go lower) for say the next 5 or 10 years, this could reduce insurers' income, push them to consider riskier investments, and raise their actuarial liabilities. Interest rates have been declining for years, so insurers have faced this reality for years already, but I'm wondering at what point the low interest environment really hurts their bottom line and financial strength. What am I missing in this assessment? Should I sell GWO? Thank you for your advice. Ted
Read Answer Asked by Edward on July 14, 2016
Q: Hope this falls within the scope of your Q & A:

Retired couple, defined pension plan providing coverage for living expenses. Also good real estate assets, including rental property.

Looking for additional income to "indulge" .... possibly even buy that little sports car that I wish I had bought 40 years ago :) ...

Have $500K in RIF. Own most of all your portfolios and a number of other stocks.
Objective to re-structure my portfolio so that it reflects: 50% Income, 30% Balanced and 20% Growth.
I would appreciate your top suggestions from each of your portfolios to achieve this target. The intention is to then review and edit our overall portfolios based on this input.

Thanks so much for your help.
Read Answer Asked by Donald on July 14, 2016
Q: My question is about vvi-viad corporation. This is the owner of Brewster travels..which is running an extremely profitable operation, which I experienced first hand during my recent visit to the Rockies. What do you think about this company, is this one to consider adding to my Us portfolio? Thanks very much.
Read Answer Asked by Shyam on July 14, 2016
Q: Good Morning 5i,

I am looking to replace my shares in Bank of America ( BAC). I have held it in my US account now for more than 2 years, and it really has done nothing, it has actually in that span of time gone down in value. No growth what so ever.

I realize the US market isn't your field of expertise, but i thought you would know of a US Financial ( including Investment banks), possibly something smaller and more Regional that looks good going forward that pays a small dividend, and has good growth prospects?

Thanks,

Stephen



Read Answer Asked by Stephen on July 14, 2016
Q: I am thinking of adding to CSU and would appreciate your thoughts. Although it's a high quality company the stock has underperformed the TSX this year. Is it better to buy now or wait for price improvement and if the later, what would trigger you to buy?
My thesis is based on CAGR of 20% (2016 est. $18.29 & 2017 est.$21.91) & forward p/e 23. Possible growth driver from TSS purchase by taking advantage of weakness in Europe.
As always, appreciate your views and particularly the other side of the trade.
Many thanks.
Mike
Read Answer Asked by michael on July 14, 2016
Q: I noticed 'Gary' had a question about Westport WPT. You gave it a 'short call'. Another interesting company with real stuff happening but no $$ or traction. Another stock for the future that will always remain so! Natural gas engine systems for trucks and buses. Contracts with Ford, Cummins et al. What is your take on this whole endeavour and this company. Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Ryczard on July 14, 2016
Q: I LIKE ANOTHER AM REPEATING MY QUESTION SO IF YOU ANSWERED IT MY APPOLOGIES..i am looking at adding to my portfolios as I have no weighting to energy, utilities , real estate and communications. what I am thinking of doing is using zwu to cover pipelines and telcos and ala for its value and dividend. as to the realestate portion I have land and houses so do not think I require exposure that way. please give me you valued opinion about this strategy. thank you
Read Answer Asked by gene on July 14, 2016
Q: Hello Folks,
I see this monthly income fund has a mer of 1.39% if bought with CAN funds and 0.45% if bought with US funds. The symbol is PIM005 if bought with CAN$ or PIMIX if bought with US$.
Is this all correct? I have some room in my portfolio for fixed income and just received some US funds which I would like to deploy.
Thank you,
Rick
Read Answer Asked by Rick on July 14, 2016
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