03-13-2015, 04:23 PM
Hey Russell,
Welcome to the forum. Im Canadian as well.
I wouldnt try to time the market and simply look for good investing opportunities. Yes, the US$ is expensive and all trends seem to point that the US$ bull market will continue for a while (most economists agree that the currency trends are long trends - that span multiple years and do not quickly change back and forth - and some are expecting this strong US$ uptrend to continue for the next 4-5 years). No one really knows how its going to play out - thats why we play this game right?
The initial investment might be a bit expensive, but look at it this way - your dividends are also paid in US$, which means your returns if you are converting back to CAD$ are better, all things being equal.
But the flip side to that argument is that most equities in the US except a couple of sectors are very expensive - with very high PE and other ratios. So, there might be better opportunities at home or elsewhere.
A good way to take advantage of this is to look for Canadian companies which derive a major or part of their revenue from the US, so they benefit from the strong US$ when they report in CAD$. The banks are the obvious choice - such as TD, RY and BMO - which have a strong US presence.
Welcome to the forum. Im Canadian as well.
I wouldnt try to time the market and simply look for good investing opportunities. Yes, the US$ is expensive and all trends seem to point that the US$ bull market will continue for a while (most economists agree that the currency trends are long trends - that span multiple years and do not quickly change back and forth - and some are expecting this strong US$ uptrend to continue for the next 4-5 years). No one really knows how its going to play out - thats why we play this game right?
The initial investment might be a bit expensive, but look at it this way - your dividends are also paid in US$, which means your returns if you are converting back to CAD$ are better, all things being equal.
But the flip side to that argument is that most equities in the US except a couple of sectors are very expensive - with very high PE and other ratios. So, there might be better opportunities at home or elsewhere.
A good way to take advantage of this is to look for Canadian companies which derive a major or part of their revenue from the US, so they benefit from the strong US$ when they report in CAD$. The banks are the obvious choice - such as TD, RY and BMO - which have a strong US presence.