Despite hand-wringing over America’s rising debt levels, U.S. markets continue to lead the world and the S&P 500 Composite Index has risen sharply over the past six years. Keith Richards,   Read More

This summer is shaping up to be one where macroeconomic trends will bulk large. Elvis Picardo, vice president, research, as well as portfolio manager, at Global Securities in Vancouver, identifies   Read More

Basing patterns are often a buy signal and Canadian banks, global agriculture stocks and U.S. junk bonds are poised to take off says Keith Richards, portfolio manager at Barrie, Ont.-based   Read More

Conventional wisdom is, well, conventional—and often inappropriate. Sunil Vidyarthi, president of Oakville, Ont.-based Value Sciences Inc., says the wisdom of putting bonds in your RRSP is flawed. In fact stocks   Read More

To ride out a correction, raise your cash limit. That’s the market outlook from Keith Richards, portfolio manager of Barrie, Ont.-based Value Trend/Wealth Management. With lots of change in your   Read More

After posting modest returns in 2014, Canadian bonds have gotten off to a strong start so far this year. Year to date, the FTSE Universe Bond Index has gained 4.2   Read More

Nature is springing back to life. But the markets are likely to correct significantly. Rebalance to emphasize cash and low-beta stocks. Keith Richards, portfolio manager at Barrie, Ont.-based ValueTrend suggests   Read More

In the past, buying all the shares that make up a stock index was a course of action available to only the largest investors. These days, however, Canadian stock-market investors   Read More

Remember all the talk a year or so ago how gold would take off? Well, guess what? It didn’t. In fact, it’s now trading at an even lower price. Keith   Read More

While the United States is entering an extended period of monetary tightening, Europe is beginning its experiment of unbridled and unrestrained monetary stimulus. One thing that investors know from the   Read More

Closed-end funds offer an alternative to traditional fund investing. One big difference is price. Even the best closed-end funds usually trade at a discount to their underlying asset value.
Closed-end funds   Read More

Limit the risk of your holdings. Adopt an investment strategy that will let you profit from—rather than be victimized by—bear market conditions.   Read More

 “As a technical analyst, I tend to avoid making longer-term predictions about markets, sectors or commodity prices. I find that forecasting market movements or events out beyond a few months   Read More

It’s the job of any financial writer to see through fresh eyes, to look for traps and false assumptions in the world of money. Investors who weathered the stormy bear markets of 2000 to 2003 and 2008 to 2009 know only too well what can happen to the unwary.   Read More

Recent market action indicates why it’s essential to hold Canadian equity index ETFs as part of a larger, well-diversified portfolio. Heavy concentration in just a few industry sectors makes Canadian   Read More

Bonds account for much of Canadians’ investments. And bond funds make up a large part of Canada’s mutual fund business. But investing in bond funds can deny you the very   Read More

Emerging markets have taken it on the chin lately. But this doesn’t mean it’s time to jump ship. For value-oriented folks, these markets are still good places in which to   Read More

Hamilton, Ont.-based Ken Norquay is a CMT (Chartered Market Technician) and the author of the behavioural finance book Beyond the Bull which discusses the impact of your personality on your   Read More

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam-based Peter Pham wrote recently in Investor’s Digest of Canada that the Greenback’s growing strength shows continued confidence in the American economy. He told readers how   Read More

A criticism of the standard market capitalization-weighted exchange-traded fund, or ETF, is that it mimics an index that gives greater weight to stocks that are high in demand among investors,   Read More

“If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” When Shelley wrote his famous poem “Ode to the West Wind”, he was looking forward to the gentler times of spring. Instead,   Read More

Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, offer low-cost exposure to indexes and sub-indexes on many stock markets throughout the world. In Canada, there are 340 exchange-traded products listed on the Toronto Stock   Read More

Though balanced funds are extremely popular with Canadian investors, we see little appeal in these investment products. It’s better to create your own balanced fund by selecting stock funds and   Read More

Key market indicators are back in a ‘buy’ mode and it’s time to buy says Keith Richards, a portfolio manager at ValueTrend Wealth Management in Barrie, Ontario.

“It’s no secret that   Read More

John Bogle, Vanguard Group founder and the father of the indexing concept, takes a highly academic route to his conclusion that no one can predict the future performance of any   Read More

The advantage of investing internationally lies mainly in broadened diversification, which cuts risk. Similarly, you can cut risk by investing in dividend-paying stocks.

Here are two complementary exchange-traded funds that together   Read More

We see little appeal in bond exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, right now. That’s because even shorter-term bond ETFs are vulnerable to the potential of rising interest rates over the next   Read More

Aston Hill VIP Income Fund (TSX – VIP.UN) continues to benefit from strong equity market returns, particularly in the U.S., as well as relatively attractive performance in the high-yield credit   Read More

Sometimes things just go on and on and on. Take, for example, the loonie’s duel with the greenback.

So observes Keith Richards, Barrie, Ontario-based portfolio manager of Value Trend/Wealth Management, who   Read More

When stock markets are undervalued, it’s usually a good time to invest aggressively in the index offerings that track them. When market valuations rise, however, a more circumspect approach is   Read More

It pays to keep an eye on an exchange-traded fund’s volatility as well as on its performance. That can affect your comfort level with your investments. And you may prefer   Read More

Exchange-traded funds, such as iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index, have their advantages and disadvantages. But if you’re content with returns that are generally no better, or no worse than the market,   Read More

Here’s a bond exchange traded fund (ETF) that arranges its portfolio in the same way you should if you’re setting up your own fixed-income portfolio. Its yield-to-maturity is low but   Read More

Quick, now: can you name the new whipping boy in the investment world? If you said bonds, you’d be right. After last year’s “taper tantrum” — i.e., the sell-off in   Read More

A look back at some investment hits and misses

When I worked for a major brokerage firm many years ago, I was always amazed to see how few of the Investment   Read More

This overly bullish market may be expecting a pullback this summer. Time to.. Get Defensive!

There has been a noticeable rotation lately out of higher-risk securities such as biotech, U.S. Small   Read More

We think now is a good time to seek exposure to emerging-markets equities because they offer compelling value. Investors have two avenues available for ETF investing: through a cap-weighted ETF   Read More

In view of our previous recommendation to ETF investors that they buy unhedged ETFs when investing in the U.S., we now recommend such an ETF for investors seeking exposure to   Read More

Individual investors once had few asset classes (or types of investments) to choose from: There were common stocks, fixed-income investments (including preferred shares) and cash such as Treasury bills or   Read More

One of the most important investment principles you can follow is to sidestep investments you don’t understand.

It’s a principle that some of the most successful, well-known investors, such as Warren   Read More

If you prefer to invest in index funds or ETFs, make sure that you don’t stop with offerings that track the Canadian market. Invest also in offerings that give you   Read More

With all of our other investment choices, be it stocks or trusts or bonds or cash, we all make our own decisions on what and when to buy and sell.   Read More

Markets have behaved perversely in recent months. Good economic news was sometimes greeted with a selloff as investors feared better times would only encourage the U.S. Federal Reserve to begin   Read More

Some investors bought gold for protection against potential inflation and paper currencies. But deflation is more a threat. And gold has drawbacks.

Gold is trading at US$1,318 an ounce. This is   Read More

Though balanced funds are extremely popular with Canadian investors, we see little appeal in these investment products. A better fund strategy is to create your own balanced fund by selecting   Read More

Regardless of whether or not the U.S. stock market has another stellar year in 2014, we believe you should always have some exposure to U.S. equities. And if you’re an   Read More

Investor’s Digest of Canada, MPL Communications Inc.
133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846

-By Brian Hoffman

Should American equities start to climb higher — and, steeper — we could see a   Read More

Investor’s Digest of Canada, MPL Communications Inc.
133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846

–  by Keith Richards
 
If you don’t want to buy individual names, consider iShares S&P/TSX Small-Cap Index fund.
  Read More

The MoneyLetter, MPL Communications Inc.
133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846

– Keith Richards

As we begin the New Year, many of us find ourselves reflecting on past decisions we’ve made   Read More

The MoneyLetter, MPL Communications Inc.
133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846

 
If you want to include only exchange-traded funds for your portfolio, we’ve suggested in the past that you keep   Read More

Investor’s Digest of Canada, MPL Communications Inc.
133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846

– Edited from an article by Sunil Vidyarthi, M.B.A., PhD
 
What’s your take on the umpteenth version of   Read More

Canadian Mutual Fund Adviser, MPL Communications Inc.
133 Richmond St.W., Toronto, ON, M5H 3M8. 1-800-804-8846
 

Recent market action indicates why it’s essential to hold Canadian
equity index ETFs as part of a   Read More