As all fund companies will tell you, past performance is no guarantee of future performance. What else, then, is the best way to evaluate mutual funds? After all, an analysis   Read More

Have your cake and eat it too. Impossible? Maybe not, says portfolio manager Keith Richards. Mr. Richards names some stock sectors and specific exchange traded funds that you can use   Read More

With apologies to the “No Sex, Please—We’re British” playwrights,  The MoneyLetter’s behavioural finance analyst Ken Norquay takes a look at why people make seemingly irrational decisions about investment strategy. His   Read More

Watch the mutual funds outside your registered accounts. Otherwise, you may find yourself on the hook for taxes if you buy just prior to an end-of-year capital gains distribution. And   Read More

A rising loonie has let the unhedged version of this top Canadian mutual fund outperform its hedged counterpart so far this year. But owning the currency-hedged version of this mutual   Read More

When stock markets turn volatile like they did earlier this year, many investors start looking for refuge — a place to put their money simply to preserve it and maybe   Read More

The value of an exchange traded fund hinges on the assets held in the fund. Toronto-based Canaccord Genuity portfolio manager Kim Inglis tells why you should ensure that the markets   Read More

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant,   Read More

You should choose a systematic withdrawal plan carefully so your money doesn’t run out before you do. A 1997 book, Die Broke, advocated planning your finances so that “The last   Read More

Chartered Market Technician Don Vialoux combines technical, fundamental and seasonality analysis to predict that Canadian metals and mining companies and U.S. industrial companies are set to rise this spring. He   Read More

If you believe a continued market downtrend for the intermediate term is likely, then shorting the market with exchange traded funds, stocks, currencies and gold might be of interest to   Read More

Though mutual fund wrap programs are extremely popular with the investing public, we feel they simply add a layer of fees that you don’t need and can damage your investment   Read More

Chartered Market Technician Don Vialoux combines technical, fundamental and seasonality analysis to predict that Canadian metals and mining companies and U.S. industrial companies are set to rise this spring. He   Read More

Index funds effectively own the same stocks in the same proportions as a market index. This means an index fund’s performance will always come fairly close to that of the   Read More

The Money Reporter, written for “investors whose interest is more interest”, publishes a list of the 13 best exchange traded funds for an income-oriented portfolio. Using this list of 13   Read More

Though most investors believe that equities will, over time, outperform fixed-income investments, they still fear the stock market. They worry that they, or their mutual fund, will pick the wrong   Read More

Dividend paying stocks add stability and investment quality to your portfolio. And dividends account for a lot–maybe as much as a third to a half–of your total returns.
Many investors are   Read More

This top Canadian global equity fund performs well in almost any time frame.  It does so by seeking bargain stocks of companies that trade at a discount to their present   Read More

One of the main ideas behind index exchange traded funds, or “ETFs,” is to minimize costs. After all, these funds need no special portfolio-management skills. The manager simply duplicates the   Read More

Diversified, conservative equity mutual funds make good core portfolio holdings, of course. But conservative investors would also do well to include a top Canadian dividend fund or equity income fund,   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

Whether you invest in equity mutual funds or directly in stocks, you need to diversify your holdings and balance them to suit your own investment circumstances and objectives. Below we   Read More

We’ve often expressed our distaste for bond funds and other income funds. That’s because you stand a good chance of beating most of them by investing in fixed-income securities directly.   Read More

When a security you hold loses more than 40 per cent, it’s tempting to just simply take your losses and move on. But this type of move is more applicable   Read More

In an office in Vancouver, a small Canadian mutual fund company with a difference carries on operations. There, Steadyhand operates a family of six funds. The company has devised a   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

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

Mutual fund investors should be prepared for tax advice slips which will report their income, eligible Canadian dividends and capital gains and losses when doing their tax planning.
At this time   Read More

Our latest addition to our Top-40 list of best Canadian mutual funds has a solid track record of delivering strong risk-adjusted returns. At the same time it has a well-balanced   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

A great deal has been said over the years regarding investment management fees and mutual funds. Much of it revolves around how fund managers motivate and reward sales efforts. Until   Read More

Investors should diversify across many ‘asset classes’. One of these asset classes, of course, is fixed-income investments, like bonds. The trouble is, with interest rates so low (even on long-term   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

Any investor may occasionally see his strategy fail to keep up with others. An investor with a proven record of success, however, can expect that with time his strategy will   Read More

Many mutual-fund management companies offer services that can help investors organize their affairs. Some of these services may be of great assistance to the investor, while others tend to benefit the fund company more.   Read More

Investing for current income requires an entirely different way of thinking than does investing for growth. But mutual funds that offer current income as their main purpose still report their   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

Often a small mutual fund is able to outperform large funds by getting a couple of big winners early on. This may attract the attention of investors who can quickly   Read More

If you’re like many people, you’ve rushed into your bank near the end of February and put as much as you could manage into an RRSP. You may have made   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

This past year, 2014, was a difficult one for Europe. According to estimates provided by The Economist, the euro area is likely to have grown just 0.8 per cent for   Read More

Where should you put new money now?

Continue to add to stock funds, emphasizing diversified, conservative offerings. Longer-term, risk-tolerant investors may want to be more aggressive with specialized funds.

We think the   Read More

Canadian small-cap stocks have lost ground this year, but IA Clarington Canadian Small Cap Fund has bucked the trend. Its strong, consistent track record and relatively low volatility makes it,   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

Wall Street strategists have started to issue their 2015 forecasts. And if a report by Goldman Sachs is any indication of the forecasts to follow, you might want to forget   Read More

How much foreign content you choose to hold in your portfolio should depend on your investment objectives, time horizon and risk tolerance. But when you calculate your foreign content, remember   Read More

The lessons of stock-market volatility especially apply to specialty funds. If you learn from them, consider any losses the cost of tuition at the school of Bay Street. You can,   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