If your investment time horizon is shortening, or you don’t like volatility, you might want to consider a change in your asset allocation to reflect the riskier outlook for equities.
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We advise you to use some contributions to a TFSA (Tax-Free Savings Account) to build an emergency fund. Then use the remaining TFSA money to invest in potentially very lucrative   Read More

“Diversification is protection against ignorance. It makes little sense if you know what you are doing.” We don’t often disagree with Warren Buffet, but sector investing lets you gain exposure   Read More

Ken Norquay recalls the late Richard Russell’s admonition in making the case that investors who have not adopted financial plans that include selling, should do so immediately.
  Read More

5iResearch securities analyst Moez Mahraz finds companies with high insider ownership do well. When management has significant “skin-in-the-game”, their interests are closely aligned with yours.
Many of the companies we follow   Read More

Investors gain an appreciation of risk and diversification in terrible markets like the end of 2018. But markets like the first half of this year can undermine those hard-won lessons.
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Here are two sleep-at-night mutual funds that, together, constitute a well-diversified portfolio with exposure to different geographical areas and industries.
With just these two funds you can   Read More

Some investors get an urge to take one last speculative fling before they retire. For most of us, it’s better to plan a transitional portfolio.
Changing a portfolio to suit new   Read More

Bond funds account for about 13 per cent of the money Canadians have invested in mutual funds. But bond funds do little more than enrich their managers and enslave their   Read More

Toronto tax lawyer Samantha Prasad warns that all is not fair in love and taxes. The CRA may not have the same misty-eyed view of sharing as you and your   Read More

ValueTrend portfolio manager Keith Richards wonders if we are in for a storm (a new bear market), or is this just the pause that refreshes (a continuing bull market)?
Back in   Read More

Be careful of stock tips from portfolio managers. They may know more about stocks than your hairdresser, but if they’re talking up a stock, they’ve probably already accumulated it.
We like   Read More

Rebalancing your portfolio to your long-term asset allocation targets can protect you from harmful portfolio drift.
Contrarian investors look at what the crowd is doing and act differently, provided that it   Read More

5iResearch securities analyst Moez Mahraz finds companies with high insider ownership do well. When management has significant “skin-in-the-game”, their interests are closely aligned with yours.
Many of the companies we follow   Read More

Make sure your investment techniques serve the investor you really are, and NOT the investor who is newly inspired to take more risk because the markets seem so strong.
In pre-computer   Read More

Some investors get an urge to take one last speculative fling before they retire. For most of us, it’s better to plan a transitional portfolio.
Changing a portfolio to suit new   Read More

Bond funds account for about 13 per cent of the money Canadians have invested in mutual funds. But bond funds do little more than enrich their managers and enslave their   Read More

ValueTrend portfolio manager Keith Richards wonders if we are in for a storm (a new bear market), or is this just the pause that refreshes (a continuing bull market)?
Back in   Read More

Fresh off the glow of Toronto Raptors’ championship run, Mark Goodfield (aka The Blunt Bean Counter) finds five lessons for wannabe winning investors.
The Raptors are the toast of the town   Read More

Rebalancing your portfolio to your long-term asset allocation targets can protect you from harmful portfolio drift.
Contrarian investors look at what the crowd is doing and act differently, provided that it   Read More

Make sure your investment techniques serve the investor you really are, and NOT the investor who is newly inspired to take more risk because the markets seem so strong.
In pre-computer   Read More

Be careful of stock tips from portfolio managers. They may know more about stocks than your hairdresser, but if they’re talking up a stock, they’ve probably already accumulated it.
We like   Read More

Toronto tax lawyer Samantha Prasad warns that all is not fair in love and taxes. The CRA may not have the same misty-eyed view of sharing as you and your   Read More

DRIPs (Dividend Re-Investment Plans) and cash option plans let individual investors build their wealth. That’s thanks to these dozen advantages.
Your stack of cash will grow more   Read More

Behavioural finance analyst Ken Norquay casts his skeptical eye on the notion that the baby boomers have had their financial dreams come true. Why would they worry?
While travelling in Colorado   Read More

Growing dividends give you advantages. Continue to seek stocks that regularly raise their dividends. Particularly the nine ‘dividend aristocrats’ shown below.
Growing dividends lead to capital gains   Read More

Even the most conservative investor has to own up to some grudging admiration for the successful stock trader. That’s because conservative investors recognize the difficulties that traders face. Before you   Read More

Why can’t you have your cake and eat it too? Tax lawyer Samantha Prasad offers suggestions for conservative, cash-conscious investors to minimize the tax-man’s slice.
For those conservative investors out there,   Read More

As if they’re aren’t enough potential sources of stock market volatility, we also have to contend with abusive short-selling practices from time to time.
Short selling has long been a legitimate   Read More

Biotech stocks typically get a second wind after the American Society of Clinical Oncologists annual conference in June and climb for the rest of summer. “Usually it’s in late June,”   Read More

Long term buy-and-hold strategies rely on up trending markets. Long term buy-low-sell-high strategies rely on volatility. That’s why behavioural finance analyst Ken Norquay recommends incorporating selling into your investment strategy.
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When your stocks are down, remember that every dog has its day.
Equity markets have had a strong start to the year. The positive shifts in investor sentiment and stock prices   Read More

Pete Seeger’s 1950s hit ‘Turn! Turn! Turn! To everything there is a season’ popularized the message of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. So why, behavioural finance analyst Ken Norquay wonders, does the securities   Read More

Great graduation gifts needn’t cost you much. Smart-as-a-whip grads may have earned straight ‘A’s, but did they learn anything about managing money? You can help them start a post-grad program   Read More

We have always advised strenuously against stock-market timing. And the longer we work at investments, the more convinced we become that no one has much of an edge at timing.
It’s   Read More

The grim reaper is not going to hang around and wait for you to get organized. He works on his own schedule. Trust and Estate Practitioner Mark Halpern has both   Read More

Eddie Cochrane lamented in his 1958 hit ‘Summertime Blues’ that his congressman brushed him off with: “I’d like to help you son, but you’re too young to vote.” At AGMs,   Read More

Even the most conservative investor has to own up to some grudging admiration for the successful stock trader. That’s because conservative investors recognize the difficulties that traders face. Before you   Read More

There are lots of people that offer up market predictions. Far fewer in number are those who command a great deal of respect, based on their past record.
It’s a rare   Read More

“Being able to perform in line or better than the market while holding almost a third in cash suggests that our stock picking and trading strategy have provided positive alpha   Read More

Behavioural finance analyst Ken Norquay says when you have an investment plan that buys and sells securities in harmony with ever-changing financial risk, your portfolio is safest.
  Read More

The investment industry relies heavily on investors owning individual company stocks traded on stock exchanges. But behavioural finance analyst Ken Norquay says we can use exchange-traded funds to invest in   Read More

We have always advised strenuously against stock-market timing. And the longer we work at investments, the more convinced we become that no one has much of an edge at timing.
[caption   Read More

Pete Seeger’s 1950s hit ‘Turn! Turn! Turn! To everything there is a season’ popularized the message of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. So why, behavioural finance analyst Ken Norquay wonders, does the securities   Read More

Growing dividends give you advantages. Continue to seek stocks that regularly raise their dividends. Particularly the nine ‘dividend aristocrats’ shown below.
Growing dividends lead to capital gains   Read More

Split shares can really boost your yield. They offer you the choice of doubling your eligible dividend income or doubling your capital gain with the potential bonus of any extra   Read More

Eddie Cochrane lamented in his 1958 hit ‘Summertime Blues’ that his congressman brushed him off with: “I’d like to help you son, but you’re too young to vote.” At AGMs,   Read More

The grim reaper is not going to hang around and wait for you to get organized. He works on his own schedule. Trust and Estate Practitioner Mark Halpern has both   Read More

Great graduation gifts needn’t cost you much. Smart-as-a-whip grads may have earned straight ‘A’s, but did they learn anything about managing money? You can help them start a post-grad program   Read More

You receive passive income through ventures that require little daily effort on your part and business activities in which you do not materially participate during the year. Mark Halpern, CFP,   Read More

Equity mutual fund managers sense a high risk in the stock market and are increasing their cash reserves. But the amount of cash they hold is restricted by the fund’s   Read More

You should have some exposure to US stocks now. We recommend the hedged versions of PH&N US Equity Fund, which is a managed offering, and TD US Index Fund-e, an   Read More