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

The investment industry has its jargon. One of the least understood, and overly complex phrases, is ‘asset allocation’. For many advisers, it’s just an attempt to make market timing sound   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.
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When you invest in a new industry, it’s best to use the ‘basket approach’. Spread your investment over a basket of stocks. That way you’re more likely to end up   Read More

Accountant Mark Goodfield, aka The Blunt Bean Counter,
No one does a ‘high five’ over a capital loss, especially if you can’t use it as an offset.   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

Historically, small stocks beat big stocks. But almost all of the better gains of small stocks occurred in one unusual nine-year period. Big stocks should do well in 2019.
At first   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

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

If you have new money to invest, we consider the Canadian stock market a good place to put some of your money. We would take this opportunity to invest in   Read More

No one always knows where the stock market will go in the short run. But in the long run, the longer you remain invested, the more money you’ll make. And   Read More

Bond funds seem like the answer to a number of investor needs. They provide income, apparent safety in your portfolio and even speculation on interest rates. But they fail to   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

Continue with your investment program, including regular additions to your small-cap funds, if these suit your temperament and objectives. But maintain a balance between conservative funds and aggressive funds.
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A friend joked that we’re overly-fixated on dividends. The thing is, many studies show that dividends can add significantly to an investor’s returns.
Paying out high dividends   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

If you’ve got a case of the January credit card blues, you should first use your cash flow to repay high-interest debt. As high-interest debt melts away, you’ll have more   Read More

Cryptoassets are not just cryptocurrencies; every asset will be digitized and these cryptoassets are ultimately going to come to represent almost every single asset we have—natural assets, commodities, securities, and   Read More

Willie Sutton robbed banks “because that’s where the money is”. A rewarding short-term financial plan, but for the long term all it got Willie was a new address. Assuming that   Read More

Behavioural financial analyst Ken Norquay believes managers of big portfolios are ‘concerned’ about the market. But they have a liquidity problem. Selling will depress the market. Small investors don’t have   Read More

Rebalancing your portfolio leads to trading costs. These include brokerage fees when you sell one investment and reinvest in another, bid-ask spreads and taxes on realized capital gains.
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American children’s author E. L. Konigsburg observed about honor rolls: “By the time they get to sixth grade, honor roll students won’t risk making a mistake; and sometimes to be   Read More

DRIPs (Dividend Re-Investment Plans) and cash option plans let individual investors build their wealth. That’s thanks to the dozen advantages that we outline here.
Here are   Read More

The United States and China are embroiled in a trade war. Britain must soon leave the European Union. Italy’s populist government wants to go on a spending spree. Political uncertainty   Read More

You have gone through a major change—you’ve sold the business that took up a huge part of your life. Just as you made careful decisions while building, growing and then   Read More

Floating-rate bonds and floating-rate bond ETFs offer you a way to protect your fixed-income portfolio from rising interest rates.
In view of rising interest rates, we’ve advised you to shorten the   Read More

RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs, PPPs, critical illness insurance, long-term care insurance, high-limit disability insurance, life insurance, joint-and-last-to-die insurance, charitable donations at death—no wonder we get so tired as we get older!   Read More

It makes sense for Canadians to invest some money in foreign stocks. If you’re a short-term investor, there are cases where hedging against currency risk is appropriate. But don’t hedge   Read More

Many investors repeat the same mistakes. Self-awareness may help you recognize them in your own investing and make a conscious effort to avoid them. Or else you may have to   Read More

It’s easy to understand why many investors find deciding when to sell stocks so hard—even harder, in some cases, than deciding what to buy in the first place. After all,   Read More

When it comes to getting married, there is always a honeymoon period. But we know from experience that difficulties arise in life. To get the financial peace of mind you   Read More

Since 1802, the US dollar has lost 95 per cent of its purchasing power. After inflation, that dollar invested in US stocks would’ve soared to $704,997 by 2012; invested in   Read More

KISS is an acronym for Keep It Simple, Stupid, a design principle first promulgated by the US Navy in 1960. The KISS principle states that most systems work best if   Read More

The price-to-sales ratio may help you to spot potentially undervalued stocks and also excess risk in your portfolio. But remember that the p/s ratio is just one tool to spot   Read More

This market is not an easy one for investors. What worked yesterday may cause damage today. Yesterday’s dogs, on the other hand, can become tomorrow’s heroes. You need to watch   Read More

It’s best to contribute as much as you can to both your RRSP and your TFSA. But that’s hard to do. The Investment Reporter outlines two strategies to assist you   Read More

Rebalancing an investment portfolio makes intuitive sense. And it serves to take emotion out of the picture. But it also takes judgment out of the picture. And its benefits are   Read More

Behavioural financial analyst Ken Norquay points out that October’s gruesome Hallowe’en holiday reminds us that human activity is not always rational. There is no need to lose your money just   Read More

Floating-rate bonds and floating-rate bond ETFs offer you a way to protect your fixed-income portfolio from rising interest rates.
In view of rising interest rates, we’ve advised you to shorten the   Read More

The peak six months of market activity has arrived, and seasonal investing analyst and portfolio manager Brooke Thackray picks the two sectors—and names two specific ETFs—that he’s targeting to rotate   Read More

The ‘Dogs of the Dow’ strategy involves the 10 stocks of the Dow Jones Industrial Average with the lowest price-to-earnings ratios. These low-cost stocks subsequently beat both the overall Dow   Read More

Portfolio manager Keith Richards of ValueTrend Wealth Management warns of the traps set by pros that often catch less experienced investors using stop loss orders. Keith offers a rule-of-thumb to   Read More

KISS is an acronym for Keep It Simple, Stupid, a design principle first promulgated by the US Navy in 1960. The KISS principle states that most systems work best if   Read More

Everyone knows that successful investing entails taking calculated risks. The trick is to minimize those risks while maximizing your potential profits. You can do this better if you understand the   Read More

Many investors repeat the same mistakes. Self-awareness may help you recognize them in your own investing and make a conscious effort to avoid them. Or else you may have to   Read More

Behavioural finance analyst Ken Norquay says: “If your monthly statement shows big losses, change your mind; change your view; change your strategy. If your monthly statement shows big profits, stick   Read More