The run-up in interest rates make interest income more appealing, of course. But only if you can shelter this income from income taxes. After all, unsheltered interest income is taxed   Read More

A sampling of company updates, including target price and recommendation, by major brokerage houses. We mainly cover stocks from Canada, and U.S., but also some from Europe and Asia. Here   Read More

The outlook is positive for producers of lumber and improving for paper producers. A drop in supplies amid ongoing demand has raised lumber prices. Rationalization and the development of new   Read More

Financial trends illustrate the forces at work in the economic world. Behavioural finance analyst Ken Norquay wonders how this tangled web will unwind.
“It’s like déjà vu all over again,” baseball’s   Read More

California money manager Russ Mathews is bullish on Canadian bank stocks and US oil and gas stocks. He picks two of each as his current ‘best buys’.
Money manager Russ Mathews   Read More

Portfolio manager Mike Vinokur says his choice of Teck Resources and Taylor Morrison Home Corp., is based on long-term scarcity of the goods they produce.
The combined uncertainties of summer wildfires   Read More

California money manager Russ Mathews is bullish on Canadian bank stocks and US oil and gas stocks. He picks two of each as his current ‘best buys’.
Money manager Russ Mathews   Read More

There’s no such thing as an ideal retirement portfolio. But some portfolios meet the requirements of retired investors much better than others.

As they enter retirement, most investors assume with undeniable   Read More

PI Financial’s Guy Lapierre opts for well-established, cash-paying Canadian stocks, especially as our economy benefits from high commodity demand and prices.
Despite US Federal Reserve and Bank of Canada speeches in   Read More

ValueTrend’s Keith Richards says emerging markets, Europe and Asia should be on your radar for portfolio diversification. This, along with some commodity plays.
Readers of The MoneyLetter know that I’ve harped   Read More

Ideally, you want to buy bonds when interest rates are at their peak, or monetary policy is tightest, because bond prices are at their corresponding lows.

Bonds and debentures come in   Read More

Ideally, you want to buy bonds when interest rates are at their peak, or monetary policy is tightest, because bond prices are at their corresponding lows.

Bonds and debentures come in   Read More

ValueTrend’s Keith Richards says emerging markets, Europe and Asia should be on your radar for portfolio diversification. This, along with some commodity plays.
Readers of The MoneyLetter know that I’ve harped   Read More

Odlum Brown’s Murray Leith names five stocks with relatively attractive risk-return characteristics. He begins with some thoughts on Christmas dinner.

In the Leith household, we sometimes turn dinner on its head   Read More

Through its monetary policy tools, the Bank of Canada can starve the financial system of money, or flood the system, to get rates back to within its desired operating bands.

The   Read More

BMO chief economist Douglas Porter takes a look at the possible chart formations tracking a post-pandemic economic recovery. Give me a “U”, give me a “V”; give me a .   Read More

We’ve always held a high opinion of dollar-cost averaging. That’s because we’ve often seen this investment strategy richly reward those who follow it.

To dollar-cost average, of course, you invest equal   Read More

Is the star in the east shining on gold? Nick Barisheff makes the case for gold going over $10,000 an ounce. Alas, he proffers no opinion on the future for   Read More

Guy Lapierre, a Port Coquitlam, BC-based vice president at PI Financial, really likes Calgary-based Parkland Fuel Corp.’s six per cent bonds and two stocks—BCE for its dividend yield and Transcontinental   Read More

If China starts to sell a small portion of its holdings of US bonds and bills, US interest rates could go even higher. China has a very significant ‘ace in   Read More

If China starts to sell a small portion of its holdings of US bonds and bills, US interest rates could go even higher. China has a very significant ‘ace in   Read More

The Money Reporter regularly surveys insured deposit-taking institutions so you know where to get the best interest rate on insured deposits all across Canada.
The Bank of Canada started the year   Read More

Rising interest rates have historically benefitted cyclical securities like mining stocks, fertilizer stocks and gold stocks. The Money Reporter picks a mutual fund with broad exposure to the sector, a   Read More

“Shop as if you were buying a car”
“I don’t know about you,” said Tom, our most seasoned investor, “but when I was ready to start buying stocks, I really   Read More

Floating-rate preferred shares have advantages and disadvantages. You earn higher dividend income, along with the potential for capital gains, when interest rates rise. But the opposite can occur when rates   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

Every month Money Reporter subscribers know where they can get the best GIC, RRSP, Term Deposit and Money Market interest rates in Canada.
GIC rates continued to fall following the Bank   Read More

Although cheap gas is great for motorists, it could wreak havoc with Canada’s energy sector, as well as the market for junk bonds.
Central banks throughout the West last year found   Read More

The European Central Bank, or ECB, ushered in a new era by launching an aggressive bond-buying program in January. The euro zone is one of the global economy’s biggest trouble   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

Investment Analyst Murray Leith likes the way the new executive team at Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX─MFC) has turned things around. For starters, he says, they’ve used hedging to take a   Read More

 What to do about bonds

Canadian bonds have produced strong total returns so far this year. The FTSE Universe Bond Index, which covers over 1,300 Canadian bonds, has returned 3.5 per   Read More

“The good times are over.” So says Bill Gross, a co-founder of the world’s largest bond company, Pacific Investment Management Co., which is better known by its diminutive, “PIMCO.” Mr.   Read More

Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc. (TSX─WB) showed some pretty impressive slope side action during its fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 according to Sheila Broughton, managing director and head of research at   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

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

We’ve always held a high opinion of dollar-cost averaging. That’s because we’ve often seen this investment strategy richly reward those who follow it.

To dollar-cost average, of course, you invest equal   Read More

In every issue of the Money Reporter we provide you with a table of various interest rates. Along with this, we often provide a description of how these rates have   Read More

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are looking pretty good in current markets. After lagging the S&P/TSX Composite Index for much of 2014, the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index held up well   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

What impresses Barry Schwartz about Gerald Soloway, CEO of Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG–TSX) is his commitment — and, obviously his love of what he does.

After all, Mr. Soloway may   Read More

Some investors want their money used in ways they consider socially responsible. The criteria for that may change from individual to individual, but here’s a fund that tries to address   Read More

 “Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” wrote William Shakespeare. In the investment arena, well-known investors such as Sir John Templeton have echoed the same sentiment over the years. But   Read More

Charles Ellis, author of Winning the Loser’s Game, believes that you should build your portfolio as you would a house. Your house should be suitable to the climate, not last   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

There’s been little market action in either gold or silver over the past few months, says John Embry, chief investment strategist for Toronto-based Sprott Asset Management.

For one thing, both July   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

Registered Retirement Savings Plans, or RRSPs, help you to save for a more comfortable retirement while deferring taxes – hopefully on more favorable terms – into the future.

But the investment   Read More

For conservative investors, the urge to keep money in cash or the equivalent is hard to overcome, despite today’s low interest rates.

And yet, seeking safety in income-producing investments and cash   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

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A few years ago, those struggling for social justice used to say “Think globally, act locally.” Investors struggling   Read More