How to get a fix on portfolio holdings before it’s too late! Do-it-yourself investors who have a number of different investment accounts could be courting financial trouble. Unless you have a complete picture of how all your assets are allocated, your investment...
Income-splitting investment loans to family members High net worth taxpayers in the top income brackets can still cut the tax hit on high-yielding investment returns. Yes, it means becoming a lender, usually to a lower- or no-income spouse, but the tax savings can...
10 first steps to investment planning Opening an investment account is relatively easy. What’s not so easy is how to proceed with investment planning, so you don’t immediately lose what’s in your account. So here’s my list of 10 basic investment and money...
How can you tell when your portfolio is morphing into a different beast? What do you do about it? Read Robyn Thompson’s advice on how to check your portfolio for suspicious changes in The Globe and Mail’s “Financial Compass” series by Kira Vermond. © 2015 by Robyn...
Cribs, diapers, toys, financial plan Congratulations! You have a baby on the way or already at home. First-time parents are typically excited, flustered, nervous, and distracted – all at once. And usually, money matters are the last thing on their minds. But...
Is your mutual fund safe? You may have been surprised to see some mutual funds and exchange-traded funds disclose that they use “derivatives” in their portfolio management. It may have come as a surprise, because most investors acknowledge that derivatives can be...
How to make sure your investments stay on track An annual investment review not only tells you how your portfolio has performed against your benchmark, but whether it’s time to make changes to your holdings. This could happen, for example, if some investments in...
New reporting rules for advisors on the way You may have recently seen references in the media to something called “CRM2” for financial advisors. It’s basically a set of regulations designed to provide investors with more information on investment advisory costs...
Sorting out MERs, TERs, and loads If you’re a novice investor, and you’ve been looking at the costs of mutual funds, you’re probably finding it more than just a bit confusing. For example, you might have seen a number of different costs and expenses listed for...
Provincial regulations vary across Canada When you leave an employer, any pension money in a registered plan will be transferred to a Locked-In Retirement Account (LIRA), or Locked-In Retirement Savings Plan (LRSP). Those funds are “locked in” and not available for...
Should you switch to ETFs for their lower MERs? The lower management costs of exchange-traded funds compared with mutual funds seem almost too good to be true. Many do-it-yourself investors are wondering whether they should switch completely to a portfolio of ETFs....
“Pensionize” your retirement income Will you outlive your money? That’s the big question a lot of pre-retirees are asking. I am a firm believer in “pensioning your retirement income,” which means creating a secure stream of income from a variety of sources that...