Category 2008

blog02mar2008

Hot Off the Web George Athanassakos in Globe and Mail’s “Bond investors beware” cautions bond investors not to be lulled into a false sense of security. With gold near $1,000/oz., oil at $100/barrel, money supply growing at 7%/year and food inflation expected to increase to over 7% during the next 10 years (vs. 2.3% over […]

blog24feb2008

Hot Off the Web Tim Cestnick had two articles in the Globe and mail explaining how options are taxed in Canada. In “Options trading and the taxman”  he outlines what puts and calls are and explains the roles of the option writer/seller and holder/buyer. The seller essentially commits to sell (call) or buy (put) some […]

blog17feb2008

Hot Off the Web In WSJ’s “He invests, she invests: Who gets the better returns?” Jonathan Clements reports on differences between men and women’s approach to investment. While men trade much more frequently than women and thus lose 2.65% of the available stock performance, women still have lower portfolio performance due to being more risk […]

blog03feb2008

Hot Off the Web In WSJ’s “Questions for parents” Shelly Banjo discusses how adult children can approach a discussion of the adequacy of their parent’s retirement plans with them. I recommend to you Huntington Bancshares’ Checklist for Life  as a great starting point for you to document what and where are your key financial assets […]

blog27jan2008

Hot Off the Web The focus of this week’s, somewhat abbreviated, blog will be what you should or should not be doing with your portfolio in these market swoons. I am having laptop problems. My sleek new laptop has essentially packed it in (hopefully only temporarily), so I am trying to do this on my […]

blog20jan2008

Hot Off the Web Much of last week’s financial pages were filled with the doom and gloom of: recession (is it still coming or is already here), subprime mortgage crisis (well under way), the credit default swap crisis (just got under way, what is it and whether it will be worse the subprime crisis), the […]

blog13jan2008

Hot Off the Web Jonathan Chevreau in “Fidelity targets boomers with new income replacement portfolios” writes in the Financial Post that Fidelity Canada introduced Fidelity Income Replacement Portfolios (introduced last year in the U.S.) which can complement government and employer pensions. Fidelity feels that these funds would be suitable for those who feel that they […]

blog06jan2008

Hot Off the Web In WSJ’s “New funds pitch steady income to retirees” Tom Lauricella reviews new funds which aim to provide “steady”, though not necessarily stable, income to retirees without having to lock funds into an (expensive) annuity (see also my December 9th Hot Off the Web ). He mentions Fidelity’s Income Replacement Funds, […]