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(December 20, 2006) The majority of Canadians believe it’s a good time to invest in both RRSPs and RESPs, according to a survey released by Manulife Financial.

Seventy-one per cent of those questioned for the insurance firm’s quarterly investor sentiment index said it’s either a good or very good time to invest in RRSPs, with only 11% saying that it was a bad time.

It was a similar story for RESPs, with 68% feeling positive about that investment vehicle. About half said it was a good time to invest in mutual funds.

The latest survey of 1,001 Canadians by Maritz Research found 10 investment categories and vehicles gaining ground from the last poll, conducted in September.

Investing in their own homes (either through renovations or paying down the mortgage) remained the most popular place for Canadians to put their money, a consistent finding since 1999.

Balanced funds ranked second as the most popular investment target, followed by fixed income and investing in real estate. Cash was next on the list, but equities continue to remain relatively unpopular, with only 39% saying it’s a good or very good time to invest in stocks.

Still, Manulife senior vice-president Bruce Gordon says the overall results of the survey reflect a healthy long-term interest in investing. The TSX recently has hit record highs, real estate markets remain active in Canada, and five out of six of our previous polls suggested Canadians are very confident in long-term investing.”

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OpenSky seeks changes to trust fund

(December 20, 2006) OpenSky Capital has called a special meeting for unitholders of its Managed Protection Income Trust Fund to consider amendments to the fund’s investment objectives.

In a release, OpenSky said the trust will remain designed to provide unitholders with exposure to an equally weighted portfolio of up to 32 Canadian income trusts based on the top eight income trusts by float adjusted market capitalization as defined by the S&P/TSX Capped Income Trust Index but will no longer seek to preserve capital by the implementation of a dynamic exposure policy.

That means the trust will pay to holders monthly cash distributions in an amount that equals, to the extent possible, approximately 100% of the net distributions generated on the securities (after borrowing costs and expenses) that make up the portfolio, as opposed to the current level of approximately 75%.

“This proposed change in the investment objective and dynamic exposure policy of the trust is aimed at providing unitholders with improved distributions by increasing the level of exposure to a balanced portfolio of income funds,” the release stated.

More information will be sent to the fund’s unitholders in January. The meeting will be held on or about February 15, 2007.

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(12/20/06)