Investments

What you need to know about ETFs

A recent survey by BMO Investments found Canadians are confused about exchange traded funds. Thank goodness for financial advisors who can help their clients make sense of these products.

By Staff |December 7, 2011

2 min read

Industry

Income trust, redux?

Remember income trusts? The high-yielding business structures were pretty much obliterated at the beginning of this year as new tax treatment was implemented. But they may be making a comeback, thanks to a new structure devised by PwC.

By Staff |December 7, 2011

2 min read

Products

Vanguard ETFs land on TSX

Vanguard has officially arrived on Canadian shores, launching six new exchange-traded funds which began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange this morning.

By Staff |December 6, 2011

2 min read

Economic Indicators

Global recovery to remain polarized

The uneven global economic recovery will continue to create a two-speed world where emerging economies will persistently outpace those in the developed world.

By Vikram Barhat |December 6, 2011

2 min read

The Place of ETFs in Portfolio Allocation and Diversification

Asset allocation is the strategy investors follow to divide their money between different assets like stocks, bonds and cash. The underlying principle is that prices of different assets move in different(uncorrelated) ways, leading to the idea that diversification protects against risk, which is defined as volatility. But asset allocation says little about the investor’s objectives.

December 5, 2011

13 min read

Moving closer to better than expected?

On the surface, it was yet another week of wrangling over the European debt situation and this time we witnessed a covert, well orchestrated intervention by the world’s most influential central bankers.

By David Andrews |December 5, 2011

5 min read

Profit from trade flow reversal

The recent hammering of the global financial markets, fears of recession and unprecedented deleveraging have heralded a changing of the guard as investment focus moves away from the consumer and into the businesses sector.

By Vikram Barhat |December 5, 2011

2 min read

Pension investing with ETFs

DC and RSP benefits are completely a function of contributions and the actual investment result for each employee. Employees are responsible for the outcome, not employers, and the pension amount is unknown until retirement. High costs, poor investment decision-making and lack of scale are documented problems with DC plans, which have generally experienced returns 1% lower than DB plans over time, according to a recent Towers Watson study.

December 1, 2011

10 min read

Investments

What you need to know about ETFs

Income trust, redux?

Vanguard ETFs land on TSX

Global recovery to remain polarized

The Place of ETFs in Portfolio Allocation and Diversification

Canadians find ETFs confusing

Moving closer to better than expected?

Profit from trade flow reversal

Funds struggled back in final days of November

Pension investing with ETFs