Investments

To Clients: Portfolio Rebalancing

(August 2008)Show clients that you’re proactive about their investment portfolio by sending them this customizable template letter. Dear [client name], When we first developed your investment portfolio, we determined that the following asset mix best reflected your risk tolerance and time horizon. Today, your portfolio looks like this: While equity market gains are obviously a […]

By Staff |July 31, 2008

2 min read

Bond markets improve thanks to credit crisis

(August 2008) The fixed-income portion of any portfolio is supposed to provide stability, guarding capital against short-term volatility. But what happens when that volatility originates in the credit markets? That’s what happened in the summer of 2007, when America’s sub-prime mortgage problems first blew up, and quickly graduated to full-blown credit crisis. Corporate bond valuations […]

By Steven Lamb |July 31, 2008

6 min read

Commodities on a bumpy, but profitable road

Canadian investors have lucked out in many ways, because the domestic stock market is heavily weighted in producers of arguably the three most sought-after commodities — energy, gold and fertilizer. Physical resource prices have reached record highs, meaning investors could get burned if they try to time the market, but investment managers still see stock […]

By Mark Noble |July 30, 2008

6 min read

Cooling real estate industry still a good investment

(August 2008) Despite higher land transfer costs, property tax hikes and a shortage of homes, last year, across the nation, first-time homebuyers and real estate investors persevered. Now, halfway into 2008, the patience of would-be buyers is paying off. Riding the six-year tumultuous real estate ride (particularly in the last 36 months) — with record-setting […]

By Romana King |July 30, 2008

8 min read