Investment Information

Does economic growth equal stock market growth?

Posted by on April 21, 2011 in Investment Information

According to the CIA World Fact Book, China’s real GDP growth last year was 10.3%. Yet, The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks the largest stocks trading in China, was down 14% in 2010.  How can the economy do so well and the stock market so poorly at the same time? The “experts” believe stock market [...]

Is your accountant doing a good job?

Posted by on March 31, 2011 in Investment Information

Among all the major advisors (financial people, lawyers, bankers), accountants get the easiest ride. The answer is pretty simple: they are the only advisors who consistently can give you cash which you are not borrowing in the form of a tax return. But are all accountants created equal? How do you differentiate between a good [...]

The return of an old collection agency trick

Posted by on February 17, 2011 in Investment Information

The Government of Ontario tracks the top 10 consumer complaints. Year after year complaints about  collection agencies comes first by a staggering margin. Collection agencies most likely obtain this dubious distinction partially through pursuing debtors who legitimately owe money but feel upset by the process and partially through their aggressive and, in some case, dubious [...]

Is the identity theft protection industry the next consumer protection nightmare?

Posted by on February 8, 2011 in Investment Information

Identity theft is a growing industry and so is the identity theft protection industry. The identity theft industry basically sells two services: (i) identity theft insurance which reimburse the expenses a victim of identity theft may incur (typically legal bills, phone bills, lost wages and whatever is covered under the policy); and (ii) identity theft [...]

Do ETFs face a liquidity risk?

Posted by on February 3, 2011 in Investment Information

Bogan Associates LLC made a name for itself in the passive investing community by warning about an ETF collapse. The argument is pretty technically but, at its simplest, it argues that an ETF which has (a) a large number of short positions; and (b) is subject to a large number of sale orders could not [...]

The problem with GAAP (or IFRS)

Posted by on February 1, 2011 in Investment Information

Congrats to James who won the draw for a free copy of How to Profit in Gold. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and international financing reporting standards (IFRS) are the two most commonly used accounting standards in the world for publicly traded companies (the U.S. still uses GAAP and most of the rest of the [...]

Is paying down debt the only option for the young?

Posted by on January 27, 2011 in Investment Information

Rob Carrick wrote an interesting article recently pointing out that young people placing paying down debt as a financial priority over contributing to retirement may not be such a bad thing. The story was in response to a recent bank commissioned survey indicating that paying down debt was the highest priority, contributing to retirement 7th [...]

Are advisors any closer to a fiduciary duty?

Posted by on January 25, 2011 in Investment Information

In the aftermath of the credit crisis, there was a movement to regulate all investment advisors and brokers under a standard of care known as a fiduciary duty. A fiduciary duty is the highest standard of care in law requiring the fiduciary (the advisor or broker in this case) to exercise a high degree of [...]

Use your credit card points to contribute to your RRSP

Posted by on January 13, 2011 in Investment Information

I generally do not like spam but I was pleasantly surprised last week to be spammed by RBC.  If you are a holder of a RBC issued credit card, you can redeem your points for vouchers to contribute to your RRSP, RESP, TFSA or to pay down a mortgage. There are two downsides to this [...]

Avoiding ETF duplication

Posted by on January 11, 2011 in Investment Information

Canadian Couch Potato beat me to the punch by listing sector exposures of various stock exchanges. The point of my now unwritten post was essentially the same as his- an ETF tracking a broad based equity index may not provide sufficient sector coverage depending on the exchange. Buying into a relatively small and industry concentrated [...]

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