Clik here to view.
Banks own the investment industry! A good thing?
Let’s face it! In the battle for investment dollars the Canadian banks are clearly the winners! Is this a good thing? Once upon a time, the investment business was more of a cottage industry....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is it all over for stock market investors? Don’t bet on it!
I’ve been reading lots of articles suggesting that the stock market is ‘overbought’ (an expression meaning that we’re in some sort of a bubble, stocks are overvalued and risk is high that they’ll...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mutual Fund Mania – Choose wisely during RRSP season!
Usually the first vehicle of choice for new investors is a mutual fund. In days of yore, which in the investment industry is more than five years ago, investors usually bought equity funds but in more...
View ArticleClik here to view.
You want back into stocks…but should it be growth or value?
Decades ago, the academic community and financial services industry, in an effort to better understand what causes good versus bad rates of return in stock markets, began studying differing styles of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
You are energy efficient!
If you listen to extreme environmentalists, you’d think the entire human race was oblivious to the fact that many of the resources we use are non-renewable, and that our fate is to irresponsibly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Canada’s most flexible and legitimate tax shelter!
In 2004 I wrote a book (with my friend Pamela Clarke and published by Insomniac Press) called Resources Rock: How to Invest and Profit from the Next Global Boom in Natural Resources. Since taxes are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Reacting to headlines is perilous!
You can avoid plenty of grief by reading headlines and as George Costanza (from the popular sitcom Seinfeld) says: “Do the opposite.” You might notice that the average ‘Joe’ was far more concerned...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Investment Industry needs independent players!
The most recent print issue of Money noted that the big Canadian banks managed to earn $31.7 billion in 2012, just a few years after there was grave concern that they’d even remain solvent. “There is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Don’t get whipsawed by Risk Management!
Back in February of 2012, I recall a prominent CFO departing a global insurance company. This particular individual was labelled “the highly regarded architect of a hedging strategy that proved key in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s time to lock in your mortgage rate…ASAP!
Most of us dream of the day when we can burn our mortgage. Few of us are prepared for the day when the mortgage burns our dreams of home ownership. For some, the added expense of renewing their...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to Tell the Difference Between Investing and Gambling!
I saw a question posted on a popular social network. The question was: ‘What is the difference between gambling and investing?” I’m inspired to reproduce (edited with permission) the following excerpt...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why so much ado about interest rates?
Mal Spooner Why the popularity of shorter-term interest-bearing securities among Canadians, in particular GIC investments? In fact, we in Canada are not the only investors who seem satisfied investing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Interest Rates Rising – the sequel
Mal Spooner is a veteran fund manager and currently teaches at the Humber College School of Business. No doubt you’ve noticed about half the industry pundits cautioning that the US Federal Reserve is...
View Article
