The fact is I’ve provided my subscribers with winning recommendations year after year. Here are just a few examples of safety-conscious investments I now recommend—and which have the potential to go even higher.

• RioCan, Canada’s largest REIT, gained 21.1% in 7 months after I recommended it in January 2011. The S&P/TSX was down 4.6% in the same period.

• In June 2011, I recommended Pembina Pipeline, a western Canadian pileline operator at $24.55. Less than 5 months later, it was up 19.4% and still rising.

• Newmont Mining, one of the world’s largest gold-mining companies, rose 28.3% in just 6 months after I recommended it as a buy in May 2011.

   • Discover the best ways to make the most of your Tax Free Savings Account, and put yourself in the best position to profit if the Conservative majority government follows through on its promise to double the TFSA contribution limit.

   • Safely generate a rising monthly income without investing in bonds with hidden risks.

   • Spot the real estate investment trusts (REITs) that can maintain — and grow — their distributions.

   • Zero in on the best exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for low-fee profits.

   • Enjoy significant returns in both bull and bear markets, with far less volatility than the overall market.

Plus, receive 5 Special Reports (a $125 value, yours FREE) when you subscribe to
Canadian Wealth Advisor

Dear Cautious Canadian Investor,

Did your broker tell you about the investment that soared 119.1% in just 8 months while generating a hefty 5.7% current yield?

Imagine if you had invested $10,000 in this remarkably profitable but lower-risk investment. You would’ve ended up with $22,480.

This investment was Fording Canadian Coal Trust. I recommended Fording at $47 in February 2008. I liked its prospects as a major producer of metallurgical coal used in steelmaking — as well as its steady cash distributions to unitholders.

But I also liked Fording’s appeal as a takeover candidate. And after my recommendation, Teck Resources launched a successful takeover bid. That pushed Fording’s shares to a high of $103 in October 2008 — for a gain of 119.1% in just 8 months —all while the market tumbled to new lows.

If you aren’t getting real, independent help from your broker (or if you don’t have a broker) read on. By the time you’re finished, you’ll have a working knowledge of investments that have lower risk than their returns would lead you to expect.

Bay Street’s dirty little secrets

If you are like many investors, the recent market volatility has made you more sensitive to risk.

Sadly, many brokers cash in on this aversion to risk by offering products and strategies that seem to offer safety and stability.

The reality is these investments are designed to make more money for the broker, not you.

Let me give you a few examples:

Example #1: Sophisticated options strategies that are designed to “protect” your stock portfolio by compensating for changes in price levels.

The basic premise is that if a stock drops in price, certain options go up, so your overall portfolio value remains about the same. What they don’t mention is that your transaction costs are so high, you’re lucky to break even.

Example #2: So-called “alternative investments,” like principal-protected notes.

These complex securities carry hidden risks. Though the principal is guaranteed, the main risk is that you won’t earn a significant return during the term of the investment.

Example #3: Certain insurance products, like equity-linked policies, which the law now lets stock brokers offer their customers.

These may look good on paper because of what appears to be a link to the stock market. But once you understand how weak that link is (usually based on some convoluted formula hidden in the fine print), you’ll discover your gains aren’t anywhere near the projections.

These are just three examples of investments that look safe, but are fraught with high risks and hidden costs. You’ll find complete details of these investor pitfalls (and ways to avoid them) in my new Special Report Bay Street’s Dirty Little Secrets. It’s a $25 value, yours FREE when you subscribe to my Canadian Wealth Advisor investment advisory.

Safe-money investments for turbulent times

As readers of Canadian Wealth Advisor know, I primarily rely on three types of investments to bring them profits year in and year out:

[1] Real estate investment trusts (REITs). REITs invest in income-producing real estate, such as office buildings and hotels. High-quality REITs can make attractive, lower-risk additions to your portfolio. Best of all, most REITs, including our recommendations, are exempt from the new 2011 tax on income trust distributions.

[2] Exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These funds offer investors a great combination of low fees and top-quality stocks. What’s more, all of our ETF selections hold well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios.

[3] Stocks. We think investors will profit most — and with the least risk — by buying shares of well-established companies with strong business prospects.

If your broker’s recommendations have been big winners (and in safety-first investments), you can stop reading now.

But if your portfolio hasn’t done as well as you’d like, or if you experienced too much uncertainty or are fed up with paying so much of your earnings out in fees, read on to learn how easy it is to get a no-risk “second opinion” that could give your investments a new lease on life.

Increase your income stream, not your broker’s

Today’s low-interest-rate environment has investors scrambling for ways to generate income. Some brokers are responding by urging their customers to buy structured investments.

These are what I like to call Frankenstein investment products. They are created when a brokerage firm’s underwriting department takes genuinely desirable securities and slices ‘n’ dices them into a new structured investment.

These investments come with special characteristics, such as principal protection or a guaranteed interest rate, that make them superficially attractive to investors.

Yet they also come with far more fees that in the end make them far more profitable for brokers.

You may not lose much money buying these “Frankenstein” or “synthetic” investments. You may even make a few dollars.

But it is certain that these investments will generate big underwriting fees to pay for your broker’s new Porsche, second or third luxury homes and lavish vacations.

Then, when the structured investment gets redeemed a few years later, your broker gets an opportunity to do it all over again and sell you something new.

However, there are investments out there that will deliver a decent return without an excessive amount of risk and without ongoing fees.

REITs for income — and growth

With interest rates still at near-historic lows, it’s tough to find high-quality investments with a yield of at least 7%. Yet amazingly, as I write this, there are income trusts and REITs trading on the TSX that are yielding 7% or more.

However, I say this with a word of caution.

Traditionally, income trusts, which are publicly traded entities, have had an advantage over regular corporations. In the past they paid no taxes; instead, they passed cash flow generated by their assets to unitholders (which is what shareholders in an income trust are called), who then paid taxes on these distributions at their personal tax rate.

Now the rules have changed. Ottawa’s new tax on income trusts came into effect on January 1, 2011. Almost all of our income-trust recommendations have already converted to conventional corporations in response to the new tax. Others will continue to operate as trusts.

Note, however, Ottawa feels the income-trust business structure is appropriate for REITs, so it has exempted REITs, including our recommendations, from the new income-trust tax. REITs resemble income trusts, but with a key difference: REITs invest in income-producing real estate, such as office buildings and hotels.

That exemption is making REITs’ high yields more attractive as trusts convert to corporations or cut their distributions in response to the new tax. Our REIT recommendations have all moved up, but we still think they offer attractive long-term returns at relatively low risk.

The best REITs have high occupancy rates and rising lease rates. That generates steady cash flow that helps them maintain—or increase—their distributions to unitholders.

Top-quality REITs also have good management and balance sheets strong enough to weather an economic downturn. They also have high-quality tenants, and they carefully match their debt obligations with income from their leases. The best ones continue to take advantage of low interest rates to refinance long-term mortgages.

Of course, if you don’t pick the right REITs, you could end up with capital losses instead of capital gains…

The fact is that some REITs are far riskier than they appear. Unless you know how to spot and avoid these risks, it’s easy to make a costly mistake.

When analyzing REITs, I look at a wide variety of criteria. Each tells me something specific about the quality of the underlying properties and the likelihood that the REIT will be able to sustain—and increase—its distribution of profits to unitholders in subsequent years.

You’ll find a more detailed explanation of this analytical process in my new Special Report Best Trusts to Hold Through 2011 and Beyond. It’s a $25 value, yours FREE when you subscribe to my Canadian Wealth Advisor investment advisory.

Currently I recommend a range of REITs to readers of Canadian Wealth Advisor. As I write this, these REITs are generating yields ranging from 4.3% to 9.1%.

9 safe ways to generate high current income

Unlike many financial advisors, I never promise more than I can deliver. And despite my past success with trusts, there’s no way I can guarantee that all of my future recommendations will be as successful as the ones I currently recommend.

BUT…the methodology I used to select these trusts is the same one I used to select the 9 investments I profile in my new Special Report (more about this in a moment). But first let’s preview what I am confident will be future winners:

•    A REIT with unique properties and a 5.6% yield. This REIT owns 19th and early 20th century light-industrial buildings that have been converted to office and retail space. That gives it a special advantage in attracting tenants.

•    Canada’s largest REIT has a secret admirer and a 5.5% yield. This REIT is a financial juggernaut! With a market cap of more than $6.5 billion, it has ownership interests in 302 retail properties containing about 70 million square feet. Revenues in the latest quarter increased 21.7%, to $222.8 million. And if all that weren’t enough, it has a U.S. partner that just might make a takeover bid…sending the price of these units into the stratosphere.

•    A REIT with over 160 properties spread out across Canada—and in the Chicago area. This REIT’s broad diversification helps cut its risk, and it continues to add high-quality properties. Best of all, it continues to raise its annual distribution. It now yields a high 4.3%.

These are just 3 of the 9 investments profiled in my new Special Report 9 Safe Ways to Generate High Current Income. It’s a $25 value, yours FREE when you subscribe to my Canadian Wealth Advisor investment advisory.

 

Earn big profits at less cost with high-quality ETFs

Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, are more appealing than ever before. That’s because ETFs have evolved, mainly because of increased competition.

ETFs offer unparalleled convenience and high liquidity

ETFs are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or sub-index. They hold a more-or-less fixed selection of securities that are chosen to represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. These funds are not actively managed, so their management fees are quite low.

ETFs trade on stock exchanges, so you can buy or sell them any time the exchange is open. You can buy ETFs on margin, or sell them short. You still pay brokerage commissions to buy ETFs, although over the longer term these would be offset by the lower management fees that ETFs charge.

ETFs can help you tap into emerging markets

There are now ETFs that cover every major North American stock market index and sector. That makes them a great way to hold the stocks in the TSX, S&P 500 and many other Canadian and U.S. markets.

As well, the past decade has seen the launch of many international ETFs. These can be a convenient way for North American investors to access the high profit potential of emerging markets like China and India. These markets are looking more attractive as emerging-market economies mature.

Even so, investing outside of Canada and the U.S. can expose you to more volatility and risk. That’s why I still think the best way for most investors to access these areas and cut costs is by purchasing high-quality international ETFs.

In my new Special Report, 12 Top ETFs You Need to Buy Now, I spotlight 7 ETFs that would be strong additions to a conservative investor’s foreign holdings. You’ll get my full analysis of these funds, plus all the details on my top 5 ETFs for North American investing. A $25 value, this Special Report is yours FREE when you subscribe to Canadian Wealth Advisor.

My secret weapon for picking stocks with built-in value

To find stocks that meet my safety-first requirements, my staff and I use the McKeough ValuVesting System™, a labour-intensive stock picking discipline designed to uncover stocks whose built-in value limits investors’ losses during downturns.

The stocks my ValuVesting System locates are particularly resistant to the sickening drops that so many conservative investors dislike. Although they sometimes experience price declines just like other stocks, they tend to drop less and recover faster.

Of course, the same factors that prevent a stock from plummeting can also propel it higher. Here are just a few examples of my recommendations:

•     Imperial Oil, Canada’s largest integrated oil company, with diversification through 2,000 retail gas stations—up 682.01% since we first recommended it.

•    Telus Corp., one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, rose 39.8% in just 9 months after I recommended it as a buy in January 2010.

•     Bank of Nova Scotia, one of the biggest banks in Canada, with minimal remaining sub-prime exposure and strong international prospects—up 747.7%.

I’ve been in this business for the better part of 40 years, and I’ve seen every sort of stock picking system known to mankind. Believe me when I tell you that nothing comes close to duplicating the success of my ValuVesting System.

You’ll find a detailed explanation of my ValuVesting System in my new Special Report Pat McKeough’s Secrets of Safe Investing. It’s a $25 value, yours FREE when you subscribe to Canadian Wealth Advisor online.

 

3 Super-Safe Investment Opportunities

At Canadian Wealth Advisor, we’re always 100% focused on helping you protect your “safe money” — the part of your portfolio you’re counting on for the future — without sacrificing the potential for strong returns.

To help you achieve your goals, we recommend that you hold the bulk of your money in well-established stocks, or in exchange-traded funds that hold those stocks. However, circumstances often require some investors to keep a portion of their money in even lower-risk investments. Even so, you’ll still want to earn more than the return on the average savings account or GIC.

That’s where my new report, 3 Super-Safe Investment Opportunities, comes in. If you’re looking for much lower risk investments, you’ll want to add these three to your portfolio immediately. Only a select few investors know about the investments that I reveal in this exclusive special report.

These investments have the potential to bring you great profits in the coming months, but even better, all three meet my stringent safety-first requirements.

You can read all about these three much lower risk investments in my Special Report, 3 Super-Safe Investment Opportunities. It’s a $25 value, yours FREE when you subscribe to Canadian Wealth Advisor.

 

The secret to building a market-beating portfolio

So far, we’ve looked at some low-volatility investments that can help conservative investors make serious money in pretty much any market environment, without losing sleep.

But the secret to successful investing isn’t just to have a collection of various investments. The key is to have a combination of investments that will work together to tame volatility and help you meet your financial goals.

That’s why my safety-first approach helps give you easy direction on how to properly diversify your portfolio, reducing risk and encouraging growth.

A no-risk second opinion about your portfolio

Readers tell me that, in addition to providing typically market-beating recommendations, Canadian Wealth Advisor acts as a sort of “second opinion” on investments recommended by their brokers.

As you can see, the information we provide in each monthly issue can not only prevent you from making some serious investing mistakes, it can help you generate substantial returns while reducing risk.

But the best way to appreciate Canadian Wealth Advisor is for you to experience it firsthand.

Subscribe for 1 year for $69 and save $50—PLUS receive 5 Special Reports (a $125 value, yours FREE)

This is a GREAT DEAL. Subscribe for 1 year for just $69 (an $50 savings off the regular subscription price) and you’ll receive a copy of all 5 FREE Special Reports (a total value of $125), including:

•    Bay Street’s Dirty Little Secrets (a $25 value)

•    Best Trusts to Hold Through 2011 and Beyond (a $25 value)

•    9 Safe Ways to Generate High Current Income (a $25 value)

•    12 Top ETFs You Need to Buy Now (a $25 value)

•    3 Super-Safe Investment Opportunities (a $25 value)

You’ll receive this additional FREE Bonus Report, Pat McKeough’s Secrets of Safe Investing, just for subscribing online! (A $25 value—yours FREE.)

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You’re not likely to find a more straightforward guarantee than that.

Yours for safe and profitable investing,

Patrick McKeough

P.S. Much of what brokers and other experts are saying about risk is just plain wrong. Learn the facts. Take advantage of my 5 new Special Reports, a $125 value, yours FREE when you subscribe to Canadian Wealth Advisor.

P.P.S. Don’t miss out on my Best Offer Ever. You’ll receive my additional 6th Special Report, Pat McKeough’s Secrets of Safe Investing. Plus you’ll save on the regular subscription rate.

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The Successful Investor Inc., owner of tsinetwork.ca, is affiliated by common ownership with Successful Investor Wealth Management Inc., a Portfolio Manager. Past returns do not guarantee future results.

Meet Pat McKeough

Patrick McKeough is the acclaimed editor and publisher of Canadian Wealth Advisor as well as three other highly regarded investment advisories. Pat is also the portfolio manager for many Canadian millionaires.

As early as 1980 he was recognized as #1 in the world of published investment advice by the Washington, DC–based Newsletter Publishers Association. Plus Pat was the first multiyear winner of The Globe and Mail’s Stock Picking Contest. A best-selling Canadian author, he wrote Riding the Bull, his 1993 book that predicted the stock market boom that happened later in the decade.

 

Take advantage of 7 safe investing secrets from Pat McKeough

Discover a few little-known facts that many brokers don’t know or are unwilling to tell you. This is just a taste of the profit-making information you can expect from Pat McKeough’s Canadian Wealth Advisor…

Safe Investing Secret #1 from Pat McKeough

“I would be remiss in a piece on safe investing if I didn’t put some emphasis on diversification. A portfolio weighted too heavily in any one area or type of investment product is ripe for disaster.”

“Even the safest of investment vehicles can go wrong. That’s why I recommend you include a variety of safety-first strategies when you build your portfolio.”

“At a minimum, your conservative portfolio should be balanced across the five main economic sectors, and include a good mix of stocks, income trusts and ETFs.”

Safe Investing Secret #2 from Pat McKeough

“The most important criterion when selecting income trusts isn’t the current yield, but rather the trust’s ability to increase its distributions in the future—all the more important now that income trusts will be subject to taxation.”

“It’s far better to buy a trust with a modest yield that will grow year after year than to invest in one that pays a high yield this year, but reduces distributions in the future.”

Safe Investing Secret #3 from Pat McKeough

“Now is the time to consider adding high-quality ETFs to your holdings. An explosion of choice — and increased competition — has made these investments more appealing than ever.”

“ETFs give you unparalleled flexibility: they trade on stock exchanges, so you can buy or sell them any time the exchange is open. You can buy ETFs on margin, or sell them short.”

Safe Investing Secret #4 from Pat McKeough

“Always learn about a fund and how it works before you invest.”

“There are good funds and bad. I recommend that you stay away from derivative-based funds. These funds are set up to profit by trading in derivatives, and are based on studies of what would have paid off in, say, the past 5 years.”

“Unfortunately, things are unlikely to work quite the same way in the next 5 years.”

“Furthermore, derivatives trading is what mathematicians refer to as a ‘negative-sum game’: one player’s gain is another’s loss, minus commissions and other costs.”

“In the end, trading derivatives, whether directly or indirectly through a fund, costs you money.”

Safe Investing Secret #5 from Pat McKeough

“If you’re looking to tap into emerging markets, look to high-quality foreign ETFs. They offer unparalleled convenience at a low cost.”

Safe Investing Secret #6 from Pat McKeough

“One of the biggest mistakes investors make when picking stocks is thinking that a low price to earnings (P/E) ratio means a stock is a good value.”

“In too many instances a low P/E is actually a warning sign that the company is in trouble. That’s because when a company is in trouble, the smart money tends to bail out before the problems become widely known.”

“This selling depresses the stock’s price, which in turn lowers the P/E ratio. Buying the stock at this point is like getting a bargain fare on the Titanic.”

Safe Investing Secret #7 from Pat McKeough

“Another common mistake investors make when selecting mutual funds is staying within one fund family.”

“Just because a family’s income fund has a good track record does not mean that its growth fund will do well. In most fund families there are good and bad performers.”

“You need to evaluate each fund in a family on its own merits and then make your investing decisions.”

These 7 secrets are just a sample of the savvy investment advice you will get when you subscribe to Canadian Wealth Advisor.

Subscribe to Canadian Wealth Advisor and receive Pat McKeough’s Special Reports—FREE!

A GOOD DEAL! Subscribe for 1 year and receive 2 FREE Special Reports valued at $50:

SPECIAL REPORT #1
Bay Street’s Dirty Little Secrets
(a $25 value)

Many of the investments brokers recommend are not what they seem. In this Special Report, Pat exposes a variety of these Frankenstein investments, which are fraught with high risks and hidden costs. By the time you’re done reading this report, you’ll know the questions to ask when your broker presents you with a new investment “opportunity”—and what products to steer clear of.

SPECIAL REPORT #2
Best Trusts to Hold through 2011 and Beyond
(a $25 value)

When analyzing REITs of any type, Pat looks at a wide variety of criteria. And in this Special Report you’ll find a detailed explanation of the analytical process he uses for REITs. Each will tell you something specific about the quality of the underlying properties and the likelihood that the trust will be able to sustain—and increase—its distribution of profits to unitholders in subsequent years, even after taxation begins.

A GREAT DEAL!
Subscribe for 2 years and receive the Special Reports above plus these 3 additional Special Reports—a total value of $125, yours FREE.

SPECIAL REPORT #3
9 Safe Ways to Generate High Current Income
(a $25 value)

In this Special Report, Pat identifies 9 income trusts that show the potential for big profits—among them a profit-generating powerhouse with a 9.9% yield and Canada’s largest REIT with a 6.4% yield, as well as one of the largest energy trusts in North America.

SPECIAL REPORT #4
12 Top ETFs You Need to Buy Now
(a $25 value)

The secret to earning big profits from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is picking the right ETFs for your portfolio. In this Special Report, you’ll find Pat’s latest recommendations in ETFs. These funds give you a great combination of low fees and top-quality stocks. Even better, all of these ETFs hold well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind report.

SPECIAL REPORT #5
3 Super-Safe Investment Opportunities
(a $25 value)

If you’re looking for even lower-risk investments than stocks, income trusts and ETFs, you’ll want to add these three to your portfolio right away. They all meet my stringent safety-first requirements, but still have the potential to bring you great profits in the coming months.

Subscribe online and get this additional Special Report, Pat McKeough’s Secrets of Safe Investing (A $25 value—yours FREE).

ONLINE
BONUS REPORT
Pat McKeough’s Secrets of Safe Investing
(A $25 value)

Much of what your broker and other experts tell you about risk is just plain wrong. The fact is you don’t have to take on a lot of risk to get high yields and outsized capital gains, once you know a few tricks of the trade. In this Special Report, Pat sets the record straight and offers his best secrets for big returns through safe investing.

4 easy ways to order 1. Order now using the Canadian Wealth Advisor online order form 2. Call 1-888-292-0296 (Toll-Free) 3. Print and fax the Canadian Wealth Advisor order form to 1-416-756-0397 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 4. Print and mail the Canadian Wealth Advisor online order form to: Canadian Wealth Advisor 4841 Yonge Street, Unit B6, Suite 43100 Toronto, ON M2M 6N1

I am not paid by any source to publish this information, and I receive no compensation of any kind for making any stock or fund recommendation. Never have. Never will. The stocks and other investment vehicles discussed on this website and in my advisory are not penny stocks or speculative buys.