BAC

Green stocks have a lot of conceptual and emotional appeal, but may offer limited investment potential. Investments in environmental or green stocks may need a long time to move from the research or concept stage to profitability in the face of high initial costs and uncertain government subsidies. So they may not be profitable for investors.

It’s hard to set …read more »

The Successful Investor value investing approach follows the basic model set by the old-fashioned Graham/Dodd approach. Basically, it tries to identify well-financed companies that are well-established in their businesses and have a history of earnings and dividends. They are likely to survive any economic setback that comes along, and thrive anew when prosperity returns, as it inevitably does.
When we recommend …read more »

Wind power stocks include companies that make components for wind turbines and those that use wind turbines to generate power.
Although publicly traded wind companies are considered green stocks, wind power does draw some objections from environmental groups. It also faces some challenging technical problems.
Concept has appeal, but wind power is imperfect
One of the key problems with wind power is that …read more »

Part-time real estate investing can be very profitable. However, the best returns are mainly a result of three key factors that are easy to overlook when investing in real estate: leverage, sweat equity and higher risk.

It’s easier to get financing to buy real estate than stocks, because real estate tends to be less volatile and easier to appraise, and it …read more »

Recently some readers have asked what we think of U.S. newsletters that predict a total collapse in stock prices. The short answer is that I disagree with these publishers. But the best answer has to include some industry background, and point out that I also disagree with their approach to the newsletter business.

We aim to publish balanced, realistic investment advice …read more »

We still think high-quality mutual funds with a long-term focus will beat stock-market indexes over time. If funds invest as we advise — sticking with well-established companies and spreading their assets across the five main economic sectors — they will likely lose a lot less than the indexes during a significant market downturn.

That’s because big market slides are particularly hard …read more »

IBM $104.62 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $138.2 billion; SI Rating: Above Average) was recently beaten by Oracle Corp. in its bid to buy computer hardware maker Sun Microsystems. IBM never publicly confirmed its interest in Sun, but it seems the two companies could not agree on a price, among other terms.

Even without Sun, IBM’s …read more »

Asset allocation funds are mutual funds that distribute their assets in accordance with all investors’ goals (consistent returns, diversified investments, etc.). Unlike balanced funds, they can shift their portfolio allocations between stocks, bonds and cash in order to capitalize on perceived investment opportunities in any one of those classes.

If a fund’s name includes the term “asset allocation,” it means …read more »

An RRSP meltdown is a strategy some financial advisors suggest as a way to withdraw money from an RRSP while paying little or no income tax.
In the simplest form, you set up an investment loan and make the interest payments from RRSP withdrawals (the withdrawals must be equal to the interest payment). Since the interest on the loan is tax-deductible, …read more »

These are difficult times for income-seeking investors. Bonds yield around half of what they did 10 years ago, yet more and more investors are nearing retirement, when many pay close attention to investment income. Many also see income as a sign of investment quality. These factors have kept up investor interest in income trusts.
Despite Ottawa’s plan to start taxing trust …read more »