Canada

Oil prices fell from their July 2008 peak of $148 U.S. a barrel to just under $40 U.S. in February 2009. Prices have roughly doubled since then, but are unlikely to get back to their 2008 highs any time soon.

We think oil prices could rise further if the global economy continues to recover, as we expect. Even so, we …read more »

We’ve long recommended these 4 stock market research tips in our newsletters and investment services. They can help you cut risk — and increase profits — in your stock portfolio.

(Our special report, “Canadian Stock Market Basics: How to Trade Stocks and Make Good Investments in Canada,” is full of safe investing strategies that you can easily put into practice right …read more »

One of our Successful Investor Wealth Management clients recently turned 70, and he wonders what effect this should have on his portfolio management. He now has 85% of his portfolio in stocks, 15% in short-term T-bills and zero in long-term bonds and other long-term fixed-return investments.

This Successful Investor Wealth Management client has a pension that provides most of the …read more »

The Canada Revenue Agency recently advised more than 70,000 Canadians that they must pay penalties for over-contributing to their tax free savings accounts in 2009.

You can make tax-free withdrawals from your TFSA at any time. You can put the money back in, as well, but the main limitation here is that you have to wait until the next calendar year …read more »

It pays to be skeptical of growth stocks that rely too heavily on acquisitions.

That’s because the buyer of something rarely knows as much about it as the seller. So it follows that if a company makes enough acquisitions, it might eventually buy something that has hidden problems. At some point, those problems will come out into the open and hurt …read more »

We’ve long recommended that all Canadian investors own two or more of the country’s big five bank stocks. That’s mainly because of their importance to Canada’s economy. As well, investors continue to underestimate them. As a result, they consistently trade at below-average price-to-earnings ratios.

(In the latest issue of The Successful Investor, we’ve published a special analysis of all five of …read more »

Members of our Inner Circle service often ask for our portfolio investing advice on stocks they are thinking of buying that we don’t cover in our newsletters. These companies range from the most speculative penny mines to large multinational corporations.

Many of these stocks fall into a grey area. Sometimes our advice is that they are “okay to hold,” but we …read more »

In the first quarter of 2010, Canada’s economy posted an annualized growth rate of 6.1%. That’s the fastest pace in more than a decade, and much stronger than the 5.8% that the Bank of Canada and consensus forecasts called for.

The sharply higher growth has added to investor concerns about inflation, and was part of the reason why the Bank of …read more »

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific advice on the fundamentals of successful investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a new fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away.

Today’s tip: “Time spent …read more »

If you have one or more RRSPs (registered retirement savings plans), you’ll have to wind them up at the end of the year in which you turn 71.

When you do, you’ll have three main retirement investing options:

1. You can cash in your RRSP and withdraw the funds in a lump sum. In most cases, this is a poor …read more »