Canadian Wealth Advisor

Given their attractiveness, it’s a wonder why brokers so rarely recommend closed end mutual funds. However, there’s a simple reason for this: while closed ends benefit individual investors, brokers benefit more by putting their clients in conventional, open-ended funds.

Closed end funds are a lot like conventional, open-ended funds. They hold a diversified portfolio of stocks, chosen by a fund manager …read more »

Right now, Canadian income trusts pay out a high percentage of their cash flows to their unitholders. This lets them avoid paying corporate taxes. It also gives many of them significantly higher yields than a lot of dividend-paying common stocks.

Canadian income trusts face tax changes in 2011

In 2011, the Canadian government will begin taxing income trusts (with the exception of …read more »

We continue to recommend that all investors own at least two of Canada’s big-five banks – Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank, CIBC, TD Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia. These are key safe investments for a portfolio. But these should not be the extent of your financial holdings. It is also essential to diversity within each economic sector. Other types …read more »

Bond funds are mutual funds that specifically invest in different government and corporate bond offerings.

Many bond funds posted strong results in the past, with yields of 6%, 8% or 10% over five or 10 years. This, though, was a function of the trend in interest rates; at the start of those periods, the funds were buying bonds with …read more »

Bond funds are mutual funds that invest specifically in different government and corporate bond offerings.

Many bond funds built great performance records in the last decade. You can find lots of bond funds that have yielded 6% or 8% or 10% over the past five or 10 years. This, though, was a function of the trend in interest rates; …read more »

At one time, mutual funds within a particular ‘fund family’ often shared some key investment characteristic, such as a conservative or aggressive investment approach, or a stress on value as opposed to growth.

However, due to corporate mergers and takeovers in the mutual-funds industry, and more aggressive marketing, a fund’s membership in a fund family now has little bearing on its …read more »

ENDEV ENERGY INC. $1.41 (Toronto symbol ENE; SI Rating: Speculative) (1-888- 739-4623; www.endevenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 88.7 million; Market cap: $125.0 million) jumped recently after receiving a buyout offer from Penn West Energy Trust, $35, symbol PWT.UN on Toronto.

Endev shareholders will receive 0.041 of a Penn West unit for each Endev share held, which is equivalent to $1.44 per Endev share …read more »

ENCANA CORP. $89.25 (Toronto symbol ECA; SI Rating: Average) now plans to split itself up into two separate companies — one focusing on natural gas, the other on oil sands and oil refineries. The gas company will keep the EnCana name, while the oil company will assume a new name.

Shareholders will receive one new common share in each new company …read more »

At one time, mutual funds within a particular ‘fund family’ often shared some key investment characteristic, such as a conservative or aggressive investment approach, or a stress on value as opposed to growth.

However, due to corporate mergers and takeovers in the mutual-funds industry, and more aggressive marketing, a fund’s membership in a fund family now has little bearing on its …read more »

At one time, mutual funds within a particular ‘fund family’ often shared some key investment characteristic, such as a conservative or aggressive investment approach, or a stress on value as opposed to growth. However, due to trends in the mutual-funds

industry such as corporate mergers and takeovers, and more aggressive marketing, a fund’s membership in a fund family now has little …read more »