Canadian

Whether you’re an aggressive or more conservative investor, we feel you can improve your results in stock market investments — and cut your risk — by understanding and avoiding these 5 common investment errors:

1. Focusing on three or fewer of the 5 main economic sectors: Manufacturing and Resources stocks expose you to above-average risk, Utilities and Canadian Finance stocks involve …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 »

Investors generally look to aggressive stocks for capital gains and to more conservative stocks, like utilities, for income. However, there are some aggressive stocks that pay dividends that are as high — or even higher — than more established companies.

(We’ve updated our buy/sell/hold advice on a high-dividend aggressive stock in a just-published issue of Stock Pickers Digest. See below …read more »

There’s no limit to the range of investment questions that members of Pat McKeough’s Inner Circle get to ask me and my investment associates.

Most members ask us about specific investments (such as stocks, exchange-traded funds and income trusts), that they are thinking of buying or selling. However, members ask us a wide range of other types of investment questions, …read more »

Whether you’re a beginning or experienced investor, it’s always a good idea to review the fundamental points of successful investing. That’s what we give you in our new “Investor Toolkit” series. Every Wednesday, we’ll give you a new fundamental easy investing tip and show you how you can put it into practice right away. We hope you enjoy and profit …read more »

One key part of our three-pronged investing program is to spread your money out across the five main sectors of the economy: Manufacturing & Industry; Resources; Consumer; Finance; and Utilities.

In general, stocks in the Resources and Manufacturing & Industry sectors expose you to above-average volatility, and stocks in the Utilities and Finance sectors entail below-average volatility. Consumer stocks usually …read more »

China Investment Corp. (CIC) continues to catch investors’ attention by making a number of big purchases in the resource sector, including crude oil stocks. CIC is the Chinese government’s “sovereign wealth fund.”

Sovereign wealth funds have been around since the 1950s. They are state-owned investment funds that are usually financed by an economic surplus. Many Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, …read more »

Ottawa’s new tax on income trusts comes into effect on January 1, 2011. When it does, it will put income trusts on an equal footing with regular corporations. That will prompt some income trusts to convert to conventional corporations. Others may continue to operate as trusts.

Either way, the looming tax has made many investors wary of income trusts. However, …read more »

Investors sometimes ask us whether they should hold certain investments inside or outside an RRSP to get the most tax benefits.

(We take a close look at how to use your RRSP to maximize your tax savings in our new FREE report, “Capital Gains Canada: 7 Secrets for Managing Your Canadian Capital Gains Tax Liabilities.” Click here to download your copy …read more »

A couple of our Successful Investor Wealth Management clients asked us about a Canadian real estate investing subject that can be sensitive for investors who are at or nearing retirement — when to sell the family home.

The clients, a married couple, are both 59 and plan to begin collecting Canada Pension next year, at age 60. They recently sold …read more »