Capitalization

BCE faces strong competition from cable companies and new wireless providers. However, a major cost-cutting drive has freed up cash for new investments in its networks. These savings also give BCE room for dividend increases, share buybacks and other moves that can pay off for investors.

BCE INC. $32 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 763.0 million; …read more »

ISHARES MSCI CANADA INDEX FUND $25.44 (New York symbol EWC; buy or sell through brokers) is like a market-cap-based index fund, but its managers try to improve performance by tinkering with the index-fund formula. They do this through their proprietary Morgan Stanley Capital International Canada Index. The fund has an MER of 0.55%.

The index’s top holdings are: Royal Bank, 7.1%; …read more »

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, unlike many other financial innovations, they don’t load you up with heavy management fees, or tie you down with high redemption charges if you decide to get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds.

ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like …read more »

When you join Pat McKeough’s Inner Circle, you get to address investment questions directly to me and my research associates; AND you get to see all other members’ questions, and our answers (of course, we eliminate any personal information).

Plus, you get all 4 of my investment advisories, including Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that covers the U.S. markets. …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 »

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 »

Canada’s big five banks have long histories of annual dividend increases. However, rising loan losses and writedowns of illiquid securities stemming from the 2008/2009 financial crisis prompted them to conserve cash instead of raising dividends.

Banking regulators around the world are now working on new regulations that would help avoid another crisis. The new rules will probably force banks to increase …read more »

ISHARES S&P/TSX GLOBAL GOLD INDEX FUND $22.72 (Toronto symbol XGD; buy or sell through brokers) aims to mirror the performance of the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index.

This index is made up of gold stocks from Canada and around the world. The weight of any one company is capped at 25% of the index’s market capitalization. The fund’s MER is 0.55%.

iShares S&P/TSX …read more »

ISHARES DEX SHORT BOND INDEX FUND $28.97 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XSB; buy or sell through a broker) mirrors the performance of the DEX Short-Term Bond Index.

This index consists of a wide range of investment-grade federal, provincial, municipal and corporate bonds with between one- and five-year terms to maturity. The fund holds 185 bonds with an average term to …read more »

We generally advise against investing in bonds right now, because today’s low interest rates make them unattractive. That’s especially so in light of the potential rise in inflation that may follow the heavy deficit spending and rapid expansion of the money supply that is now underway.

However, if you need stable income and want to hold bonds, here are two bond …read more »