Mutual Funds

Many people in the investment industry promote asset allocation funds as a simple and profitable way to assemble a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds and cash equivalents.

But as is so often the case, the product rarely lives up to the hype.

How asset allocation funds actually work

Asset allocation funds are mutual funds that can shift their portfolio allocations between stocks, …read more »

Many investors see asset allocation funds as an easy and profitable way to diversify between stocks, bonds and cash equivalents.

What you get when you buy units of asset allocation funds

Asset allocation funds are mutual funds that can shift their portfolio allocations between stocks, bonds and cash in order to capitalize on perceived investment opportunities in any one of those …read more »

ISHARES AUSTRALIA INDEX FUND $26.10 (New York symbol EWA; buy or sell through brokers), is an ETF that holds the 74 largest Australian stocks. Its MER is 0.53%.

The fund’s top holdings include BHP Billiton, 15.3%; Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 8.6%; Westpac Banking Corp., 7.7%; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, 6.4%; National Australia Bank, 6%; Rio Tinto, 3.7%; Wesfarmers, 3.5%; …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 successful investing, including tax shelters. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investment strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away.

Tip of …read more »

The quality of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) varies widely. All too many exist to tap into popular, but risky, themes and fads. So you need to be highly selective with your ETF holdings.

ETFs offer very low management fees. In addition, the best ETFs offer well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high-quality stocks.

Here are five foreign ETFs we like:

ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND $10.48 …read more »

ISHARES DOW JONES CANADA SELECT DIVIDEND INDEX FUND $20.26 (Toronto symbol XDV; buy or sell through a broker; ca.ishares.com) holds 30 of the highest-yielding Canadian stocks. Its selections are based on dividend growth, yield and payout ratio. The weight of any one stock is limited to 10% of assets. The fund’s MER is 0.50%. It yields 5.3%.

The fund’s top …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 successful investing, including how to profit in Canadian mutual funds. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. …read more »

If you need steady income and want to hold bond funds, we advise you to focus on those with short-term maturity dates (see below for more on bond funds). That’s because bonds with shorter terms face a lower risk from interest-rate increases. You should also avoid funds that take part in any kind of speculative trading.

Low fees, high-quality holdings …read more »

Brazil’s economy is the world’s eighth largest, and the largest in South America. Brazil is also the world’s ninth-largest oil exporter.

Brazil’s economy stalled during the financial crisis, as global demand for the country’s commodity-based exports, including oil, slowed. However, it was one of the first emerging markets to begin a recovery, posting positive growth in the second quarter of 2009. …read more »

Here are 4 rules we stick to when we’re researching mutual funds to include in our newsletters and investment services. While there is never any guarantee of a mutual fund’s performance, following these rules should help you avoid making poor choices.

(For more on our fund-picking strategy, including our top ten fund picks, be sure to download our new special …read more »