Mutual Funds

Simply put, a well-constructed stock portfolio will make your life easier and maximize your gains.
Early in their investing careers, many investors have only a vague idea of the value of a planned portfolio when investing in the stock market.
When you try to pick a handful of stocks that will all beat the market, you are asking a lot of yourself. …read more »

We’ve got four key Successful Investor investing for beginners tips that will help you profit from stock investing with less risk.

No matter how widely or narrowly you cast your information net, some of your investments will disappoint you. But that won’t matter if you apply these three tips. That’s because your near-inevitable gains will overwhelm your all-but-unavoidable losses.

Successful Investor …read more »

Exchange Traded Funds, or ETFs, don’t load you up with heavy management fees, nor do they tie you down with heavy redemption charges if you decide to get out before six years have passed. Instead, they give you a lower-cost and more flexible and convenient alternative to mutual funds.
The problem is that ETFs are just as helpful for facilitating smart …read more »

Ottawa’s new Tax-Free Savings Accounts (or TFSAs) let you earn investment income — including interest, dividends and capital gains — tax free.

A tax-free savings account can generally hold the same investments as an RRSP. This includes cash, mutual funds, publicly traded stocks, GICs and bonds.

However, you are best to hold lower-risk investments in your TFSA. That’s because you don’t want …read more »

We still think high-quality mutual funds with a long-term focus will beat stock-market indexes over time. If funds invest as we advise — sticking with well-established companies and spreading their assets across the five main economic sectors — they will likely lose a lot less than the indexes during a significant market downturn.

That’s because big market slides are particularly hard …read more »

With the unpredictability of the stock market and mutual funds’ performance, it’s getting harder to make the right investment choices. However, as with stock trading, mutual fund investing should be done with the long term in mind. You need to find a solid fund and stick with it.

There are, of course, thousands of choices available at any time. Most funds …read more »

Asset allocation funds are mutual funds that distribute their assets in accordance with all investors’ goals (consistent returns, diversified investments, etc.). Unlike balanced funds, they can shift their portfolio allocations between stocks, bonds and cash in order to capitalize on perceived investment opportunities in any one of those classes.

If a fund’s name includes the term “asset allocation,” it means …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 »

One challenge with researching investments over time is that companies sometimes change names as they grow and mature. As you search through our archives, one such example of this you will find is Trimark investments.

Long known as Trimark Investments or AIM Trimark, the company changed its name in August 2008 to Invesco Trimark to reflect its relationship with Invesco Ltd., …read more »

Now more than ever we think you need to invest in only the highest-quality mutual funds. Here are some keys to building a sound portfolio with these mutual funds.

Diversify. Spread your portfolio out over several funds that practice a variety of investing styles. Vary your exposure to each style to reflect your individual financial circumstances, temperament and goals.

Invest in just …read more »