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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 the week: “These 3 powerful strategies will help you make the most of your RRSP tax shelters” Registered Retirement Savings Plans, or RRSPs, are the best-known and most widely used tax shelters in Canada....

CHEMTRADE LOGISTICS INCOME FUND $14.04 (Toronto symbol CHE.UN; SI Rating: Speculative) (416-496-5856; www.chemtradelogistics.com; Units outstanding: 30.7 million; Market cap: $431.0 million; Dividend yield: 8.5%) is one of North America’s largest suppliers of sulphuric acid, sulphur, liquid sulphur dioxide and sodium hydrosulphite. It also supplies sodium chlorate, phosphorous pentasulphide and zinc oxide. In addition to selling chemicals, Chemtrade processes spent acid. Chemtrade has three divisions: The Sulphur Products and Performance Chemicals division supplies about 59% of the fund’s revenue. Pulp Chemicals accounts for 10% of revenue, and the International division supplies the remaining 31%. This division removes and markets sulphur and sulphuric acid outside of North America. ...

Recently, we heard from an investor who inquired about our Successful Investor Wealth Management service. She said she likes our approach to investing, but she admits to some concern about what she called our “all-equities philosophy.” Her broker says that all investors need to hold some bonds to reduce the volatility in their portfolios. “Philosophy” is the wrong word for it. Our view on bonds and other fixed-return investments is a reaction to today’s economic and investment situation. Up till the mid-1990s, in fact, we routinely advised that fixed-return investments, such as bonds, should make up anywhere from one-third to two-thirds of a conservative investor’s portfolio.

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If you want to buy gold, we recommend staying away from buying gold bullion, coins (unless you collect them as a hobby) or certificates representing an interest in bullion. That’s because commodity investments such as gold bullion do not generate income. Instead, they come with a continuing cash drain for management, insurance, storage and so on. You either pay these costs directly or through a premium built into the price of, say, a futures contract. That’s why we recommend that you invest in gold through gold-mining stocks. Unlike bullion, gold-mining stocks at least have the potential to generate income. Newmont Mining, $63.33, symbol NEM on New York (Shares outstanding: 484.7 million; Market cap: $30.7 billion; www.newmont.com), is a relatively conservative choice if you want to buy a gold stock....

PENGROWTH ENERGY TRUST $12.42 (Toronto symbol PGF.UN; Units outstanding: 320.1 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; SI Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 6.8%; www.pengrowth.com) produces oil and natural gas in western Canada and off the Nova Scotia coast. Its production is weighted 51% to oil and 49% to gas. In the three months ended June 30, 2010, revenue rose to $337 million from $335.6 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit was unchanged at $0.56. Higher oil and gas prices offset a drop in production. Poor weather hurt Pengrowth’s production and drilling levels. The trust will convert to a dividend-paying corporation on December 31, 2010. The change is in response to Ottawa’s new tax on income-trust distributions, which comes into effect on January 1, 2011. After the conversion, the company will be called Pengrowth Corporation....

Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp., $59.65, symbol LIF.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 32.0 million; Market cap: $1.9 billion), is the new name for Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Income Fund. The company holds a 7% gross overriding royalty (or 7% of the selling price for each iron-ore product produced, sold and shipped) and a 15.1% equity interest in Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC). On top of that, Labrador Iron Ore gets a $0.10-per-ton commission on all iron-ore products IOC makes, sells and ships. IOC, which has produced iron-ore concentrate and pellets since 1954, is Canada’s largest iron-ore producer, and is among the world’s top-five makers of iron-ore pellets. Rio Tinto (symbol RTP on New York) is IOC’s operator and majority shareholder, with 58.7% of its shares. Mitsubishi Corp. of Japan holds the remaining 26.2%....

ENCANA CORP., $28.26, Toronto symbol ECA, fell 7% this week after the company reported lower-than-expected earnings. In the three months ended September 30, 2010, Encana earned $98 million, or $0.13 a share (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). These figures exclude a $331-million gain on hedging contracts that the company uses to lock in selling prices for its natural gas, and a $140-million foreign-exchange gain. On this basis, the latest earnings fell well short of the consensus estimate of $0.19 a share. They were also down 74.1% from the company’s year-earlier earnings of $378 million, or $0.50 a share. Cash flow per share fell 9.4%, to $1.54 from $1.70. (Note: The year-earlier figures assume that the breakup of the old EnCana Corp. into the new Encana and Cenovus Energy Inc. took place at the start of 2009 instead of December 1, 2009.)...

BELL ALIANT REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS INCOME FUND $26 (Toronto symbol BA.UN, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Units outstanding: 127.3 million; Market cap: $3.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 11.2%; SI Rating: Above Average) will convert to a dividend-paying corporation on January 1, 2011. That’s when Ottawa will start taxing income-trust distributions. Investors will receive one common share of the company for each trust unit they hold. As part of the conversion, the trust will change its name to “Bell Aliant Inc.” It will also change its trading symbol to “BA”. The trust will continue to pay monthly distributions of $0.2417 a unit until just after its conversion. The current annual rate of $2.90 yields 11.2%. Starting in March 2011, Bell Aliant will change the rate and frequency of its payout: It will switch to quarterly dividends of $0.475 a share. The new annual rate of $1.90 would yield a high 7.3%, based on today’s price. As well, investors who hold Bell Aliant outside an RRSP will benefit from the dividend tax credit. Bell Aliant is a buy.

CRESCENT POINT ENERGY CORP. $38.44 (Toronto symbol CPG; Shares outstanding: 211.7 million; Market cap: $8.1 billion; SI Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 7.2%) produces oil and natural gas in western Canada. Its average daily production of 56,061 barrels of oil equivalent (including natural gas) is weighted 89% toward gas and 11% to oil. The company continues to focus on its light-oil Bakken development in southeastern Saskatchewan. Crescent Point plans to spend at least $750 million on exploration and development this year. As well, the company has agreed to buy the 79% of privately held Shelter Bay Energy that it doesn’t already own for $1.1 billion in shares. Shelter Bay’s production is mostly from the Bakken area, and will Crescent Point’s output by about 10%....

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, some trusts remain well positioned for long-term gains, even with the new tax. These are trusts that operate stable businesses in strong and growing industries. One way we separate these trusts from those that will struggle — or worse — when the new tax kicks in is to look for trusts that have histories of raising their distributions, and plan to keep their payouts at current levels after January 2011....