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IGM FINANCIAL INC. $47 (Toronto symbol IGM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 251.8 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.6; Dividend yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.igmfinancial.com) is Canada’s largest independent mutual fund company, with $125.8 billion of assets under management. Power Financial owns 58.4% of IGM.

The company has two main divisions. Investors Group sells its mutual funds, along with other services like portfolio management and mortgages, through 4,500 affiliated advisors. Mackenzie Financial sells its funds through independent brokers.

In 2012, Investors Group cut the management fees on most of its funds to better compete with other fund companies. This move seems to be paying off. In the three months ended March 31, 2013, Investors Group’s sales, net of redemptions, jumped 114.4% to $375.6 million from $175.2 million a year earlier.
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Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a beginning or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “You take a double loss if you lose money in your RRSP, which means that it is an expensive place to find out if you have a talent for stock trading.”...

IGM FINANCIAL INC. $47 (Toronto symbol IGM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 251.8 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.6; Dividend yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.igmfinancial.com) is Canada’s largest independent mutual fund company, with $125.8 billion of assets under management....

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 investment advice on a wide range of topics. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away....

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, and on successful retirement planning. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Tip of the week: “When you’re planning your retirement, make sure that you haven’t based your future income on over-optimistic calculations that will leave you short.”...

Picking stocks whose share prices will rise is not the only goal that successful investors set for themselves. You also add a great deal of value to your portfolio when you select stocks that are prepared to distribute their profits to the shareholders. A company can share the wealth in two main ways—it can buy back its own shares, or it can pay dividends. Both pay off for investors, which is why a number of the best stocks we recommend have a history of doing both....

Rather than “buy and hold,” we think it’s a good idea to invest in stocks and then “buy and watch closely.” That helps answer one important question we frequently get from investors: How often should they sell investments they own and buy new ones? Our answer never varies. Do it as rarely as possible. That’s because turnover in your portfolio cuts into your profits....

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines jargon as the “technical terminology” of a special activity or group. But it also defines it as “confused unintelligible language.” Every industry and group has its own special jargon. This specialized language always has the same purpose. It simplifies communications within the industry, and helps make insiders feel they are part of a tightly knit community. It also helps the group pursue its goals. It shapes concepts that will establish lines of thought and discussions that match the industry’s view of the world. But it can be confusing for those who are not insiders in the group....

Yellow Media Inc., $0.075, symbol YLO on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 515.2 million; Market cap: $38.6 million; www.ypg.com), has reached an agreement with 30% of its bondholders to recapitalize and postpone $700 million of debt payments that are due over the next year. The company needs the approval of two-thirds of its creditors for the recapitalization to go through. Yellow Media is the largest telephone directory publisher in Canada, and owns the Yellow Pages and Pages Jaunes trademarks. It also operates websites devoted to classified advertising. Yellow Media’s recapitalization is designed to cut its huge $2.0 billion debt. The move will convert $1.8 billion of that debt into $850 million of new debt that will not be due until 2018 and 2022. The recapitalization will also give the debtholders $250 million in cash and 82.5% of a new class of common shares that will replace the old common shares....

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investment topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. This past week, one Inner Circle member asked about dividend stocks—specifically, about a pipeline firm that is one of Canada’s remaining income funds. The company has just made a major overseas acquisition and Pat assesses the potential risk and rewards. ...