My Stock Picks

Three US Stocks for your RRSP

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US Stocks do not receive the dividend tax credit, and US dividend income is fully taxed unregistered or in a TFSA. So holding US Stocks inside your RRSP makes good sense.  Some of the big US blue chips also pay reasonable dividends of 3.00% or more, are deemed safer than the US Dollar,  and  raise their dividends annually. In addition the dividend yield on these blue chips is higher than the current rate for GIC’s and government bonds. I’ve picked three of the Dividend Cadillacs for US Stocks. You’re not going to get a huge capital gain on these companies, …

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Encana, A Natural Gas Play

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I was looking a couple of months ago at Superior Plus (SPB.B) because of its high dividend yield of over 11%.  I’m familiar with  the company as they deliver propane to my parent’s home.  But I quickly realized the company had a very high debt load (liabilities to equity of 3.14), and seemed to be diversifying into some obscure areas to expand its business (i.e. drywall).  In addition the dividend is currently very high at 13.5%, as the share price had crashed. To me that signalled a company in trouble, and perhaps even a dividend cut in the near future. …

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Don’t Buy Mutual Funds, Buy the Company!

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In one of his books Derek Foster has a wonderful quote. He says “Don’t buy the bank’s products, buy the banks!” Well the same can be said for Mutual Fund companies as well. The sad fact is that buying a mutual fund is far less profitable, than actually buying the company that provides the fund. I’m excluding Bond and MMKT Funds  in my example. I’m also exluding high-risk  sector funds – a lot of people lose money on those. I’m sure there are other exceptions, but lets look at one of my recently purchased holdings AGF.B ~ AGF Management. Back …

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