Investing

Keep Calm and Steady

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Today the selloff continued on the TSX, with 220 declining leading 26 advancing issues. Energy and commodities, a large component of the TSX, led the selloff with telecoms being the harbour of safety. The TSX is currently down another 245 points today to 12,138 (see TSX chart below), with two hours still left in the trading day. That follows monumental losses yesterday where the markets were walloped with huge sell-offs, the TSX Composite Index down 435 points or -3.4% in one day. And the DOW was hit also, down some 512 points or down over 4% just in one day …

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Would the Real “Fund” Please Stand Up!

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In this two part series, I examine some of the basic funds and ETFs available, and why most investors would be better off sticking with index funds and index ETFs. Part-1 is a basic definition of mutual funds, index funds, and ETFs. In Part-2, I cover the different types of ETFs in more detail. I also cover the associated risks with many of the actively-managed ETFs on the market. Part-1: Mutual Funds, Index Funds, and ETFs Confused about the differences between mutual funds, index funds, and all the ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) available to invest in? Well you’re not alone.  …

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High Yield Canadian Stocks: Part 1

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Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it to? The adage goes that higher yield = higher risk. To a degree that is quite true. Invest in a company with high debt, a 140% Dividend Payout Ratio, 13% yield and you are looking for trouble. But you can invest in Canadian companies (some well known) with yields of 5% to 10% that have solid balance sheets. Take BCE for example, which has a 5.60% yield and is one of Canada’s leading telecoms and wireless providers. Canada has many high yield dividend stocks and trusts, many are obviously risky. …

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The Japan Effect ~ a Week in Review

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A week ago Japan was hit with a severe earthquake and tsunami, which decimated entire towns, wiped out basic infrastructure, and split friends and families apart. Japan is considered the most prepared country in the world for earthquake readiness. However, the colossal scale of this disaster is beyond what most of us have seen in our lifetime. Investors have been stunned not only by the catastrophic events in Japan, but also with the continuing unrest in Bahrain and Libya. It was no surprise that markets retreated heavily from last Friday through to Tuesday, with even the basic Dow stocks being …

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