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Learn how to start investing on your own. Retire early by saving on management fees. Learn how to get away from your current adviser without incurring deferred sales charges. Learn how to read financial statements to improve your investment performance. Learn how to select stocks and set up and manage an investment portfolio.

Many advisers encourage the use of mutual and exchange traded funds over individual stock picking. In fact many actually discourage investors from buying stocks on their own. There are many flaws to their argument as follows: When the equity markets go down in a recession there is nowhere to hide if invested in a fund… Continue reading Picking your own stocks vs. using an ETF or mutual fund – Which is a better choice?

Many strategists believe that the cyclical stocks have finished with their strong price performance and are likely to have peaked. Personally I do not believe this. Please take a look at the attached graph on the mining conglomerate, Rio Tinto and its share price  performance versus the S& P 500 Index. I have also included a… Continue reading Have the cyclical stocks run their course?

For those of you who have their capital managed by an external adviser, here are some red flags: When you see your adviser market weight all equity sectors, this means that they have no clear vision as to where markets are headed. If your adviser simply has all eleven equity sectors with exactly the same… Continue reading What value added does your investment adviser offer if they market weight all eleven equity sectors?

Like the rest of Canada, Ontario has decided to ban mutual fund deferred sales charges effective June 1, 2022. However any mutual funds that are sold prior to that date, will still be subject to deferred sales charges until they expire. Normally this takes up to seven years. Recommendation Stop investing in any deferred sales… Continue reading Province of Ontario is finally banning mutual fund deferred sales charges for all sales after June 1, 2022

Learn how to set up and actively manage an equity portfolio that encompasses all eleven sectors. Thinking you are smarter than everyone else by only investing in sectors that are outperforming the market is a foolish strategy. Equity sector rotation occurs much faster than you think. Investing in stocks in out of favour sectors like… Continue reading Only investing in one or a few equity sectors that are outperforming the market is a recipe for disaster

Based on my experiences with all types of investors over the years, those that use external money managers are reluctant to make any changes when their investment returns are strong. It is important to keep in mind your long term objectives – to lower the fees you are paying and ultimately improve your investment performance.… Continue reading Given the recent strong investment performance of the equity markets, do not stop your goal of managing your own capital

You all know by now that I am not a favourite of rate reset preferreds. Extremely poor liquidity and rate reset risk when interest rates are low are major impediments from investing in them. However, there have been some recent developments in regards to Canadian banks that have altered the preferred share market somewhat. Historically… Continue reading Canadian Rate Reset Preferreds – Positive developments