Posts Tagged ‘Investing’

Whether you are a do-it-yourself investor or you rely on a financial advisor you have an overall strategy of choosing your investments based on your profile, risk tolerance and beliefs that will enable you to achieve your objectives. Related: 5 Challenges DIY Investors Face What investing style fits you? Index investing An index is a…

The top mutual funds have trounced the Canadian index this year, which again opens up the debate of whether active management can outperform a passively managed portfolio after fees.  Fans of passive investing say it’s nearly impossible to beat the market over the long term, and equally as difficult to pick the investments that will…

I have always dismissed preferred shares.  The definition I heard was that preferreds are a hybrid of both equity and fixed income investments with the worst characteristics of each, and who would want that?  Plus their special added features – redeemable, callable, retractable, convertible, perpetual, cumulative – just seemed too complicated to me. Related: Why…

Last month we looked at the Canadian dividend aristocrats, a list of companies that have increased dividends each year for the past five years.  The list of stocks is a good starting point for dividend investors, but it also reveals a number of flaws when looking to invest in a company. Some companies grow their…

Many retirees are looking to boost their income through their investment portfolios.  One way to boost your yield, while still maintaining a higher level of safety, is with split shares. What is a split share? A split share is a unique type of derivative investment product (also called a structured product).  The “risk/reward” of common…

The 59 stocks that make up the Canadian dividend aristocrats are a good starting point for investors who are hunting for yield.  These stocks must have increased their dividends for at least five consecutive years to make the aristocrats list. Becoming a dividend aristocrat shows that company management is committed – for better or worse…

Many investors like the “do-it-yourself” approach for one or more of the following reasons: To save money on fees They think they can do a better job than their advisor They enjoy the process Perhaps DIY investing was a lot of fun in the beginning.  It felt good to fire your advisor.  Maybe the prices…

Regular readers of Boomer and Echo know we are very enthusiastic about dividend investing. This strategy falls out of favour from time to time.  Large dividend paying companies are generally slow growing – you need to hold them for the long term. “Buy and hold” strategies also fall out of favour in periods of good…

Interest rates on savings accounts and GICs are abysmal these days, so it can be tempting to plow all your hard earned savings into the stock market for a chance to juice your returns.  But how you save and invest depends a lot on your time horizon – when will you need the money? No…