Canadian Capitalist

As we bid farewell to 2007, let’s look back at the news that directly affected our pocketbooks:

The Federal Budget in March introduced major changes to RESPs and introduced a new child tax credit.
Vanguard introduced the Europe Pacific ETF (VEA) and injected much needed competition to the iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (EFA).
After charging $25 to [...]

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Our soaring dollar may have crimped returns from foreign equities but it is Time magazine’s Canadian newsmaker of the year.
James Daw writes in The Star that RRSPs have received creditor protection in the event of a bankruptcy.
There is very little tax relief in 2008 because most of the tax cuts were made retroactive to 2007. [...]

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Though I’ll be posting sporadically next week, most of you will be taking a well-deserved break and spending time with your loved ones during the holiday season. So, I’ll take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

When John Bogle speaks, it’s worth paying attention. Fortune [...]

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In response to a comment on the Canadian Dream blog, Preet of Where Does All My Money Go asked this question:
Why would you ever buy individual stocks to add to your portfolio of indexed products? If I’m not mistaken you do add the odd position or two, do you not? Is that not an “active” [...]

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Reader Kevin sent the following question on restricted stock units:
I work for a Canadian branch of a U.S. company. As incentives, we receive both stock option grants and restricted stock units. Since tax season is drawing near, I’m trying to gain a full understanding of the tax implications of both of these awards.
I [...]

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Let’s face it: tax software is a commodity and a program from one vendor can easily be substituted with another if you are willing to put up with a little bit of a learning curve. The realities of the marketplace seem to have escaped the folks at Intuit, the makers of the biggest-selling tax preparation [...]

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This is the fourth part in a series on implementing a do-it-yourself Smith Manoeuvre. You may also want to check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of the series.
Now that you are regularly withdrawing funds from the loan portion of your readvanceable mortgage and investing the proceeds in equities, there is only one [...]

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Time is running out if you want to take advantage of some tax breaks for the 2007 tax year. You can also add RESP contributions to the list.
Just in time for the holiday season: “Eight tips for the office party”.
While his approach to investing might be boring, the same epithet doesn’t apply to William Bernstein, [...]

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This is the third part in a series on implementing a do-it-yourself Smith Manoeuvre. You may also want to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the series.
Now that you have a readvanceable mortgage, the investing part is really simple. Open a separate investment account with one of the low-cost mutual fund providers. TD [...]

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Though I don’t necessarily agree that her approach to picking individual stocks is suitable for a beginning investor, it is easy to see why author Gail Bebee has earned plaudits from Ellen Roseman, Larry MacDonald, Jon Chevreau and others. This self-published, slim book running a mere 194 pages largely delivers on the promise to provide [...]

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