Canadian Capitalist

How did a junior-level trader with a major French bank manage to bet 50 billion Euros of the bank’s money on stock futures?
If you are renewing your mortgage, Rob Carrick feels that variable-rate might be the better option now.
It is shocking to read the sleazy tactics employed by the door-to-door salespeople selling fixed-price natural gas [...]

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In response to an earlier post, the QuickTax product manager sent the following email, with permission to post on the blog. Please note that he clarifies that all versions of QuickTax include all the forms to address any tax scenario but the tools and optimizers are specific to the product tiers.
One of the reasons QuickTax [...]

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Many investors are interested in investing in currency neutral versions of foreign equity index funds given the recent rapid appreciation of the Canadian dollar. The Brandes Institute has researched the effects of currency on a portfolio and in a report titled Currency Hedging Programs: The Long-Term Perspective concludes that:
We believe that it’s appropriate for investors [...]

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The following question is from Jamie:
My portfolio is quite similar to your Sleepy Mini Portfolio with a few variations in asset allocation. However, I’ve come across the currency neutral versions of the US and International funds. I’m not sure what the advantages and disadvantages of the three options ($CAD, $USD, Neutral) are and [...]

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Tax rules are confusing at the best of times but to make matters worse, they are changed, updated and reinterpreted all the time. Take for example, my recent investigation into superficial loss rules regarding RRSPs. Last year, I purchased some foreign ETFs such as VEA and VTI in a taxable account. With the New Year [...]

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The creator of the Easy Chair portfolio, Eric Kirzner tells The Financial Post that investors should take a Rip Van Winkle approach to volatile markets.
Larry Swedroe counsels investors to keep their emotions in check in a guest essay in The Wealthy Boomer blog.
This column explains why a lot of people hate loyalty points.
It is heartening [...]

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It’s enough to make you reach for Gravol if you are constantly watching the markets, as everyone seems to these days. The S&P 500 climbed more than 5% in a matter of three hours while bond investors would be happy to make that in an entire year! At times like these, amidst breathless front-page coverage [...]

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The Bank of Canada cut interest rates for the second time in two months by 0.25% and strongly signalled that it may cut rates further noting that “further monetary stimulus is likely to be required in the near term”. Despite speculation in the press that the banks may not match a rate cut, the major [...]

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Global markets took a big dive today. The TSX Composite closed down 4.6%, following the plunge in other stock markets - Japan down 3.9%, Germany down 5.35%, UK down 3.9% and France 4.5%. Emerging markets were hit hard as well - Hong Kong down 5.5%, China 5.1% and India 7.4%. The only port in [...]

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Michael wants to know if foreign exchange fees wipe out some of the advantages of holding ETFs inside a RRSP:
I am looking at putting part of our RRSPs into indexing (similar to your Sleepy Portfolio) but I am wondering about the effects of the ability to DRIP back the dividends versus buying a low MER [...]

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