Unwrap portfolio with index mutual funds + MORE May 7th

TORONTO – Aecon Group Inc. (TSX:ARE) says it reduced its net loss in the first quarter despite a sharp decline in revenue.
The Toronto-based provider of construction, contracting and infrastructure development services reported Wednesday that its net loss was $25.9 million or 49 cents per share, an improvement from a net loss of 29.9 million or 56 cents per share in the comparable year-earlier period.
Revenue in the three months ended March 31 fell sharply to $461.9 million from $567.4 million as a result of lower sales in its infrastructure and mining segments, the company said in a release issued after markets closed.
Aecon said its backlog was $2.18 billion at the end of the quarter compared with $2.07 billion at the end of March 2013, adding that new contract awards of $867 million were booked in the most recent period against with $212 million in the first quarter of 2013.
“Our focus on execution is yielding results . . . ,” chairman and chief executive John Beck said in the earnings release…

David Blanchett, head of retirement research at Morningstar Investment Management, ran the numbers on the actual spending patterns of retired couples over 30 years. He tracked three annual spending levels: US $25,000, $50,000 and $100,000. He found that as couples aged, they withdrew less than anticipated, mainly because they had simpler lifestyles. As a result, many retirees may need 10% to 30% less in savings than planners suggest.

Source: Morningstar Investment Management
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The financial crisis that followed the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008 did more than wipe out billions in wealth and millions of jobs. It also sent birth rates tumbling around the world as couples found themselves too fearful about their finances to have children.

SYDNEY – National Australia Bank Ltd., one of Australia’s biggest lenders, has posted a 16 per cent increase in half-year profit to 2.86 billion Australian dollars ($2.67 billion), helped by a reduction in bad debts and an improving British economy.
The statutory profit for the six months through March announced on Thursday is an increase of AU$390 million from the same period a year earlier.
Cash earnings increased by 8.5 per cent, or AU$247 million, to AU$3.15 billion in the latest half year.
The charge for bad debts across its Australian and British operations for the latest half year was AU$528 million — 37 per cent less than that for the previous six months and 52 per cent lower than for the corresponding period ending March 31, 2013.
The post National Australia Bank posts 16 pct rise in half-year profit to $2.67 B, with cut in bad debt appeared first on Canadian Business.

Photograph by Jenna Marie Wakani
 The problem
With a paid-for home and six-figure portfolio, the couple’s friends think they have little to worry about. But “I do worry,” says Denise, who at 53 makes a good income as a dental hygienist. However, she enjoys no major benefits or employer-sponsored pension plan. Neither does Mark, 55, who lost his job in April 2011 and has worked only in contract positions since. They were investing $1,200 a month in RRSPs but ceased adding to Mark’s portion in November. The bank “wrap” program they’re invested in charges 2.5%. They’d prefer the lower fees of a “Couch Potato” but “don’t know how to do it ourselves.”

Financial planner Tony de Thomasis, of De Thomas Financial Corp., says the couple are moderate-risk investors and should be comfortable with an asset allocation of 75% equities to 25% bonds and cash. As retirement approaches and if markets cooperate, portfolios would be gradually rebalanced to raise the fixed-income weight by 8% every five years or so…