40 days – 2.75% + MORE Oct 31st

When people criticize the financial industry in Canada, the target of their wrath is usually high fees and underperformance. These are huge issues and, of course, they go hand-in-hand. But the more I work with new clients who arrive after using other advisers, the more I’ve come to appreciate a different problem. I can’t understand why so many mutual fund advisers seem incapable of building a portfolio with a coherent strategy.
This seems almost ridiculously easy. Is it so difficult to pick one fund for each of the major asset classes (bonds, Canadian stocks, US stocks, international and emerging market, real estate) and then assign a target weight to each? Instead I see what I’ve dubbed the “adviser six-pack.” No, not the guy at Investors Group with the ripped abs. I’m talking about the portfolio built from a half-dozen mutual funds thrown together randomly. It’s like the adviser swallowed the Morningstar database and then threw up in the investor’s account.
“Hmm, how about a few thousand bucks in the Mackenzie Growth Fund (the sales rep just visited and gave me Leafs tickets), a few more in the CI Canadian Investment Fund, and a sprinkling in the RBC Canadian Dividend (ooh, dividends)…

This GIC rate is offered by DUCA Financial Services and was updated on 0000-00-00. Click on the link above to get more details or apply online.

This GIC rate is offered by Oaken Financial and was updated on 2014-10-06. Click on the link above to get more details or apply online.

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Falling oil prices hardly seem to be bothering the two biggest U.S. oil companies, but things could get tougher in the coming months.
Exxon and Chevron leaned on strong performances from their refining operations to increase profits in the third quarter despite plummeting global oil prices.
“These companies can hold up in weaker markets,” said Brian Youngberg, an analyst at Edward Jones, about Exxon and Chevron. “Refining and chemicals can benefit from lower oil prices.”
The global price of oil fell 18 per cent from the beginning of the quarter to the end, and it cost both companies. Revenue slipped at Exxon by 4 per cent and at Chevron by 8 per cent.
But low oil and natural gas prices make for low raw material costs — and higher profit — for refining and chemical operations, which turn oil and gas into fuels and chemicals. Profit at Exxon’s refining and chemicals operations rose 38 per cent compared with a year earlier, and Chevron’s profit from its so-called downstream operations more than tripled…

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The following is a list of initial public offerings planned for the coming week. Sources include IPO ETF manager Renaissance Capital, and SEC filings.
Week of November 3:
Antero Midstream Partners LP – Denver, 37.5 million shares, priced $19 to $21, managed by Barclays, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. Proposed NYSE symbol AM. Business: Owns Antero Resources’ gathering pipelines in the Marcellus and Utica Shales.
Coherus BioSciences Inc. – Redwood City, Calif., 6.3 million shares, priced $12 to $15, managed by J.P. Morgan, and Credit Suisse. Proposed Nasdaq symbol CHRS. Business: Developing a biosimilar of Amgen’s Enbrel treatment for inflammatory diseases.
Freshpet Inc. – Secaucus, N.J., 10.4 million shares, priced $12 to $14, managed by Goldman Sachs, and Credit Suisse. Proposed Nasdaq symbol FRPT. Business: Sells refrigerated pet food via custom refrigerators installed at over 12,500 retail stores.
INC Research Holdings Inc. – Raleigh, N…