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Latest News
At midday: TSX boosted by miners, banks; oil stocks weigh + MORE Aug 29th
Wall Street rises as hawkish Fed boosts financial stocks
.... More »
The case for buying a pre-construction home Feb 16th
My wife and I bid on, and lost, nine houses before we got our 10th. I remember the day in March 2016 when the listing popped up on Realtor.ca, the online directory of homes for sale, which had become one of the “frequently visited” websites on our computer. The house ticked off all the boxes, an.... More »
As US housing recovers, low incomes keep Detroit far behind Aug 7th
DETROIT – Ann and Oscar Mack had fallen behind on property taxes and knew they faced foreclosure on their home of 20 years. But they didn’t know their house on Maiden Street, in a blighted east side Detroit neighbourhood, was already listed for auction.
No one “let us know we were .... More »
Historic New Hampshire general store up for auction + MORE Jul 13th
BATH, N.H. – A historic general store and tourist attraction in New Hampshire that closed earlier this year is up for auction.
The Brick Store in Bath was built in the late 1700s or early 1800s. It closed after several years of financial hardship, and is up for auction on Wednesday.
The store .... More »
Caring for aging parents in Canada: Financial challenges and strategies for relief Apr 12th
Did you know that 1.8 million Canadians are “sandwiched” between multiple care responsibilities, including looking after their children and aging parents? This shift in caregiving responsibilities from parent to child (especially while having kids of your own) can have significant financial.... More »
At the open: TSX rises amid higher oil prices, Rona deal
– theglobeandmail.com
Retailer’s stock jumps after friendly takeover announcement
Rona shares skyrocket on $3.2-billion Lowe’s takeover deal
– theglobeandmail.com
Lowe’s will pay $24 per share for Rona’s common shares, more than double the stock’s closing on Tuesday
US stocks give up an early gain and move lower; Yahoo down
– canadianbusiness.com
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The stock market has given up an early gain and is trading lower at mid-morning Wednesday as investors give a thumbs-down to a number of corporate earnings reports, including steep cutbacks at Yahoo. Chipotle Mexican Grill also plunged after saying an E. coli outbreak at its restaurants hurt sales more than anticipated.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average lost 62 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 16,094 as of 10 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gave up 12 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 1,890 and the Nasdaq composite fell 48 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 4,468.
ENERGY RECHARGE: Crude oil prices recovered a little bit of ground after two days of steep losses. New York crude was up 56 cents at $30.44 a barrel while Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 77 cents to $33.49 a barrel. The pickup in energy prices didn’t give much of a boost to the beaten-down energy sector, however.
EUROPE WANING TOO: Among the economic worries this week, added to the mix Wednesday were renewed fears over the slowdown in Europe…
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average lost 62 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 16,094 as of 10 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gave up 12 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 1,890 and the Nasdaq composite fell 48 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 4,468.
ENERGY RECHARGE: Crude oil prices recovered a little bit of ground after two days of steep losses. New York crude was up 56 cents at $30.44 a barrel while Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 77 cents to $33.49 a barrel. The pickup in energy prices didn’t give much of a boost to the beaten-down energy sector, however.
EUROPE WANING TOO: Among the economic worries this week, added to the mix Wednesday were renewed fears over the slowdown in Europe…
Can you lose all your money in a TFSA?
– moneysense.ca
Q: I never thought of the TFSA as an investment, because I use my RRSP to invest. I use my TFSA as a savings account but does that mean the money isn’t protected? Could I lose all that money?
—Maria Vasilescu, Kitchener, Ont.
A: If you hold cash or GICs in your Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), it is covered by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation for up to $100,000 in the event that your bank fails. If the money is invested in mutual funds, ETFs or stocks, it is not covered. But that isn’t the risk I would be worrying about. Instead, focus on what types of investments you hold, regardless of whether they are in your TFSA or your RRSP. If the purpose of the TFSA money is to save money, say for a new car or a house down payment, keep it in something really low-risk like GICs or cash. If the purpose is to invest long-term for your retirement, a diversified portfolio will move up and down over time, but it isn’t likely to go to zero. Unless, perhaps, a meteor hits planet earth and then we will all have bigger problems to worry about…
—Maria Vasilescu, Kitchener, Ont.
A: If you hold cash or GICs in your Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), it is covered by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation for up to $100,000 in the event that your bank fails. If the money is invested in mutual funds, ETFs or stocks, it is not covered. But that isn’t the risk I would be worrying about. Instead, focus on what types of investments you hold, regardless of whether they are in your TFSA or your RRSP. If the purpose of the TFSA money is to save money, say for a new car or a house down payment, keep it in something really low-risk like GICs or cash. If the purpose is to invest long-term for your retirement, a diversified portfolio will move up and down over time, but it isn’t likely to go to zero. Unless, perhaps, a meteor hits planet earth and then we will all have bigger problems to worry about…
Why a simple portfolio is still a hard sell
– moneysense.ca
Last January, I overhauled my model portfolios to make them simpler. Some of the older options included small-cap stocks, preferred shares, and real estate investment trusts (REITs), but I switched to recommending a three-ETF portfolio covering only the core asset classes. While many readers welcomed the change, several others criticized the new streamlined portfolios as too simplistic. I still get emails from beginners who want to add more ETFs to my recommended model. Simplicity, it seems, is a hard sell.
In his recent book, A Wealth of Common Sense, asset manager Ben Carlson (who writes an excellent blog with the same title) reveals that he’s made the same discovery: investors resist simplicity. Yet Carlson believes it’s the right solution for most of us. “I’ve spent my entire career working in portfolio management,” he writes. “This experience has taught me that less is always more when making investment decisions. Simplicity trumps complexity. Conventional gives you much better odds than exotic…
In his recent book, A Wealth of Common Sense, asset manager Ben Carlson (who writes an excellent blog with the same title) reveals that he’s made the same discovery: investors resist simplicity. Yet Carlson believes it’s the right solution for most of us. “I’ve spent my entire career working in portfolio management,” he writes. “This experience has taught me that less is always more when making investment decisions. Simplicity trumps complexity. Conventional gives you much better odds than exotic…
