Invest Like a Stock Broker with This Market Research Tip + MORE May 12th

Whether you’re interested in becoming a stock broker or you’d like to go a little deeper with your research before investing, adopting a practice that experts use instead of going with whatever’s popular at the moment is a good way to potentially improve your portfolio and self-esteem. It can be a good feeling building wealth, beyond the tangible reasons, when you do it intelligently as a wise investor.
First things first, it’s important to point that when it comes to picking the right stock, there’s no magic formula that’ll always guarantee successful results. Even individuals who do this for a living get it wrong sometimes, so don’t beat yourself up if you’ve made a bad investment even after performing good market research. Many times, estimating a company’s value can be extremely difficult and subjective. So unless you’re gifted in telepathy and are clairvoyant, there’s always that chance of investing in a stock that takes a nose-dive for some reason you haven’t considered…

(Creative Commons/401(K) 2012)
If you were building a portfolio of stocks from around the world, how much would you allocate to each country? In theory, it makes sense to start by looking at each nation’s share of the global equity market. The U.S., for example, makes up just over half of the world’s stock market, while developed markets in Europe and Asia account for another 35% or so. Canada, meanwhile, represents a mere 3.2% sliver of that pie.
And yet the MoneySense Global Couch Potato portfolio doesn’t reflect that breakdown at all. It calls for investors to hold equal amounts of Canadian, U.S. and international stocks. While that’s a tidy solution, it’s worth asking whether you can justify such rampant “home-country bias.” Could Couch Potato investors actually be putting themselves at risk by holding a third of their stocks in our tiny market? I’ve been hearing that question a lot lately, so let’s start by acknowledging why the issue is suddenly controversial.
Few people were making such an argument four or five years ago, when Canada’s stock market was the world’s darling…

The price of the North American oil benchmark gained another $1.35 a barrel on Tuesday despite a report from influential investment bank Goldman Sachs suggesting the rebound in crude prices is ‘premature.’

(Alex Slobodkin/Getty Images)
Q: My fiancé, 38, is a really good saver and started non-registered mutual funds prior to the TFSA being around. He has $115,000 in non-registered and $15,000 in a TFSA. The T3 income gets larger ever year, which is a good problem to have. However, my fear is eventually his RSP contributions will not be enough to negate paying taxes on the T3 income. He is maxed out on RSPs and has a defined benefit pension, so the deduction limit is not much.
I have asked his advisor if there is a smart way to start transfer of non-registered to TFSA, but she said the capital gains wouldn’t make it worth it. I also asked about corporate class, but we have a small $8,000 investment loan that she said would cause problems, as well as the capital gain issue came up again.
With the TFSA limit now at $10,000 per year, I wish we could shelter more of this money in the TFSA.
Is she correct? Is there another way?
—Sara
A: As you’ve noted, Sara, your fiancé has a good problem, compared to the alternative…

Former Auditor General to provide advice, support and identify potential conflicts of interest