Sell the cottage before it’s too late + MORE Jun 20th

All but left for dead, smartphone pioneer BlackBerry has punched an emaciated fist through the dirt covering its supposed gravesite. The Waterloo, Ont.-based company surprised just about everyone Thursday by reporting a much smaller than expected $60-million loss in its fiscal first quarter. When various one-time items were added in, including an adjustment to the valuation of its convertible debentures, Blackberry even managed to squeeze out a $23-million profit—at least on paper.
Investors reacted quickly. BlackBerry’s shares soared 12 per cent to $10.09 on the Toronto Stock Exchange shortly after the results were released. Analysts, meanwhile, said the unexpectedly strong performance suggests BlackBerry’s battered business, decimated by competition from Apple’s iPhone and devices running Google’s Android software, may have finally been stabilized.
The company isn’t out of the woods yet, of course. But new CEO John Chen claims he can finally see some light filtering through the trees…

After the unforgettable family gatherings, sunbathing on the dock and picture-perfect moments with the kids, it’s hard to say goodbye to the cottage you’ve grown to love.
But financial advisers say that learning when to let go is a fundamental part of ensuring that your lakefront property doesn’t become a bad investment.
“There’s the romance of it, and there’s the reality,” said Jason Pereira, a senior financial consultant at Investment Planning Counsel in Toronto.
“The cottage is a place where you escape, but there’s also its own series of responsibilities.”
For cottage dwellers, that day is inevitable. Eventually you will face the dilemma of either selling the property or passing it down to your children, if you have them.
Neither option is easy and, in many cases, comes down to choosing the best time for the transition which, for tax purposes, will likely be after retirement when your annual income drops.
Financial advisors say one of the biggest mistakes cottage owners make is assuming that somebody else in the family actually loves the place as much as they do…

TORONTO – Eleven Ontario residents have been charged with various offences in an alleged investment scam in which scores of international investors lost a total of $4.4 million.
The RCMP’s Greater Toronto Area financial crime unit said the charges arise from an investigation into information supplied by the Ontario Securities Commission involving investments in a biomedical company between 2003 and 2006.
According to police investigators, more than 150 investors from the United States and the United Kingdom invested in a company trading on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board and led by Ivan Cavric, 54, of Welland, Ont.
The company was National Detection Clinics Ltd., formerly known as Discovery Biosciences and which became TGC Ventures Inc.
Investors were told that NDCL were going to open up clinics after they had developed an early stage breast cancer infra-red detection system that had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Police allege the medical technology had not been approved and none of the investors’ money went towards opening, purchasing or implementing any clinics or equipment…

The Fed’s balance-sheet recovery hasn’t stirred business investment, an opportunity killer for workers.

Activist investor Carl Icahn is urging discount retailer Family Dollar Stores Inc. to put itself up for sale immediately, saying its performance is weakening and it faces mounting competition.
Icahn is also calling for three of his representatives to be added to Family Dollar’s board. He made the case in a letter Thursday to Family Dollar’s CEO Howard Levine published in a regulatory filing.
Earlier this month, Icahn disclosed he held a 9.4 per cent stake in Family Dollar. In response, Family Dollar adopted a shareholder rights plan, or so-called “poison pill,” a defensive tactic that makes a hostile takeover prohibitively expensive.
Through the close of regular-session trading Thursday, the Matthews, North Carolina, company’s stock has gained 12.6 per cent since Icahn’s stake was first disclosed on June 6. It added another 2.6 per cent in after-market trading Thursday.
Shares in rival Dollar General Corp. also rallied after Icahn’s original disclosure, fueled by speculation it could be involved in a deal with Family Dollar…