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News | Globeinvestor | Technology | Vehicles | Careers |
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The Globe and Mail's Globe Investor section (which replaced Net Worth) is dedicated to giving you what you need to manage your personal finances successfully. Globe Investor appears every Saturday in The Globe and Mail and on globeinvestor.com. View our archive of past Globe Investor issues.
TOP STORY
Schwab is On-Line King
Here they are -- the stars and the dogs of Canadian on-line brokerages. In his second annual report card on the brokers, personal finance specialist Rob Carrick notes some significant changes from last year -- but there's still a lot of room for improvement.
By ROB CARRICK
Kudos all around to Canada's discount brokers for the many improvements they've made over the past year. If we gave A's for effort, then everyone would have done well.
The Globeinvestor site will give you some insight into stock-picking, Rob Carrick says
By ROB CARRICK
Admit it. When choosing stocks, you're curious to know what's caught the eye of the next investor.If you head to the Globeinvestor Web site starting today you can find out not only what stocks other investors are watching, but also how those stocks are performing. Full story | Today's portfolio performance
Shelagh's separation story all too familiar
By CATHERINE MULRONEY
Shelagh Steele's story will be all too familiar to a lot of women.Shelagh (not her real name) left her career in nursing when she married 35 years ago to take care of her husband, a busy Toronto accountant, and their two children. She did everything from making jam and other preserves and taking the car in for maintenance to sewing the children's clothes and growing vegetables. While she took a part-time job in a service industry during the marriage, her primary focus was her family.
Exchange-traded funds zero in on hot sectors
These baskets of stocks are growing phenomenally in the U.S. but may face tax restrictions in this country.
By CAROLYN LEITCH
Rebellion is spreading through the ranks of investors.No longer content to let highly paid mutual fund managers build bland portfolios for them, more and more people are flouting the traditional buy-and-hold wisdom and jumping in and out the market as they see fit.
NET WORTH - BEST BUYS
A weekly scorecard of some of the lowest and highest rates and yields across Canada. The survey of mortgage, GIC and car loan rates - taken from a sample of companies by Cannex Financial Exchanges - covers posted rates only, so consumers may be able to haggle for a better deal at some financial institutions.
When delving into stocks, most fund owners lack a strategy, Duff Young says
By DUFF YOUNG
Frustrated by recent index-lagging performance in their mutual funds, many fund investors are moving into individual stocks, at least with their new money. But some may be jumping out of the frying pan and straight into the fire.
Back-to-school shopping is a good way to initiate your kids into the budgeting process, Gail Vaz-Oxlade says.
By GAIL VAZ-OXLADE
There's nothing like a great back-to-school sale to get a mom's juices flowing. Shopaholic or not, the new school season brings out the crazed consumer in most moms -- dads too, I suspect, judging from my husband's freewheeling with the old credit card.
ASKED & ANSWERED
Each week we'll answer readers' questions on personal finance topics.
Question: I am planning to buy preferred shares. Could you tell me the benefits and risks of buying this type of stock? Answer: We assume then that you are an income-oriented investor since preferred shares are geared primarily for that market. We also assume that you are more risk adverse than other investors who opt instead for common shares. Common stocks' movement tends to be more volatile than preferreds. Not that volatility is in and of itself bad, since volatility can mean higher potential capital gains as well as larger potential capital losses.
There are five main ways to finance higher education, Tim Cestnick says.
By TIM CESTNICK
One thing in life is certain: The education of that child, grandchild, niece or nephew in your life is not going to be cheap, unless he or she enrolls in the school of hard knocks -- which I understand is fairly inexpensive but doesn't look as good on a resume as, say, a degree from the University of Toronto.
A host of build-your-own-portfolio-on-line startups claim they can do more for less, Gordon Powers says.
By GORDON POWERS
As increasingly price-sensitive investors look for innovative ways to trim costs and boost returns, North America's fund industry is coming under siege.Leading the charge is a host of build-your-own-portfolio on-line startups that claim they can do a better job for less money than established fund companies. Here's a sampling of the latest offerings.
STARS & DOGS
A selection of this week's winners and losers WHO'S HOT
Claude Lessard Quick: How can you tell an ad agency type has died? His Ferrari goes off the road. Claude, obsessed boss of ad giant Cossette Communication, is a renowned hard driver - at work that is. The eager-beaver workaholic and he's boosted Cossette by 40 per cent since taking the company public last year. Sleepy rivals complain that trying to compete with the L Man is like wrestling a pychotic octopus. Someone's going to get their arms torn off -- and it ain't gonna be tentacle boy.
HOT HAND
A look at what the hot fund managers are buying
By ANDREW ALLENTUCK
Searching for ways to get more income from their capital, investors have turned to high-income balanced funds that stock up on real estate investment trusts (REITs) and royalty trusts. At the top of the field for the three and six months ended July 31, with returns of 13.8 per cent and 21.6 per cent respectively, is the $232-million Atlas Canadian Income Trust. It has 100 per cent of its assets in REITs and royalty trusts that pass cash flow from such things as shopping centres and oil wells to unitholders.
Web site review
Forgive the old economy reference, but an investing supersite should work like a well-run department store.You remember the concept -- put most everything people need in one place so that they don't really have to go elsewhere. On a Web supersite, this means providing market updates, news announcements and, most importantly, lots of information you can use for stock-picking.
