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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
Have I Got A Deal For You
Ever wondered why buying a new car always ends up costing so much more than you expect it to? JEREMY CATO reveals some of the secrets of the auto saleman's dance and provides some practical advice on how you can develop a few good moves of your own.
By JEREMY CATO
Buying a new car remains, for the most part, a three-way courting dance between the sales guy or gal, the sales manager (or business manager) and you, the customer. It can be exhilarating, it can be fun, but more often than not it's exhausting and nerve-wracking.
Couple hopes to make good times last
By ANDREW ALLENTUCK
On the Alberta side of the Rockies, Chuck and Ruth Penman and their daughter Cleo (not their real names) live in a $180,000 house they are renovating.The Penmans appear to have arrived. Chuck, 36, is an advertising executive who drives to work in a classic 1983 Mercedes, bought used a few years ago for $8,500. Ruth, 34, a part-time courier, drives a 1982 pickup truck restored to mint condition. Their daughter, Cleo, 10, goes to a private school near their home. Recently arrived in the mountain hideaway -- that's part of their plan to live in all of Canada's major regions -- they intend eventually to move to the East Coast.
It's not always best to split your CPP when divorcing
By GAIL VAZ-OXLADE
As I've been doing the rounds to promote my latest book, a lot of people have been asking about how the Canada Pension Plan credit splitting system works when they divorce. There's no question the system can be confusing. In some cases it can be downright detrimental.
How to defer the sting of capital gains tax
By TIM CESTNICK
I had a chance this week to glance at the new tax forms for this year. Boy, are they ever complicated. Instead of putting numbers in blank spaces, you've got to ''punch out'' the figures on the forms.
Why deferred sales charges are on the way out
By ROB CARRICK
Just say No to deferred sales charge mutual funds.Your financial adviser may try to argue with you if you take this stance, but hang in there. The DSC fund is on the way out and advisers who fight it are headed for the same place where the buggy-whip industry went to die.
Fit for life
Discounts as high as 20 per cent are becoming available for life insurance holders who are in peak condition. It's a U.S. trend that's catching on in Canada.
By CATHERINE MULRONEY
As if looking great and feeling virtuous weren't enough, now Canadians who watch what they eat and take care of their bodies are finding life holds another advantage: lower insurance rates.
Can a wizard's spell save kitsch merchandiser Enesco?
By BENJ GALLANDER and BEN STADELMANN
Enesco Group Inc. (ENC--NYSE) is a stock that has been on our watch list since last year when it began a long slide from its traditional trading range around the $30 (U.S.) mark. It hit bottom in May at $3.81. The Itasca, Ill., company distributes collectable figurines and assorted giftware merchandise to retailers and other mass-market channels.
Sophisticated software aids retirement forecasts
By GORDON POWERS
Most Canadians know remarkably little about the public pension system and retirement planning in general, suggests a recent survey conducted by Ekos Research Associates for Human Resources Development Canada. And, unless they start accessing more sophisticated retirement planning tools, that's not likely to change anytime soon.
A look at what the hot fund managers are buying
By ANDREW ALLENTUCK
In the precarious fall markets, the Industrial Horizon Fund posted an 11.3-per-cent return for three months ended Oct. 31, far ahead of the 0.45-per-cent average gain of its group of 130 Canadian large-capitalization equity funds. A $465-million portfolio of household-name stocks, it soared on a 26-per-cent weighting of financial services, which have led the Toronto Stock Exchange all year. The fund, which is managed on value principles, had no Nortel Networks shares. On Oct. 25, when the telecommunications equipment maker dropped nearly 26 per cent, Industrial Horizon was unscathed.
A selection of this week's winner and losers compiled by ANDREW BELL DOGS
It looks dull, but it's useful
By ROB CARRICK
www.nasdaq.com The Nasdaq Stock Market's recently improved site is kind of dull appearance-wise, but it's amazingly useful if you follow Nasdaq trades.The heart of this Web site is a nice little stock research centre that ranks with the better independent investing sites out there. You can type in 10 different stock symbols and chart them en masse or individually, then call up all kinds of useful information on them. Company fundamentals are there, as well as insider trading records, real-time regulatory filings, analyst consensus recommendations and earnings estimates supplied by IBES International.
ASKED & ANSWERED
By ANGELA BARNES
Question: In reference to a question in Asked # Answered in the Nov. 11 issue, I understood there was a superficial loss rule. How does it work? Answer: Here's a brief explanation.
WHO'S HOT
David Tuer Some people take a year or two off to become table dancers in Manila and some devote themselves to saving the blind incontinent goats of old Naples. But Dave, boss of PanCanadian Pete, pursued his own dream when he quit for a while: Banking and a stint in the Alberta civil service. Flamboyant Dave came back, though, and with energy prices exploding, PanCanadian's making more money than a Band-Aid salesman at a swinger's night for porcupines.
