The Globe and Mail's Smart Money section is dedicated to giving you what you need to manage your personal finances successfully. Smart Money appears every Saturday in The Globe and Mail and on globeinvestor.com.

Qtrade clobbers the big boys

Independent Qtrade retains the crown for the fourth consecutive year, showing Bay Street that the little outfit from out west can be the best

By ROB CARRICK

rcarrick@globeandmail.com The one sure-fire, no-doubt bull market out there right now is the online brokerage business.Stocks and bonds - who knows if they're headed up or down? With online brokers, the boom in new account openings that began as the stock markets crashed last fall has kept right on going. An informal canvas of a few firms found that account openings are up in the range of 19 to 26 per cent year over year, and that's not including the impact of the tax-free savings accounts introduced on Jan. 1. One firm said visits to its public website are up 53 per cent over last year's level, while online tour traffic is up 40 per cent.

A practical approach to market vagaries

Interest rates are at rock bottom and the markets have rallied fast: could be a good time to rebalance your portfolio

By ROB CARRICK

rcarrick@globeandmail.comIt's therapy time for investors with a phobia of falling stock markets.Not only can you survive another downturn, you can actually turn it to your advantage.

Rail sector may be on track for stronger returns

By DAVID MILSTEAD

Racing around buying all the railroads may be great strategy for the Monopoly board game, but investors should be cautious about employing the technique in the wake of Warren Buffett's big buy.

Smaller gold miners show their lustre

By SHIRLEY WON

swon@globeandmail.comWHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?Precious metals funds are shining the brightest this year.Gold futures surged this week after India bought 200 tonnes of the metal from the International Monetary Fund. Gold for December delivery hit a record high of $1,100 (U.S.) an ounce yesterday, but closed at $1,095.70 in New York.

Prudent pair want to loosen up a bit

By DIANNE MALEY

Like most young couples with a child and a mortgage, Leah and Ezra are feeling constrained by their tight budget.They have shown themselves to be prudent money managers, paying off Leah's student loan, making regular payments on the loan from Ezra's parents for a down payment on their Oshawa, Ont., home, and tucking away as much as they can each month into their various savings plans.

Selecting winners by focusing on sales

By ALLAN ROBINSON

what are we looking at?Stick with a healthy level of stocks in an investment portfolio, says quantitative equity analyst James O'Shaughnessy, author of the bestseller investment guide, What Works on Wall Street.

fragile

BULLS STRUGGLING TO HOLD THE LINE Optimism has been building for months as positive earnings reports fuel investors. Negative signals this week could bring out the bears

By SIMON AVERY AND ALLAN ROBINSON

Stock markets are fragile going into the week, after the news that the U.S. had emerged from recession was undercut by other, less friendly economic indicators.Wages, salaries and consumer spending are down. Expectations for the holiday shopping season are weak, consumer confidence remains something of an oxymoron and weekly jobless claims keep rising. On top of that, Canada's gross domestic product figure for August disappointed, suggesting the Bank of Canada has severely overestimated growth for the third quarter.

Water heater fund 'good value'

Battered units seem cheap, provided trust can fight competition from slew of rivals

By RICHARD BLACKWELL

Like many income trusts, Consumers' Waterheater Income Fund's business model is based on steady, consistent cash flow - in this case, the monthly rental payments that 1.4 million Ontario households make on their gas water heaters.

Currency minters put a shine on gold

By DAVID ROSENBERG

David Rosenberg is chief strategist for Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc. and a guest columnist for Report on BusinessAfter at least a half-dozen runs at the milestone of $1,000 (U.S.) an ounce over the past two years, the price of gold finally managed to roll past that mark a little more than a month ago and yesterday managed to push its way to a new high, closing a shade below $1,085.

'King of value factors' reveals cheap stocks

By ALLAN ROBINSON

arobinson@globeandmail.comWHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?A vicious bear market transforms into a stunning bull market. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the emotional swings.''Our philosophy is that the best investment strategies are devoid of emotional decision-making,'' according to a report by money manager O'Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC.