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.

Know the nuances of fund fees

By ROB CARRICK

rcarrick@globeandmail.comThe ETF crowd will love this reality check on one of the country's favourite mutual funds.The $14.7-billion RBC Canadian Dividend Fund is a fair bit costlier to own than its seven direct exchange-traded-fund competitors, and its returns lag behind most of them in recent years. Mutual funds versus ETFs: It's the greatest rivalry in investing and it's also the most misunderstood.

Three short-seller targets that defied skeptics

By DAVID MILSTEAD

Some of the most beaten-down, unloved stocks of 2012 are having a fine 2013, particularly in the last few weeks.Netflix Inc., Tesla Motors Inc. and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters were all favourites of short-sellers, the investors who profit when share prices fall, not rise. And for periods of time, those three stocks provided ample profits to the ''shorts.'' Their 2012 lows represented declines of between 35 per cent to more than 80 per cent from all-time highs.

China unlikely to spur global growth

By BRIAN MILNER

bmilner@globeandmail.comEven the most bullish of China watchers must realize by now that their favourite economy is not up to the task of revitalizing flagging global growth. Weaker than expected expansion of 7.7 per cent in the first quarter signalled slower demand for energy and other resources, as well as the machinery and equipment imports that had helped spare Germany from the recession ravaging a large swath of the euro zone.

Charity begins at retirement

Ada and Alvin are well off and believe in giving to others. How should they arrange their donations?

By DIANNE MALEY

With their three children grown up and launched into successful careers, Ada and Alvin find they have more than they need.Alvin, 66, retired a couple of years ago with a company pension of $3,850 a month, but he still does some consulting work. As well, he and Ada get $2,630 between them in Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security benefits. Ada is 65.

How to create wealth at home

By ROB CARRICK

rcarrick@globeandmail.comEvery year, Frank Tristani assigns his McMaster University finance students the task of showing whether renting or buying a home makes you wealthier.As Mr. Tristani scores the results, owning never wins. ''Over six years, no one has been able to substantiate buying as creating more wealth over the long term,'' he told me in an e-mail.

Stop blaming Gen Y for your money woes

By ROB CARRICK

rcarrick@globeandmail.comThe latest slur against members of Generation Y is that they're wreckers of their parents' retirement.The list of Gen Y's sins grows ever larger: Whiny, spoiled, apathetic, with no work ethic. According to the cover of the latest edition of Time magazine, they're the ''ME ME ME Generation ... lazy, entitled narcissists who still live with their parents.''

Neutral balanced funds: U.S. assets tip Sentry into top slot

By JACQUELINE NELSON

jnelson@globeandmail.comWhat are we looking for?The top-performing Canadian neutral balanced fund offerings. Funds in this category invest in stocks and bonds, and they must have between 40 and 60 per cent of assets invested in equity securities.

Five reasons I (still) like Algonquin

By JOHN HEINZL

jheinzl@globeandmail.comIn December, I wrote a favourable column about Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp., calling it a ''relatively low-risk stock with a solid yield ... good growth prospects and a ''green' halo to boot.''

Seven deductions the taxman won't let you have

By TIM CESTNICK

Tim Cestnick is president of WaterStreet Family Offices, and author of several tax and personal finance books.tcestnick@waterstreet.caMy son recently asked whether it was illegal to pay his younger brother to do his chores. I couldn't find any law against this, but I vetoed the idea just the same.

Commodities bust reaches well beyond resources

By FABRICE TAYLOR

Fabrice Taylor, CFA, publishes the President's Club investment letter, for which he and The Globe and Mail have a distribution agreement. taylor.fabrice@gmail.comCommodities routs are serious business and savvy investors know better than to think they're immune from them because they don't own resource stocks. When commodity prices collapse, it's easy to get burned when you don't expect it, because in this country the resource sector has long tentacles. The danger is compounded when there are dividends involved.