The Changing Role of Fixed Income
Bonds can no longer be expected to be major contributors of return in your portfolio Month after month, the Investment Funds Institute releases their monthly sales statistics, and each month, without fail, fixed income funds continue to see big inflows of new money while equity funds see net outflows. As of September 30, bond funds saw $15 billion of new money while investors pulled more than...
Read MoreDetermining Truly Active Management
If you want to beat the index, you can’t look like the index For many do if yourself investors actively managed mutual funds are considered to be a sucker’s bet. They believe that active funds offer nothing more than poor investment returns and high fees. Their rationale is that you can simply go out and buy a low cost ETF that will provide the same investment exposure at a much lower cost....
Read MoreInvesting in Europe
Risk of a catastrophe in the region reduced considerably When the European Central Bank announced that they would be buying an unlimited number of bonds to help inject liquidity into the Eurozone’s fragile economy, the likelihood of a big blow-up in the region was lessened considerably. While the risks may be lessened, the debt crisis is still far from being solved and until it is, there is...
Read MorePositioning your portfolio for a market bounce
The best equity funds for a rising market In our September edition, we looked highlighted a number of core equity funds that provided investors with the best downside protection for when markets we falling. In this edition, we have scoured the mutual fund universe to find some of the funds that provide the best opportunity for strong gains when markets move higher. Looking at the historic...
Read MoreETFs 2.0 – Fundamental Indexing
Fundamental indices supposedly offer better returns with less risk Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) continue to garner investor attention, growing industry assets by more than 16% as of August 31. It is not too difficult to see why investors have embraced ETFs given that they provide investors with a very transparent and cost effective way to access a variety of asset classes. The first ETF launched...
Read MoreSteadyhand Income Fund is one of a kind
A reader looks for an alternative to this “bond beater” fund Recently a reader asked: “My discount broker does not allow me to purchase the Steadyhand Income Fund. Is there another fund with a similar allocation that you can recommend for my RSP portfolio?” My first reaction was that this shouldn’t be too difficult of a task. After all, with thousands of mutual funds available for sale in...
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