Unfair or not, get ready for changes to the taxation of private corporations

“We see these approaches to managing people’s affairs through a private corporation as creating an unfair playing field……We’re trying to tighten these loopholes to make sure that it’s fair.” Doesn’t sound like taxes for small business owners are going down, does it?  The above is from federal finance minister Bill Morneau’s July 18 announcement outlining […]

Banning Investment Commissions – moving beyond “if” towards “how”

Yesterday the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) released a much awaited consultation paper, “Consultation on the Option of Discontinuing Embedded Commissions”.  We say “much awaited” half tongue-in-cheek!  Much in the same way that a large number of Canadians have no idea how or how much they pay for investment products / advice, we expect even fewer are […]

Success is less about hitting home runs and more about staying out of trouble

People are often surprised when we say that successful investing does not mean you have to “beat the market”.  Instead, successful investing is simply that which allows you to meet your financial goals.  Trying to hit “home runs” by picking hot stocks before they jump or timing market swings are activities more aligned with speculating than investing and […]

Fee transparency bad for investors? Unlikely….

Canadian securities regulators are currently going through the process of trying to reform our investment industry practices for the benefit of investors.  Specifically they are trying to address fee and performance transparency and are also thinking about implementing a “best interest” standard for financial advisors in Canada.  I know, the idea that advisors should work in […]

Good track record? Who cares!

Morningstar has updated it’s research on the factors that might help investors decide which investment funds to choose.  Once again they find that costs are the only reliable indicator of future fund performance.  The evidence is so clear in this area that they believe it should be among the top two criteria to use when screening funds.  We […]