Mutual Fund and RRSP Advice - EMCEfficient Market Canada is an independent investment magazine for Canadian mutual fund, exchange traded fund (ETF), and self-directed RRSP investors. We translate investment research into practical advice for ordinary self-directed RRSP investing, with focus on low-cost exchange traded funds and mutual funds.RRSP's and Income Tax Planning- (Found August 15, 2008 ) An RRSP is a tax deferral tool. While most people use their "registered retirement savings plan" to provide income in retirement, your RRSP can also be used just to defer taxes from one year to the next. This article will discuss the tax implications of contributing to, and withdrawing from, your RRSP, as a way of smoothing out your tax rate from one year to the next.http://www.efficientmarket.ca/article/RRSP_Tax Should You Take the Canadian Securities Course- (Found August 15, 2008 ) Would the Canadian Securities Course help you to become a better self-directed RRSP investor The CSC is one of the educational requirements for registration with one of Canada's self-regulatory organizations. For example, you're required to take a course like the CSC if you want to work as an investment advisor or mutual fund salesperson. What does this course teach you, and would it be useful for an ordinary investor managing their own RRSPhttp://www.efficientmarket.ca/article/Canadian_Securities_Course Want to Retire on Hans Island- (Found August 15, 2008 ) Do something patriotic with your retirement: Retire on Hans Island! Hans Island is a small uninhabited barren knoll located in the strait that separates Ellesmere Island from Northern Greenland. It's one of the most desolate places in Canada, and it's not really clear why anyone would ever want to live there, but then everyone's different. Canada's claim to sovereignty over Hans Island has recently been challenged, and given how difficult it would be to live on Hans Island, retiring there...http://www.efficientmarket.ca/article/Hans_Island Foreign Asset Allocation in your RRSP- (Found August 15, 2008 ) How much money should you invest in foreign markets A recent study in the Journal of Finance examined the extent to which mutual fund investors tend to put their money in their home country. This is called domestic bias. In every country, investors are biased towards investing in their own country. In this article we'll look at the market capitalization of global markets, and discuss how much money you should invest overseas. Given that the Federal Govt. just eliminated the foreign content...http://www.efficientmarket.ca/article/RRSP_Foreign_Asset_Allocation Building A Globally Efficient ETF Portfolio (updated)- (Found August 15, 2008 ) Last year I recommended building a low cost efficient global ETF portfolio by allocating funds to cheap index ETF's based on global market capitalization. In my opinion there isn't much more to say about equity investment--that's still what you should do. Allocate your money along the same lines as the global consensus. However, it's time to update the data a little. What's the market cap breakdown look like in 2007http://www.efficientmarket.ca/article/Global_ETF_2 Remember to file your T1213- (Found August 15, 2008 ) Happy New Year! One of the things you may have noticed recently is that rather large deduction of federal tax on your first pay stub of the year. Assuming that you contribute the maximum to your RRSP some of that money still belongs to you. You've just lent it, interest free, to the federal government until sometime next April. You don't want to do that. The solution is to file a Form T1213, Request To Reduce Tax Deducations At Source. Yes, it's nice to get a big refund at the end of the year,..http://www.efficientmarket.ca/article/Form_T1213 Building A Globally Efficient Equity Portfolio with Exchange Traded Funds- (Found August 15, 2008 ) According to modern financial theory capital is allocated efficiently to global markets overall. That is, the total market capitalization of both companies and countries is roughly optimal. This is the theory behind index funds that are weighted by market capitalization. The overall maximally efficient portfolio would be to hold a global portfolio of equities roughly in proportion to global market capitalization. How would one go about doing this in a cost efficient manner In this article I'll..http://www.efficientmarket.ca/article/Globally_Efficient_Equity_Portfolio Changes to Barclays Canadian iShares XIC, XDV, and XTR- (Found August 15, 2008 ) This is the third and final article on recent changes to the Barclays Canadian iShares (formerly iUnits) exchange traded funds. With respect to the Canadian equity market, there are three important changes to the Canadian iShares ETFs: Income trusts have been added to the TSX equity index (XIC), and there are two new equity index ETF's: A Canadian iShares fund specializing in dividend income (XDV) and a Canadian iShares fund specializing in income trusts (XTR). What do these changes to the...http://www.efficientmarket.ca/article/iUnits_XDV_XIC_XTR Changes To Barclays iShares: XSB and XRB- (Found August 15, 2008 ) Barclays has announced changes in its line-up of bond exchange traded Canadian iShares (formerly iUnits) funds, in addition to many other recent changes. Unlike the changes to XSP and XIN Canadian iShares ETFs, the changes to the bond ETFs are across the board good news for Canadian investors. XSB is what the former XGV has become: The 5 year govt. bond Canadian iShares ETF is changing into a general short-bond index. Canadians have needed an efficient way to invest in short-bonds for some...http://www.efficientmarket.ca/article/iunits_changes_xsb_xrb Changes To Barclays Canadian iShares: XSP and XIN- August 15, 2008 Barclays has announced changes to several of its Canadian iShares exchange traded funds (formerly iUnits), including the XSPi500R iUnits, and XINiIntR iUnits funds. The fees and the investment objectives of each exchange traded fund is changing. Since I had previously recommended these Canadian iShares funds to self-directed RRSP investors it is time to analyze the implication of these changes. This is the first of a series of articles--subsequent articles will look at the changes to other...http://www.efficientmarket.ca/article/iUnits_Changes_XSP_XIN |