Practice

Segregated funds offer protection

Financial advisors must make investment decisions for their clients based on whatever information is available at that moment, not unlike the physician who must make a diagnosis with limited information about his patient’s condition.

By Rod Tyler |March 11, 2011

5 min read

An IPS, your ounce of prevention

One area in the field of finance that has been growing in acceptance is that of behavioural economics- sometimes referred to as behavioural finance. In essence, it deals with the various intellectual and emotional errors that nearly everyone fact seems to make. Concepts like overconfidence, negative loss aversion, mental accounting, hindsight bias and anchoring have gained considerable acceptance in the financial services industry.

By John J. De Goey |March 9, 2011

4 min read

Independence both a blessing and a curse

With the recent acquisition of DundeeWealth Inc. by the Bank of Nova Scotia, the top 5 banks in Canada now control two thirds of the mutual fund assets under management and about one half of the licensed representatives that distribute mutual funds in Canada. It won’t be long until the disadvantages of an oligopoly will […]

By Vince Valenti |March 7, 2011

4 min read

From asset allocation to risk allocation

The balance between return and risk is often equated with the trade-off between health and exercise. While all investors have an appetite for greater wealth (being healthy), they also have a limited tolerance for risk (exercise). Unfortunately, risk is a difficult, often abstract, concept for investors — especially when it comes to investment selection. As a result, risk is usually ignored altogether.

By Mary Ann Wiley |March 1, 2011

7 min read