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What can we do for you?

  • Identify the many Myths in the financial system, including the dream of “beating the market” through individual stock selection.
  • Identify the key factors to becoming better do-it-yourself investors AND identify those which are under your control, such as an optimum allocation of your investments across appropriate asset categories.
  • Accompany you each step of the way in the saving and investment process- see our User Guide.
  • Help self-investors to better control their costs, what Warren Buffett calls the financial system’s friction costs.
  • Help you better use your tax-exempt (RRSP) account.
  • Show you how to minimize your tax-related investment costs.
  • Give you access to information to help you better manage a portfolio intended to constitute an important source of retirement income.
  • Identify areas where the financial system does not adequately take into account the interests of independent investors.
  • Encourage reforms to the regulatory system.

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Help us to help you become a better independent investor. Your comments are appreciated and welcomed on our commentaries or on any other aspect of the site- not only what you find but also how it is presented. In addition, we specifically ask for your input at various points throughout our site.

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For more details on the choice and meaning of the symbols click here.
S&P;/TSX  13391.86 tooltip

Dow Jones  12422.86 tooltip

S&P500;  1341.13 tooltip

Dollar  0.981 tooltip

XIU.TO  78.75 tooltip

IVV  133.45 tooltip

EFA  71.76 tooltip

EEM  134.48 tooltip

XBB.TO  29.11 tooltip

Website : finance.yahoo.com Get Symbol Info(s)...

Syndicate

Welcome to our site for the independent investor which was officially launched March 18, 2008. Become a member (it’s free) and enjoy full access to the site + receive on a preferred basis our newsletters. Our first newsletter commenting on TFSA's was emailed to members March 25. MEMBERS-PLEASE NOTE: Depending on your software and internet provider, it may be necessary for you to add This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  to your list of safe contacts in your spam filters. Otherwise, you may not receive our newsletters. Our newsletters notify our members in priority of our commentaries on current events and other topics of interest. If you miss a newsletter, it will eventually be filed on the site at a later date under Information on the home page.

Hedge Funds: A first alarm?
It is unfortunately quite common that small investors become interested in a new financial product which has rapidly increased in price precisely at the same moment that sophisticated investors generously decide to withdraw from the market and sell to small investors at a high price assets which they themselves purchased long ago at a very low price. In the last few years, the hedge industry has been increasing by leaps and bounds and has been the object of numerous favorable articles in the media. However, a new report on the financial assets of ultra high net worth Americans indicates a reduction in 2006 of their investments in hedge funds. Is there a lesson here for the independent investor?

 

Spectrum Group www.spectrum.com published January 18, 2007 a report entitled What’s in Your Portfolio (see a summary doc.791) on the investment habits of the richest American investors, those who have financial assets of US $5 million and more. One observation: a reduction of 29% in the proportion of these investors with investments in hedge funds. In 2006, 27% of these investors had such investments, compared to 38% in 2005. In addition, the proportion of their portfolios invested in hedge funds decreased from 17% to 14%. The report notes that the reduction is even more important with investors with financial assets of US $25 million and more.

Our site (see the section  Alternative Investments – Hedge Funds) was already raising questions as to whether hedge funds are truly an appropriate product for the average individual investor, and identifies several factors which suggest a negative reply. This recent report makes us believe that now is not the time for the average Canadian self-investor to begin investing in this product, at a time when very rich investors are in the process of abandoning it or at least reducing in a significant fashion the extent of their participation.

Last Updated ( Friday, 21 March 2008 )
 
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OUR MISSION

  • Help you become a better independent self investor.
  • Be a source of free, objective, independent and unbiased investment information for self-investors.
  • Build on our past to earn the trust of Canadian and non-Canadian do-it-yourself investors. Our founder has several years experience with a securities regulatory agency and over a quarter century of experience with two blue chip Canadian securities issuers.
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  • The information on self investing is divided into 44 sections (and counting) which are organized under eleven main headings or topics. Click on Themes at the top of this page for a short summary of the information covered under all of the topics.
  • For a list of the sections under any particular theme, click on the name of that theme at the top of this page.

Who should visit our site?

  • You are an independent investor looking for investment information focused on the needs of  do-it-yourself investors.
  • You are a novice in investment matters, but are considering becoming more independent in your investing.
  • You trade in reliance on a financial advisor, but wish to better use his services, or perhaps understand the other alternative trading methods.
  • Perhaps you see self investing as a retirement project, or are merely curious about the world of investing.
  • Perhaps as a result of your professional activities (institutional investor, broker, professor or journalist), you seek access to a non-industry source of objective investment information.

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