While guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit funds have been a huge hit in the Canadian marketplace, at least one company isn’t looking to gain shelf space anytime soon. “We’re not excited about gaining market share until the product is more compatible with where we’re headed,” Manulife senior executive vice-present and chief financial officer Peter Rubenovitch told […]
While guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit funds have been a huge hit in the Canadian marketplace, at least one company isn’t looking to gain shelf space anytime soon. “We’re not excited about gaining market share until the product is more compatible with where we’re headed,” Manulife senior executive vice-present and chief financial officer Peter Rubenovitch told […]
Equities rolled off a cliff last year, for the second time in a decade. And yet, stocks are still expected to deliver the best returns over the long haul — albeit muted returns compared to the blistering 1990s. That’s the conclusion of Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh and Mike Staunton, researchers at the London School of […]
As consumers tighten their belt in the face of recession, savings rates could jump from their current 3% to the double digits that prevailed in the 1980s. That would be good news for banks, money market funds and government bond issuers, says Toronto consultancy Investor Economics in its year-end wrap-up of the mutual fund industry. […]
With a credit market reckoning more severe than even the most experienced asset managers expected, at least one is saying that former U.S. Federal Reserve Board chair Alan Greenspan is not to blame — but the U.S. Congress and the federal regulators are. And the reason they’re to blame, says Barry Allen, president of Marrett […]
During recessions and market downturns, homeowners often take comfort in their biggest investment asset: their home. But should they? With spending and investing on many people’s minds these days, home prices, and the widespread conviction that investors never lose money on a house purchase, are being tested. As with much in life, the value of […]
The securitization market at the heart of the subprime fiasco may be dormant now, but it will reawaken, says one industry expert, and reforms are needed to tame the risks it exposed. Loan standards in the U.S. were relaxed starting around the year 2000, with increasing recourse to subprime mortgages. Before then, subprime mortgages had […]
A small change in last week’s budget promises a benefit during declining markets: RRSP and RRIF losses will be treated fairly in estate distributions. When an RRSP or RRIF annuitant dies, the taxable value to the estate includes gains made after the annuitant’s death, taxable in the hands of the estate’s beneficiaries. But until now, […]
Canada overflows with designations, some related to the sale of a product, others gradually becoming required for membership in a recognized industry association. One organization, the Institute for Advanced Financial Planning, isn’t seeking to regulate sales or education, but the practice of financial planning itself. Advisor staff talked recently with the IAFP president, Ottawa financial […]
Despite headline blowups and depressed returns, not all is bad in the hedge fund world. There’s still growth to be found in the future — by planting a seed. Now is an opportune time to snag prospective managers at preferred fees, thanks to the shakeout in the industry, suggest panellists at a Toronto discussion on […]