Alberta Capital Bonds On Their Way

Albertans are sure to be inundated with marketing on Alberta Capital Bonds in the coming weeks as the Alberta government looks to individuals to raise capital to fund their current deficits. Details of the offering were provided to financial institutions such as ourselves this week. The bonds will go on sale February 16th until March 1.

Unlike Canada Savings Bonds, Alberta Capital Bonds are not redeemable and must be held until maturity except for some very limited circumstances. The bonds will be dated March 15, 2010 and have a 5 year term. Interest can be paid annually or compound annually.

The minimum purchase amount will be $1,000 with a $25,000 maximum regardless of how the bonds are registered. You would not be able to buy $25,000 for yourself, $25,000 for your RRSP account and $25,000 jointly with your spouse. The government will not provide certificates which is also a different format compared to Canada Savings Bonds.

While the bonds are not CDIC insured, they do have the full backing of the Alberta government. They will be eligible for RRSP’s within a Self Directed Plan. The only thing that we don’t know about the bonds is probably the most important number.

What are they going to pay? The highest 5 year GIC is currently 3.30%. Expect the announcement to come in around that level.

If you are interested in higher rates, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We have access to some Alberta Capital Finance Authority which is a government agency accrual notes yielding over 5%.

Your thoughts and comments are always appreciated.

It’s Time to Rename Tax-Free Savings Accounts

Reading the Financial Post this weekend, an incredible statistic was reported about TFSA’s. About 90% of all tax-free savings account contributions were held in actual savings accounts earning a paltry .25% give or take. With interest rates like that, who cares if the earnings are tax free as you earned $12.50 over the course of the year on a $5000 contribution.

Part of the problem no doubt were the teaser rates that companies offered for the first three months of the year at 3% – 4%. After that, the rates came down but who could bother changing things at that point. Obviously, 90% of contributors couldn’t be bothered.

Tax Free Savings Accounts should be renamed Tax-Free Investment Accounts. After all, we are allowed to buy stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc… in these accounts. Corporate bonds still offer yields in the 4% – 7% range that can be very attractive when no tax is being paid. A $5000 investment would yield $200 – $350 per year depending in the bond purchased. Considerably higher than the $12.50 more than 90% of TFSA holders earned last year.

If you did open one of these accounts last year, its time for a review. Oh!!! If you did put your contribution in a savings account, consider talking to a financial advisor about your options as your bank or trust company didn’t do you any favours by paying you .25%. Your comments are always appreciated.

RRSP Loans…Now More Than Ever

With Christmas around the corner, the last thing most people are thinking about right now are taxes and RRSP contributions. That being said, this season is the perfect time to start thinking about saving taxes and building your retirement nest egg.

A recent survey has shown that most Canadians have not contributed to RRSP’s in the last couple of years with the recession and poor equity markets in 2008 as the major culprits. Another sobering statistic is that Canadians closing in on retirement in the next 5 years are those that have stopped contributing the most which will lead to a more difficult retirement.

We have just received our details for RRSP loans for this 2010 season and the borrowing rates are lower than ever starting at 3% on loans up to 24 months. Considering investors can borrow at these low rates and get higher returns on corporate bonds, it becomes very attractive to build back your savings and save some taxes at the same time.

To contact us for more information, you can click “HERE“. Your feedback is always welcome.

Canadian Investment Idol Competition

We would like to congratulate Mr. Joseph Weisz of Montreal, Quebec for winning the first Rothenberg Capital Management Canadian Investment Idol Competition powered by Claymore ETF’s. Mr. Weisz had a return of 15.02% over the eight week time frame.

To view all of our weekly winners, you can click on the link HERE.

 

Have a great week.

Claymore Gold Bullion Trust – A Great Way to Buy Gold

With India adding 200 tonnes of gold to their reserves, gold has hit an all-time high. It was highly anticipated that China was going to purchase this block of gold. With China publicly expressing its wish to increase its gold reserves over the coming years, one can only imagine that gold might appreciate significantly over time.

So what is the best way to play gold? You can buy gold producers but that takes on the risk of an individual companies performance. Some will outperform bullion while others won’t. For those that want exposure to bullion, consider the Claymore Gold Bullion Trust. The symbol is cgl.un on the TSX.

The units trade at a discount to its Net Asset Value (NAV). Today’s closing price was $10.00 and the NAV is roughly $10.40. Most Gold Trusts trade at premiums. Claymore will convert the units into an exchange traded fund if the units trade at a 2% or more discount to its NAV for 10 consecutive trading days starting at the end of November. Once this happens the discount should disappear.

If you buy gold outright as a retail investor, expect to pay a premium over what is quoted in the press. Couple that with any storage costs associated with buying bullion and you will see that Claymore’s product has merit. Another benefit for Canadian investors is that the units are hedged into Canadian dollars.

Typically, commodities move inversely with the US dollar. As gold goes up, the US dollar goes down potentially negating any upside to Canadian investors. In the interest of full disclosure, I do own some of the units personally.

Your thoughts about gold and where its heading are greatly appreciated.

 

 

Life Settlements in Difficulty in Canada

I have seen some ads in the Calgary Herald advertising life settlements yielding 10%. The ads definitely peaked my interest as this was something different than real estate, commodities, equities or even the bond market.

To have a different asset class paying a 10% yield would be quite attractive. Of course, with the rash of real estate deals going south and ponzi schemes rearing their head, one can only be skeptical.

The underlying concept behind life settlements is that a company offers an individual that is diagnosed with a life threatening illness a lump sum while they are alive in return for the proceeds from a life insurance policy upon death.

The company raises money from individuals paying them the 10% interest rate. They are supposed to pay the individuals from the proceeds of the policies which is difficult to pinpoint as they cannot guarantee when a policyholder will die.

The industry is growing in the US with about $12 Billion in policies sold in 2007 according to an article in this weeks investment executive. In Canada, the purchasing of policies is illegal in most provinces so the ones being offered for sale are from jurisdictions outside of Canada.

The main issue that is now plaguing this sector is similar to other unregulated industries. The individuals selling the policies are not registered to do so and are not offering proper documentation to potential investors outlining the risks.

Two companies in Ontario selling these policies have been shutdown while one in Alberta is currently being investigated.

All one needs to do is visit the Ontario Securities Commission or Alberta Securities Commission websites and do a search on life settlements to get more details on some of the issues.

If you have had any positive or negative experiences in this area, your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

Headline Deflation Number Not Worth Reporting

Media outlets have been reporting that inflation was -0.9% for the last 12 months in Canada. Many people will listen to that one number and not look any further.

The headline number includes food and energy prices with energy prices being the main reason for the decline since a barrel of oil in July 2008 was trading as high as $147 a barrel compared to $70 today.

As a result, gasoline prices dropped 28%. The decline in energy prices was quick and steep and will quickly disappear from the deflationary number being reported.

Core inflation which excludes these items was 1.8% and right in line with the 2% target of the Bank of Canada. There was nothing in this report to indicate a change in Bank of Canada interest rate policy.

Going forward, expect energy prices to contribute to the headline inflation number. Just like my post of a couple of weeks ago disecting the jobless numbers, it is always important to read more than the headline in order to say informed.

Your comments and inquiries are always appreciated.

Bonds Are Not Stocks

Bonds are not stocks.

The title of this post seems quite obvious in nature yet the amount of calls we received after Manulife cut the dividend on its common shares and how it affected the pricing and interest payments on their corporate debt was quite astounding.

Earnings per share for the company increased to $1.09 in the second quarter compared to $0.66 for the same quarter last year which is a positive.

The dividend cut will save the company $800 million per year. The savings is a positive for bondholders as there is more money available to make interest payments on their debt and pay principal back at maturity.

Unlike common shares or stock where a company can cut the dividend as it sees fit, the company cannot decide to stop making interest payments as part of a change to its strategic plan.

This is why bonds of a corporation are safer than common shares of the same corporation. There is limited upside but you have layers of downside protection. So what happened to the bonds on the day of the announcement? Not much. Manulife’s 10 year bonds dropped about 1% compared to 15% on their stock.

Corporate bonds move up and down in value based on several factors including interest rates, creditworthiness, and the spread between government bonds moving up or down. To learn more about bonds and how they differ from stocks, you can click on the following link HERE on our website that has an educational piece on bonds.

Your comments are always appreciated.

Jobs Numbers Better Than Headlines Suggest

The latest monthly job numbers in Canada showed a 44,500 decline while the economic consensus was a 15,000 exepected decline. The National Bank Financial Economic & Strategy Group pointed out some figures that suggest some very good takeaways.

Half the job losses were in the food and accomodation area in Quebec. The decline was also among 15 – 24 year olds in the province as harsh weather conditions contributed signficantly to the decline.

Ontario on the other hand created 13,700 jobs, the best number since September 2008. The other very interesting number is that total hours worked in Canada increased for a third consecutive month by a robust 0.3% contradicting the job loss number.

These number suggest that Canada is on track to show 3% GDP growth for the quarterand National Bank expects the employment situation to improve in the next couple of months.

The moral of this post is that it is important to read more than the headline. Your thoughts and comments are always appreciated. Have a good weekend.

Fundamental Indexing Outperforms in Last Year

Fundamental Indexing is a strategy which ranks and weights companies, not by market capitalization but instead by four fundamental financial data points (cash flow, dividends, book value and revenue).

The portfolio gets rebalanced annually and typically overweights companies that are considered value oriented vs. growth oriented.

The strategy was developed by Rob Arnott and his company Research Affiliates. Many have argued that fundamental indexing is a flawed form of indexing. This post is not going to get into the case for or against fundamental indexing but the returns have been compelling against major indexes.

As of June 30, 2009, the TSX Total Return Index was down 25.69% while the FTSE RA Fundamental Canada Index was down only 12.22% outperforming the market by more than 13%.

The US equivalent outperformed the S & P 500 Total Return Index by more than 5% and the global equivalent outperformed by just under 2%.

The 10 year numbers are also quite compelling with fundamental indexing outperforming its benchmark by 2% – 4% in each of these markets. With these results, ignoring fundamental indexing as a viable strategy can cost you performance over the long run.

To learn more, you can click on the following link here.

To find out how to add fundamental indexing to your portfolio, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Your comments are always greatly appreciated.