Wall Street: From New Amsterdam to this Quarter’s Close

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For more than 400 years Manhattan has been the site of big trades, big gains and big losses. The island was originally purchased in 1626 from the Lenape Native Americans for a sum of 60 Dutch guilders, the equivalent of roughly $24, by the Walloon director-general Peter Minuit. At this time the city was hailed New Amsterdam.

Four decades later the Dutch lost the island to the English but gained another island, Run – one of the smallest of the Banda Islands of Indonesia – after a century of struggle over its ownership. The island was coveted for its nutmeg trees, from which both the spice nutmeg and mace were traded globally. Just before the Treaty of Breda was signed, following the end of the second Dutch-Anglo War of 1665-1667, the Duke of York renamed New Amsterdam New York. Unfortunately, in 1817, the Dutch monopoly on spice trade was ended when nutmeg trees that were sent and planted on various British colonies began yielding.

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Investing for Young People Part 3: Differentiating Mutual Funds

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Perhaps jumping into the stock market has turned out to be more of a chore than you and your child anticipated. If savings bonds and GICs are not offering the rates of return you and your child would like to see their savings yielding, mutual funds are a promising alternative.

At current Canadians have well over 1,200 different mutual funds to select from. How do you know which is right for you? Here is some general information on the various types of mutual funds available in Canada.

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Investing for Young People Part 2: The Difference Between Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds

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How to Pick your Stocks

Now that your child is proficiently handling their chequing account, making debits and deposits responsibly, and has assessed their risk tolerance, it is time to locate an investment vehicle that will see their savings dollars grow.
While an allowance and monetary birthday/holiday gifts might line the accounts, authoress Katherine R. Bateman, in her book The Young Investor, suggests that your child make a list of the things he or she is good at, or likes doing, and from that list derive ways in which they can earn money from those activities themselves. Continue reading “Investing for Young People Part 2: The Difference Between Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds”

Investment Strategies for Young People

Helping Your Kids Get into Investing Early

In this Internet-dominated, economy-fearing age it may be possible that your kids will out-know you in terms of stocks and trading before they finish grade school. American author Katherine R. Bateman suggests in her book, The Young Investor: Projects and Activities for Making Your Money Grow that no age is too young to get kids making sense of their dollars.

She suggests that even in delivery babies are buying currency – that is, the effort they exert coming into the world is generally awarded with monetary gifts. Bateman says that rather than encouraging your children to begin saving in piggy banks, go one step further and have them deposit into real bank accounts as soon as they can, or open an account for them as soon as they are born. Continue reading “Investment Strategies for Young People”

What is TFSA: Why Canadians should be Investing Tax-Free

How will the Canada Tax Free Savings Account Guard your Retirement Funds?

Registered or unregistered – that seems to be the question as Canadians plan and gear their savings and investment accounts toward retirement. Most experts advise that your investments gain a return in excess of two per cent in order to beat annual inflation. In addition, there are several tax strategies you should keep in mind as you allocate your investment dollars to specific accounts.

The Canadian Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) allows for tax-free earnings off investments with aggressive return potential, yet only half of Canadians are utilizing this account – why is that? H&R Block suggests there are several myths acting as hurdles on the path to earning tax-free investment income. Continue reading “What is TFSA: Why Canadians should be Investing Tax-Free”