Bond funds (or bond mutual funds) are mutual funds that invest in a portfolio of corporate and government bonds. As a general rule, the safest bonds are issued by or guaranteed by the federal government.
Next comes provincial issues or bonds with provincial guarantees. Corporate bonds are far riskier than government bonds, and the risk on corporate bonds, varies widely. Some corporates are almost as safe as government bonds and offer only slightly higher yields. Some corporates are far riskier and offer far higher yields.
However, the major risk factor in the bond market is changing interest rates, which influence the value of existing bonds inversely. When interest rates fall, bond prices rise, and vice versa. The longer the term to maturity on the bond, the bigger the effect of a change in interest rates.
Note that we rarely recommend investing in bond funds among the many mutual fund choices available for investors. The bond market is highly efficient and few bond fund managers can add enough value to offset its management fees. But in addition, investing in a bond fund exposes you to the risk that the manager will gamble in the bond market and lose money. That’s a bigger risk than ever right now.
Today’s interest rates do not bring in much investment income, so managers may try to boost returns by taking on extra risk. Bonds are unlikely to perform well over the next few years, if only because interest rates will likely hold steady or rise. That means the fund would only earn interest income on its bonds; instead of capital gains, its bond holdings could produce capital losses.
Bond funds could have a place in your portfolio if you need stability and stick with short-term bonds. But for the best returns, we at TSI Network recommend investing in stocks using our three-part Successful Investor strategy:
Most investors who successfully build wealth over the long term follow certain investing practices. Find out what they are in our FREE investing guide, The 10 Best Practices of Successful Investors.
Target-date mutual funds are examples of complex investments, while plain-vanilla investments like traditional ETFs are simpler—and more profitable.
One of the cardinal rules of successful investing is to invest mainly in simple, plain-vanilla investments. This rule limits your choices to two main categories: stocks and bonds… Read More
The bond market outlook can provide a false sense of security. In fact, it puts investors at risk of capital losses if inflation or interest rates rise.
The bond market outlook had a lot of investor appeal in the turbulent years of the 1930s and 1940s… Read More
Investing in bonds: Bonds are unlikely to perform as well in the next few years as they have in the past, mainly because interest rates will likely hold steady or rise further. (Bond prices and interest rates are inversely linked. When interest rates go up,… Read More
ETFs come in all shapes and sizes and numerous factors can influence their investment risk. One measure—standard deviation—aims to capture the volatility of an ETF’s price fluctuations. That metric is used to indirectly identify the volatility of the stocks that the fund holds.
Standard deviation for… Read More
The Bank of Canada increased interest rates in July 2017 for the first time since 2010. Its key interest rate rose from 0.50% to 0.75%. The bank’s next opportunity to raise rates is in September 2017. Whether it will do so is uncertain.
The Canadian economy… Read More
The Bank of Canada increased interest rates in July 2017 for the first time since 2010. Its key interest rate rose from 0.50% to 0.75%. The bank’s next opportunity to raise rates is in September 2017. Whether it will do so is uncertain.
The Canadian economy… Read More
Are you aware of what goes into managing investment funds—and the fees that go along with it?
It’s important to know the ins and outs of the different styles (and fees) in managing investment funds.
Below we share information on five types of funds that investors find… Read More
These two bond ETFs offer exposure to quality holdings with low-fees, but they’re best left to investors who need stable income and really want to hold bonds.
The Bank of Canada will likely hold interest rates steady for all of 2017. That’s because low prices for… Read More
Don’t use these retirement savings ideas if you want to retire comfortably
To succeed as an investor, you need to get used to the idea that short-term declines come along unpredictably. These declines are common enough that some investors think about them way too much. Far… Read More
The Bank of Canada will likely hold interest rates steady for all of 2017. That’s because low prices for oil should continue to offset government stimulus spending as well as stronger exports due to the weak Canadian dollar. The federal government’s tighter mortgage rules should… Read More
The Successful Investor Inc. and its affiliate Successful Investor Wealth Management (referred to hereafter as TSI Network) know that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. This notice describes our privacy policy. By visiting websites owned by or associated with TSI Network, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
This privacy policy is applicable to all TSI Network Visitors, Clients, Employees, Suppliers, Web sites, Management, and all other interested parties. Any links to or from our site are not covered by this policy. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of every site that you visit.
The privacy of the site/store visitor is very important to TSI Network, and is respected at all times. The information we receive from customers helps us to personalize and continually improve your online experience at TSI Network.
We do not collect or disclose personal information, except when it is provided to us voluntarily by the site/store visitor with their consent.
We store subscriber and password files containing personal information securely. These files are stored in secure areas that are not accessible to the general public. We are always working to ensure the security of your personal information.
We are continuously in the process of improving our sites and services. If any new features or policies require a change to this current policy, we will post a clear notice of this change on pages of our site where the privacy policy appears. The principle behind this privacy policy is to collect information with your knowledge and consent.
What personal information do we collect?
The information we receive from customers helps us personalize and continually improve your online experience at TSI Network. TSI Network may collect personal information online for all legal purposes, which include, but are not limited to:
Information You Give Us: We receive and store any information you enter on our website or give us in any other way through sign-up forms or ordering forms for publications and services. You can choose not to provide certain information, but then you might not be able to take advantage of many of our services and features. We use the information that you provide for such purposes as responding to your requests, customizing your web browsing experience for you, improving our website, and communicating with you.
Automatic Information: We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many websites, we use "cookies," and we obtain certain types of information when your web browser accesses TSI Network.
Information from Other Sources: For reasons such as improving personalization of our service (for example, providing better product recommendations or special offers that we think will interest you), we might receive information about you from other sources and add it to our account information. We also sometimes receive updated delivery and address information from our shippers or other sources so that we can correct our records and deliver your next purchase or communication more easily.
We do reserve the right, however, to collect and perform statistical analyses of the internet traffic to our website for our internal use. However, information collected does not allow us to identify any individual, and will not collect any personal information of the visitor. Furthermore, we do not sell, rent or loan to any outside parties the information collected and analyzed.
Although you may be able to access some of our websites without being required to register or provide personal information, certain websites and sections of our websites may require registration. In addition, if you choose to contact us to ask a question, we will collect your personal information so that we can respond to your question.
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Does TSI Network Use the Information It Receives?
"Contact Us" and Comment Features: TSI Network encourages visitors to its websites to contact us with questions and comments. Email addresses and other information of persons using these features may be collected in order to facilitate our responses to those inquiries.
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Except as provided herein, TSI Network will not sell or rent personal information about you to unaffiliated third parties.
We may disclose personal information you have provided through our websites, for the above purposes, to persons or companies that we retain to carry out and other activities for which you have registered or in which you have otherwise asked to participate. In particular, we may for these purposes transfer information to any country (including the USA and other countries which may not offer the same level of data protection as Canada). We also will disclose personal information if required by law, including compliance with warrants, subpoenas or other legal processes.
TSI Network requires persons and companies to which it discloses personal information to restrict their use of such information to the purposes for which it has been provided by TSI Network, to adequately protect the information, and not to disclose that information to others. TSI Network cannot be responsible, however, for any damages caused by the failure of unaffiliated third parties to honour their privacy obligations to TSI Network. Similarly, TSI Network is not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other websites that are linked to our websites.
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TSI Network does everything possible to prevent unauthorized intrusion to its websites and the alteration, acquisition or misuse of personal information by unauthorized persons. Notably passwords submitted by users of our websites are encrypted using encryption mechanisms. However, TSI Network cautions visitors to its websites that no network, including the Internet, is entirely secure. Accordingly, we cannot be responsible for loss, corruption or unauthorized acquisition of personal information provided to our websites, or for any damages resulting from such loss, corruption or unauthorized acquisition.
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TSI Network has procedures in place to keep your personal information accurate, complete and current for the purposes for which it is collected and used. You may review the information that you have provided to us and where appropriate you may request that it be corrected. If you wish to review your personal information please send a request to: service@tsinetwork.ca.
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How can you ask questions about our Privacy Policy and access your personal information?
The provision of information by you is entirely voluntary and you have the right not to provide information. Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to receive certain information as to whether or not personal information relating to you is held by TSI Network and to obtain a copy of such information that is sought. You may also have the right to require information, where appropriate, to be erased, blocked or made anonymous or to have data updated or corrected. If you do not wish TSI Network to hold information about you or if you wish to have access to information, modify information, or object to any processing of information or if you have questions please contact us.
What Choices Do I Have?
Changes to this Policy
This Policy is the sole authorized statement of TSI Network's practices with respect to the collection of personal information through TSI Network's websites and the subsequent use and disclosure of such information. Any summaries of this Policy generated by third party software or otherwise (for example, in connection with the "Platform for Privacy Preferences" or "P3P") shall have no legal effect, are in no way binding upon TSI Network, shall not be relied upon in substitute for this Policy, and neither supersede nor modify this Policy.
TSI Network may revise this Policy from time to time.
Legal Notices and Disclaimers
The contents of this web site and our publications are based upon sources of information believed to be reliable, but no warranty or representation, expressed or implied, is given as to their accuracy or completeness. Any opinion reflects the Successful Investor’s judgment at the date of publication and neither the Successful Investor, nor any of its affiliated companies, nor any of their officers, directors or employees, accepts any responsibility in respect of the information or recommendations contained in the publications or on this web site. Moreover, the information or recommendations are subject to change without notice.
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