Which is the greater threat to investors: inflation or deflation? If you don’t know the answer to that, welcome to the club, and expect the tug of war between the two portfolio influencers to last a few more years. Left to raw market forces, we should probably be [ Read More → ]

Vietnam is ‘one of the most promising countries in the world’, according to one analyst. Investors who are fed up with dismal returns from traditional markets are making steps to invest in more adventurous areas. Popular funds include those that invest in Latin America, Russia, India, gold and commodities. Rebecca O’Keeffe, at Interactive Investor, [ Read More → ]

The latest Inflation Report from the Bank of England has suggested that the economy is recovering at a slower rate than expected. The report, released today, states: “The recovery continued in the United Kingdom, with output growth across the first half of 2010 close to its historical average. But the level of [ Read More → ]

The markets are signaling that a bout of deflation may be coming. Many economists still dismiss the threat. But if they are wrong, and deflation does set in, what would it mean for stocks, bonds, gold and other investments? The last time deflation fears gripped the markets was in 2003, when [ Read More → ]

In suburban Toronto, a couple we’ll call Wayne, 34, and Julia, 35, are raising their two children, ages four and six. Julia hasn’t worked for years and doesn’t want to return to a job. They want to save for the kids’ education, move up from their $600,000 house to one [ Read More → ]

In this on-again, off-again economic recovery, some unemployed mid- or late-career professionals are tapping their retirement nest eggs just to survive financially in the here and now. The question is, what happens once they actually reach retirement age? Even with no savings or company pensions, Canadians do have a basic safety [ Read More → ]

Listen to top investment strategists, and you’d think it’s almost certain that investors have set themselves up for a fall by flocking into bonds. Although traditionally considered a safe haven, bonds aren’t without risk. Yet any fixed-income fizzle won’t be as painful as the late 2008 crash for stocks, the thinking [ Read More → ]

Photo / Greg Bowker House prices will fall gently for the next two years before levelling out, but rents will rise because property investment is now returning less because of the October personal tax cuts, says Westpac in its latest housing market update. And while residential property sales may pick up a [ Read More → ]

The Federal Reserve’s chief policymaking group has vast power over the finances of ordinary Americans, businesses and investors. The consequences of its interest-rate decisions range wide: from people’s ability to get affordable loans to the price of cereal at the grocery store or gasoline at the corner station. Here’s a look [ Read More → ]

It would be the height of foolishness to load up on debt now, right?Just look at the news these days. Homeowners are being foreclosed on at a record clip. Governments around the world are lurching toward insolvency. Job growth in the U.S. remains feeble at best. And at the center [ Read More → ]