Geopolitical issues, interesting rate dynamics, and ongoing inflation have left many investors scratching their heads and looking for answers. Throughout the year, readers were informing themselves, searching for advice on navigating all kinds of new financial territory – from determining how to read different stock price charts to learning how to leverage your holding company for investing.
Here are our most popular stories of 2023.
1. Why You Should Use a Logarithmic Scale (Log Scale) for Stock Price Charts
Are we surprised that a guide to reading stock price charts was a highly-searched topic? After all, with so much disinformation, it’s easy to get misled by the wrong graphs. Our readers wanted to learn how to differentiate between popular financial charts and scales. READ THE ARTICLE
2. How to Become a Millionaire in Canada with your TFSA and RRSP
In times of economic uncertainty, leveraging tax-free and tax-deferred investment vehicles is a safe bet. In one of our most popular articles, we shared a not-so-well-kept secret: Becoming a millionaire in Canada by the time you retire has never been easier – IF you save and invest appropriately. READ THE ARTICLE
3. How Investment Income Is Taxed in Canada
2022 was an awful year for the stock market, but after 2023’s rally, our readers wondered how much more they owe in taxes this year. Find out how investment income is taxed in Canada and what the tax man will take from your earnings. READ THE ARTICLE
4. How to Invest Through Your Holding Company
There are virtually limitless options for business owners who want to use a holding company to invest in other businesses and collect profits. Of course, business owners wanted to know these simple tips for growing their net worth through the stock market. READ THE ARTICLE
5. Why Does the Stock Market Go Up in the Long Term?
If you’ve got a long-term investing horizon, short-term market ups and downs won’t keep you up at night. But since 1900, the United States has had an annualized average return of 6.7% after inflation, and readers wanted to know why the stock market goes up over the long term. Does the Fed control the market? Is the Illuminati pulling the strings? The answer is surprisingly simple. READ THE ARTICLE
6. Do Stock Buybacks Create Value? Who Benefits When Companies Buy Back Their Shares?
Stock Buybacks are a global phenomenon. While it’s true that buybacks fell by 29% last year during the pandemic, they bounced back to pre-pandemic levels in 2022. READ THE ARTICLE
7. 4 TFSA Mistakes to Avoid
A TFSA is one of the best long-term investment tools available to Canadians, but there are some mistakes that people make which can trigger penalties or make it less effective. Readers wanted to be mindful of the things that would make their TFSAs less effective. READ THE ARTICLE
8. 5 Stages of a Financial Bubble
Amid Canada’s growing affordability crisis, could we be at risk of a housing bust? How do you know if we’re in a bubble? Our readers wanted to know how to spot the warning signs. READ THE ARTICLE
9. How Wealthsimple, Robinhood and Other “Free” Online Brokers Make Money
While there’s a misconception that online trading apps like WealthSimple are “free,” they earn their revenues through different ways, some of which may be hidden from you. How, exactly, do they work? Our readers wanted to know: READ THE ARTICLE
10. Who Benefits From Negative Interest Rates?
While Canadians coped with higher-than-normal interest rates in 2023, this hasn’t always been the case. Indeed, some countries, like Japan, maintain negative interest rates at the short end of their yield curve to this day. So what happens when interest rates dip in the negative? Readers were curious to understand this phenomenon. READ THE ARTICLE