John Nicola

The 3 Ds of investing

Preferred shares with adjustable medium-term rates; significant tax benefits on income received for non-registered and corporate accounts; Mortgages on income-producing assets; especially subordinated debt-to-low-loan-to-value first mortgages; Life annuities (with or without life insurance) as an alternative to other fixed-income vehicles. Yields are excellent and for non-registered capital, as much as 60-80% of the income is […]

By John Nicola |June 7, 2010

5 min read

Industry

Tackling the 3 Ds of investing

As part of our annual review of the markets, the economy, and consequently our investment strategies going forward, Nicola Wealth Management organized two seminars whose theme revolved firmly around the impact of massive global government fiscal stimulus and the debt that goes along with it. We discussed the questions that are on everyone’s mind: For […]

By John Nicola |May 31, 2010

5 min read

Market Insights

Equities vs. bonds

As the last vestiges of a rather cold winter come to an end, I wonder if the chilling price drops in equity markets may at long last be ready for recovery. At the end of February 2009, the S&P 500 index was 50% below where it was in March 2000. Since then, March came in […]

By John Nicola |June 1, 2009

4 min read

Market Insights

The REIT choice

We started referring to bad stock market years as Annus Horribilis at the end of 2001. But bad times are a necessary precursor to good ones, and with a bit of luck and planning, we’ll soon see our Annus Mirabilis (year of wonders). At the beginning of 2003, this is how we summarized our view […]

By John Nicola |April 30, 2009

5 min read

Products

Real returns

(May 2006) Traditional asset allocation typically divides a client’s portfolio between stocks, bonds and cash, with some fine-tuning around allocations of global versus Canadian, small cap versus large cap, and growth versus value stocks. Most advisors design their recommended portfolios around this approach for both funds and securities. What we tend to overlook is the […]

By John Nicola |May 5, 2006

8 min read