Designed to help Canadians find investment solutions to the two big problems they’re facing: low interest rates and volatile stock markets, the Income Investor was chosen by The Globe and Mail as one of the top five investment newsletters in Canada. If you need income from investments with minimal risk, the Income Investor covers all types of income securities including income trusts, preferred shares, high-yielding common stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and GICs. Any security that generates cash flow is fair game for our experts.
Edited and published by Gordon Pape. Editor: Mike Keerma.
With Gavin Graham, Shawn Allen, Richard Croft, & David Kitai.
Recent Issues
tii2305 (March 16, 2023)
Green energy woes continue… Gordon Pape updates Brookfield Renewables… Gavin Graham updates Fairfax Financial, Ecora Resources
tii2304 (February 23, 2023)
Setback for RRIF portfolio… Shifting to value… Top Pick: Saputo Inc… Gavin Graham updates Boralex, Leon’s Furniture, Fiera Capital… Gordon Pape updates Suncor Energy, Coca-Cola, Duke Energy… Your Questions: A death in the family
tii2303 (February 9, 2023)
RRSP crunch… Three stocks for your retirement plan… Gordon Pape updates P&G… Your Questions: RRIF withdrawals… Housekeeping
tii2302 (January 27, 2023)
A topsy-turvy GIC market… Bonds rebound – but for how long?… What are we missing?… Richard Croft updates Power Corp., Manulife Financial… Gordon Pape updates Algonquin Power & Utilities… Gavin Graham updates Canadian Western Bank, Calian Group, Intact Financial, Brookfield Corporation… Your Questions: RRIF withdrawals
tii2301 (January 12, 2023)
RRIF trouble ahead… Gordon Pape updates Gibson Energy, Russel Metals, TransAlta Utilities, BCE… Your Questions: Worried about Firm Capital; Wants to invest a million in one stock… Members’ Corner: Dividends and yield
tii2224 (December 23, 2022)
Top dividend stocks of 2022… Canada looks attractive in 2023… Top Pick: Peyto Exploration & Development Corp… Gavin Graham updates Johnson & Johnson, iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF, Richards Packaging, Watts Water Technology Gordon Pape’s ETF updates… Your Questions: Inflation-linked bonds… Reminder: Beat the price increase
tii2223 (December 8, 2022)
Yield illusion… Updates: Sun Life Financial, Enbridge, TC Energy, Exchange Income Corp… Your Questions: Purpose Longevity Fund, RBC preferred… Price increase
Recent Updates
Brookfield Renewable Partners (TSX: BEP.UN, NYSE: BEP)
Brookfield operates one of the world’s largest publicly traded platforms for renewable power and decarbonization solutions. It operates over 40 gigawatts of total installed capacity including hydroelectric, wind, solar, and utility-scale battery energy storage systems, alongside sustainable solutions like nuclear services (via Westinghouse Electric) and green fuels.
Hold
Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (TSX: BIP.UN, NYSE: BIP)
This is a Bermuda-based limited partnership that owns infrastructure assets in North and South America, Europe, and Australia. These include railways, ports, transmission lines, toll roads, utilities, and more.
Hold
RBC Canadian Bank Yield Index ETF (TSX: RBNK)
You may wonder how an ETF that invests only in six banks can outperform the Financials sub-index and funds like the BMO Equal Weight Banks Index ETF (TSX: ZEB). The answer is asset mix.
Whereas the BMO fund equally divides its holdings among the Big Six banks, this one makes bets on which will perform best. At present, Bank of Montreal is the top position at 26.1% followed closely by Scotiabank at 25.1%. They’ve both done well, with BMO ahead about 43% year to date while Scotiabank has added about 24%.
Buy
Power Corporation of Canada (TSX: POW, OTC: PWCDF)
Power Corp. is a diversified financial holding company with controlling stakes in Great-West Lifeco and IGM Financial. It also owns two alternative‑asset platforms: Sagard and Power Sustainable.
This suite of companies allows POW to combine stable earnings from insurance and wealth management augmented by exposure to private markets and sustainable infrastructure.
Hold
iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index Fund (TSX: XRE)
This fund invests in all classes of REITs, including residential, industrial, retail, and office. It has 14 holdings, the largest of which is RioCan REIT, which accounts for 13.14% of total assets. Retail REITs form about 51% of the portfolio while exposure to office REITs, which were hit hard during the pandemic, is very low at 3.33%.
The REIT has not delivered anything in the way of capital gains since it was recommended 15 years ago, which says a lot about the overall state of Canada’s real estate business. But it has delivered steady cash flow to investors and has significantly outperformed the overall sector year-to-date with a gain of just over 15%.