I am happy to report that The Dividend Guy was mentioned in Globe and Mail writer Rob Carrick’s new book, Rob Carrick’s Guide to What’s Good Bad and Downright Awful in Canadian Investments Today. The book is a great guide for Canadian investors looking for common-sense information about investing in Canada. [ad#tdg-embedded]

What I liked best about this book was that it was organized into a series of lists that help to answer many of the common investor questions. For example, in the Mutual Fund section, there is a titled, ” Five big, fat mutual fund industry rip-offs” which lists a number of things that mutual fund investors need to understand to avoid getting taken advantage of. The book is structured in this manner so that as an investor you can head over to the section that piques your interest and dive into the lists of advice Rob has to offer.

Book Topics

The book is divided into seven sections, each one providing a number of advice in the form of lists. Rob provides detailed information about each item in the list so that us investors have some key take aways – things we can do to be better and more successful investors.

Getting off to a good start

Examples: Four examples of investment industry propaganda that you can’t take at face value, Four harsh investing realities that investors – amazingly – don’t always grasp.

My favorite: the discussion on mutual funds trying to convince investors that fees do not matter. Fees matter most of all!

Mutual funds

Examples: Five bits of fund jargon you need to know, Five funds that stood up to the bear

My Favorite: the no-holds-barred presentation of six crummy funds that made the industry look bad (and frankly ruin it for the rest of them).

Navigating the stock market

Examples: Three over simplifications about stock market investing that you’ll run into constantly, Three interesting sectors to consider for you portfolio

My Favorite: buy-and-hold investing success does not come from a set-it-and-forget it mentality – it still takes work.

Bonds, GICs and other conservative stuff

Examples: Four rotten ways to put bonds and GICs in your portfolio, Six reasons to say no to principle-protected notes

My Favorite: the notion that buying bonds from discount brokers is just as cheap as for buying stocks – it isn’t!

Do-it-yourself investing

Examples: Five key considerations in choosing a discount broker, Five investments that go great in a discount brokerage accounts

My Favorite: the three online resources DIY investors should use

Investment advisers

Examples: Ten traits of a great adviser, Ten signs of a rotten advisor

My favorite: the presentation of five interview questions to ask an adviser to weed out the really bad ones

Information please

Examples: The surefire way to tell if an investing newsletter or pay website is junk, Three investing newsletters worth your time and money

My favorite: biased here because Rob mentions thedividendguyblog.com, but the presentation of the five blogs that will make you a smarter investor is great!

Is Anything Missing

If there is one thing missing from the book, I would have to say that it is a more robust discussion on asset allocation. Rob does cover asset allocation, and even makes the statement that I personally believe in, “Asset allocation is what really matters in building a portfolio”. As it is such an important topic and really can make or break an investor’s success, I believe more time can always be spent discussing it. Perhaps in future editions of the book more discussion on how to build a proper asset allocation could be covered.

Summary

This is a great book for Canadian investors. I especially like Rob’s take on dividend stocks and how to use them within a portfolio. Although it is geared towards Canadian investors, there is certainly learnings available for readers in the U.S. I highly recommend this book.

Please check out and buy the book here.