- quote -

Not sure what foreign content rules you are referencing. E.g, I had
100% US equities in my RRSP this friday past. A problem comes up when
selling those equities. The rule is no US dollars can be held in the
account ... perhaps thats the foreign content rule you are refencing?.
So, every time I sell those US equities, the proceeds are converted to
cdn dollars (or, I get nickle and dimed buying and selling US).

"Afterwards Hilarity Ensued" <Idunno[at]canItrustyou.net.easynews.com> wrote in
message news:A5Ieh.377172$tl2.60390[at]fe10.news.easynews.com...

- quote -

If I am not mistaken, Ontario and some other Canadian provinces do have
tougher regulations than BC, but not as tough as the USA.

I suspect the best way to go in Canada is to own individual stocks. I have
done well with DRIPs, both Canadian and US. Good mutual funds in Canada are
few and far between. The main problem in buying US mutual funds is
residency. The companies are hesitant to sell to Canadian residents, but if
you have a US mailing address, or live part time in both countries, there is
no problem

joetaxpayer <joetaxpayer[at]nospam.com> wrote in
news:YuKdnb_nX7CW3-bYnZ2dnUVZ_orinZ2d[at]comcast.com:

- quote -

My experience with non-citizen, non-resident clients is that US registered
mutual funds are off limits, but the same restrictions do not apply to ETFs
(or stocks for that matter).

John

"Don" <dwzimm[at]telus.net> wrote in message
news:mDCeh.49865$rv4.40200[at]edtnps90...
- quote -

I'm here in Ontario. Is it true we've got the toughest of the weak
regulatory commissions then?

I also thought with the large public employee pension plans if that takes a
greater share of Canadian investments leaving less for other firms to get..

"joetaxpayer" <joetaxpayer[at]nospam.com> wrote in message
news:YuKdnb_nX7CW3-bYnZ2dnUVZ_orinZ2d[at]comcast.com...
- quote -

All Canadian brokerages both personal and discount and online offer access
to us exchanges and funds and in Us dollars. Here is why I am not
interested in US funds at this time

Foreign content rules in Canada at least in RRSP's and other pension plans
(tax deferred retirement schemes).

Second is the US dollar conversion rate and the costs associated with
converting into US dollars if you follow a DCA. I would lose 2.5% to 4% in
converting fees. I currently have no idea what will happen to the exchange
rate. 3 years ago it was 50% and about 6 months ago the gap closed to 9%.
That's a wild currency swing for 2 extremely stable productive large
countries to be having. I had to put by EBay ventures on hold until the CDN
dollar drops so I can make a profit selling to the US again. It was easy to
make money when one US dollar bought 1.35 CDN but it's kinda harder when the
US greenback only buys $1.15 now. I have no idea where the CDN dollar is
heading compared with it's American cousin in the next 2 or 3 or 5 years.

Thirdly many American fund companies offer their funds thru Canadian based
partners. Although I have to say there are 2 funds offered by Fidelity that
are Canadian asset allocation and equity (100%) that I like if I can just
find out how much they will pay the dealer. Also Templeton for
international investing sell direct too. I have been looking at Barclays
iShares as well.

Fourthly although I follow the news of both nations I think the economy here
in Canada has been and will outperform the US in 2007. Housing never
faltered up here. Luxury homes are actually increasing in the percentage of
total home starts and resale's and in cities and areas in Canada that were
lagging in the good decade we've had. right now they are at the bottom or
close to the bottom in the US.

The Americans have a split government again. Well we've had no majority or
outright government for the last three years up here and the economy never
skipped a beat but the policies fro the late 90's worked out so well they
are continuing them. That means no meddling. The government has reigned in
spending and has not run deficits for the last decade but are still dishing
out enuf money to keep cash circulating. Governments NOT working is a good
thing!! and Canada got a head start. They are less likely to spend money,
take longer before corruption sets in with newer elected reps and the Courts
and the provincial/state governments can do their jobs and be held more
accoutnat because they can't blame the bigger natioanl government or pass
off problems to them either.

And lastly I'm Canadian. I know more about here then south of here.
Besides Buffalo is practically a suburb of Toronto now. They seem to know
more about us then we do them these days...

The only advantages I see to investing in the US right now is it's large
mid-cap and small cap markets and merger news. Mergers should create more
profit in theory due to efficiency and there are more opportunities for
mergers and acquisitions in the US than in Canada. But for stocks I only
want bl;ue chip types that are affordable and pay dividends at least for
now. Small caps are really really really risky up here from what I have
read and less riskier on the Wiltshire or Russell. I have no intentions of
resources or commodity based funds except metals (not precious metals but
steel and iron ore) because I work in that industry so I have some knowledge
in metals and pricings and profits etc.


Those are my two cents about why I will keep 80% to 90% of my potential
investments in Canada, however I am a complete newbie to investing so I may
have to learn the hard way. If anyone has disputes on my theories please
share so I can reconsider or learn or investigate. once I am prepared to
risk more for growth then I will turn attention outside here. My appetite
for risk may come soon if my plans work out right.

Afterwards Hilarity Ensued wrote:

- quote -

Are you not able to find equivalent ETFs traded on the US NYSE or AMEX
which suit you? Forgive me, I don't know if there's an issue with your
buying US based ETFs, stock, or Mutual Funds. (I hope I'll know shortly)

JOE

"Afterwards Hilarity Ensued" <Idunno[at]canItrustyou.net.easynews.com> wrote in
message news:HJyeh.391229$eS1.364149[at]fe05.news.easynews.com...

- quote -

I believe it has a lot to do with the lax regulatory environment in Canada.
Investment scams run rampant, especially in the Vancouver, BC, area where I
live, and the government does not seem to be capable of shutting them down.
The lax regulation and lack of concern for small investors spills over into
legitimate business, and nobody seems too much concerned that mutual funds
have high fees compared to the USA. So the short answer is that companies
charge high fees in Canada because they can get away with it.

I've been trying to find out why. I found some decent performing funds with
15 year+ histories that fit my risk aversion but all these funds around
between 1.25% and 2.0 MER. Most balanced funds that fit my potential
tastes are in the 2.3% to 2.6% range

Now in the USA they enjoy some pretty damn low fund management fees. The
same sorts of fund down there are all under 1% so I would pay more than
double in management fees alone. Why the great disparity? This is not
including the loads or commission fees....

That said our economy up here has been more robust and the housing market
hasn't tanked whatsoever and the country has been deficit free at the
federal level for 9 years in a row. In fact the current government has
stated goals to pay off nation debt completely within two decades. So
after all that I'm pretty confident investing here in Canada but curious as
to why the mutual fund and ETF fund industry charges way more in MER's.

And I'm looking at money market, balanced, income and some equity funds.
Nothing international (unless it has 50% American). At least with
international and sector focused I can explain why they have 3%+ MERs...