Yesterday I came across a website that has a tool for screening Canadian stocks by the criteria espoused by Joel Greenblatt, author of The Little Book that Beats the Market. The website can be found at FurtherData.com.

It’s time for another weekly update on the Canadian financial blogosphere. Topics on tap include: the emotions of investing, a case study in stock picking (Resverlogix), alternatives to expanding CPP, defence stocks as hedges, the January effect, active asset allocation with ETFs and a new book on Canadian swindlers.

The end of the year is fast approaching. For investors in taxable accounts, it can be an important time. There are several tax-related opportunities and pitfalls to consider. 

The attack last week on South Korea shone the spotlight on geopolitical risk. Indeed, one might wonder if the world is entering an era of increased military conflict now that political leaders in the world’s hot spots may be emboldened by the straitened financial circumstances of the U.S.A.

Finance professors around the world publish dozens of papers every month on investing and personal-finance topics. Below are some brief summaries of recent papers that I found of interest. This is the fourth installment in the series, which began Sept 30.

As some of you may know, I co-write the Me and My Money column in the Globe and Mail. It’s fun but the occasional piece does attract caustic feedback in the online comments section -- as was the case earlier this month!

I do worry that the North Korean strike against South Korea today could be a sign of things to come. Since World War II, the U.S.A. has been the world’s policeman, but dictators and madmen around the world know that decades of fiscal and monetary irresponsibility have substantially weakened the ...