Wealth Mgmt - July 2008

WEALTH MANAGEMENT: “Our traditional equity-centric business will remain an important component of our business mix, but we expect to see an increasing amount of our future growth come from the more predictable and recurring revenue model of wealth management.” Paul Reynolds, CEO, Canaccord Capital, Canaccord are the ABCP people, remember, from the summer of 2007, who finally spent $52 million to bail out clients to whom they sold asset backed commercial paper. But I digress. This is a rare and important statement. Read it again. Does it say they do not make enough from selling stocks to clients? No recurring fees there. They want, instead, to peddle clients products that have higher and recurring fees: life-cycle funds, wraps, principal-protected notes, SunWise Elite Plus, Fidelity's Managed Portfolios and Manulife's IncomePlus. GMWB = guaranteed minimum withdrawl benefit

BNS will increase its dividend to .49 from .47 a quarter on July 29. That's up 4.3% (This is up 8.9% on the year as the quarterly dividend was 45¢ last fall..and the year is just half over.). Dividend increases are a positive sign. When was the last time your wages went up 8.9 per cent? Last year our dividend income was up 12.2%. Later this month, Power Corp's dividend goes up 20.2%. We own POW. This is what dividend growth investing is all about. Read on. Delve into dividend growth investing. Stop paying high and hidden fees to financial planners. Be brave: take the first step.