Welcome to the Globe and Mail Personal Finance Reader. I'm Rob Carrick, personal finance columnist at The Globe, and twice weekly I compile a list of articles, blog postings, videos and websites that represent the best of what the online world has to offer on money-related subjects.
Could the World Cup of soccer possibly have any link to investing? In this edition of the Reader, you'll find a list of companies and exchange-traded funds that could benefit through the advertising they're doing during the competition. Other investing topics covered here include a look at how the Gulf oil spill might affect Alberta's oil sands, and the latest criticism of exchange-traded funds from the well-respected U.S. indexing investing pioneer John Bogle.
Last week's Reader on travel deals generated several suggestions of additional online resources, which you'll find below. There's also a rundown on competitors to the iPad, and some advice for parents on when to buy children their first cellphone.
Found something on the Internet that your fellow investors might enjoy? Talk to me at rcarrick@globeandmail.com.
Note: If you're having trouble reading this e-mail, try viewing the Reader online.
From The Globe and Mail
More than 70,000 Canadians have been hit with penalty taxes after over-contributing to their Tax-Free Savings Accounts last year. Here are some suggestions for what to do if you're one of them.
Did you miss our TFSA discussion with financial writer Gordon Pape? Check it out here.
Check out our latest Let's Talk Investing video about building a quality retirement income fund.
From toll highways to airlines, hidden travel fees are everywhere. Here's how to find them.
Must Reads From Around the Web
Investorama
From Seeking Alpha, companies and exchange-traded funds that may get a lift from soccer's World Cup.
The Motley Fool takes a look at how the Gulf oil spill may affect Canada's oil sands stocks.
The venerable U.S. money manager Jeremy Grantham - he's said to have called the 2008-09 market crash - offers his outlook for the next year or so on the stock markets. Commodities and emerging markets look good to him.
Index investing pioneer John Bogle - he founded the mutual fund giant Vanguard - doesn't like exchange-traded funds. Here's a link to a study his research outfit did that shows investors tend to trade ETFs excessively, thereby hurting their returns.
And now for a rebuttal from IndexUniverse, an independent website devoted to ETFs and index investing.
17 reasons to own gold from Eric Sprott, the well-known money manager and stock market bear.
More Travel Tips
Travel tips, a list of great Canadian destinations and more from the travel booking website Travelocity.ca
Kayak.com is a travel super-site that searches hundreds of other travel websites for you to find top deals on flights and hotels.
Forget a hotel when you travel on vacation -- swap homes with people from another country, from Homelink.ca.
Buy Lay's potato chips and earn points toward discounts on travel attractions around the country. Example: Five regular size bags of chips give you 50 points, which you can use for a "buy one night, get 50 per cent off the second night" at Marriott Hotels of Canada.
Beyond Good Taste
SmartMoney warns of 10 things to watch our for when using an interior decorator.
Tech Talk
New technology: Apple's new iPad has lots of competition from other e-readers. Here's a rundown of the field from the New York Times.
Not so new technology: Some thoughts on when the time is right to buy your child a cellphone.
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Rob Carrick