30. May 2010 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

Holders of E2 visas in the United States must have the visa renewed every two years and according to a recent article in the New York Times renewal is no slam dunk and can the process can be very subjective.

Folks who move to the US to set up a business with an E2 face renewal risk. Read about a recent case at the New York Times here.

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23. May 2010 by Dan Walkow, CFA, CMT.

I have never been a fan of financially engineered products by Wall Street or Bay Street as more often than not these products benefit the broker or issuer far more than the client.

In recent years the latest “shell game” is a product called principle protected notes. These are very complicated deals where the capital value of the investment is supposedly “protected” meaning that if the market goes down that the investor is guaranteed the principle at a certain date. Furthermore these things are very expensive and because the charges are “internal” and embedded in the investment itself one cannot not see the true cost.

These types of investments are commonly issued by insurance companies in both Canada and the USA.

These types of products go against most of the basics I look for in an investment including transparency, low-c0st, liquidity and ease of understanding.

Gretchen Morgenson at the New York times documents a classic case  here. Worth a read if you own or are considering buying one of these investments.

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