Self-directed RRSPs: Straight Talk on Making Them Pay Off for You. 2nd ed.

Sarah Robertson is the trade, scholarly, and reference editor of the
Canadian Book Review Annual.

S.E. Woods was inspired by the absence of books devoted to self-directed
RRSP plans to write the first edition of Self-directed RRSPs (1995).
Updated to reflect changes in the investment scene, this second edition
includes a glossary and individual chapters on RRSP basics, types of
RRSPs, finding a home for your RRSP, setting up a self-directed RRSP
portfolio, rules and strategies, income investments, equity investments,
mutual funds, and RRIFs and annuities.

Woods, a former broker with more than 20 years’ experience in the
investment business, offers sensible, conservative advice and lucid
explanations of frequently misunderstood topics, such as the
relationship between bond prices and yields.

Some quibbles. The book does not include model RRSP portfolios, which
would have provided a user-friendly consolidation of the author’s
discussions of appropriate and inappropriate investments for an RRSP.
Second, there is no mention of how large your RRSP portfolio should be
before you add stocks to the investment mix (in a modest portfolio,
mutual funds are the only means of achieving equity diversification).
Third, in recommending rear-load funds over front-load funds, Woods
ignores the fact that investors who purchase the former are often
charged higher management fees.

Caveats aside, this book is a valuable resource for the investor who
either has a self-directed RRSP plan or is interested in establishing
one.