Self-directed RRSPs: Straight Talk on Making Them Pay Off for You

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

If the average Canadian saving for retirement thinks at all about
self-directed RRSPs, she or he probably thinks they are only for
sophisticated high-flyers. Not so. When S.E. Woods decided to check
available books on the topic, he found that they all focused on mutual
funds and GICs, while virtually ignoring self-directed plans. This is
surprising, since such plans offer flexibility, wider investment
opportunities, and better control.

Woods argues that self-directed plans are suitable for relatively
inexperienced investors, providing that they have a competent broker to
advise them. This book should help readers to choose that competent
broker, to judge his or her performance over time, and to share in
decisions.

Woods has spent more than 20 years in the investment field as a broker,
a branch manager, and a partner. He begins with the basics and goes on
to rules, strategies, types of income investments, equity investments,
and mutual funds. A glossary covers special market terms. The index is
welcome.

Self-directed RRSPs is a clear, practical, and well-organized guide for
anyone with a serious interest in putting money aside for retirement.