Staying at Home: Ranga Chand's Investment Guide to Canadian Mutual Funds

Raymond B. Blake is an assistant professor of history at Mount Allison
University and the author of Canadians at Last: Canada Integrates
Newfoundland as a Province.

These two investment guides tell us why we should invest in mutual
funds, what types of funds are available, the costs involved, and how to
stay on top of our investments. In each book, Chant divides mutual funds
by category (equity funds, bonds funds, money-market funds, etc.) and
ranks each by asset size and by one-, three-, five-, and ten-year
returns. He also provides such useful information as the
management-expense ratio, whether or not the fund charges a sales or
redemption fee, and a volatility rating. His comments and insights are
brief; his analysis on the various funds generally amounts to little
more than a summary of the assets under management and the funds’
performance over a certain period. We are not told what makes one fund
better than another. Would-be investors would do just as well to consult
the weekend edition of a business paper for financial advice.