Gordon Pape's 1995 Buyer's Guide to RRSPs

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 three books demonstrate clearly why Gordon Pape is one of
Canada’s most respected and bestselling personal-finance commentators.
Already the author of several popular books and a media fixture during
RRSP season, he has produced several new winners with these updates.

The best choice is his 1995 Buyer’s Guide to Mutual Funds. Pape knows
Canada’s mutual funds intimately, and offers useful information on
fund managers and their strategies; the costs involved in owning certain
funds; the various types of funds; the tax implications of investing;
asset allocation; and mistakes to avoid when buying mutual funds. Unlike
many other commentators, Pape is not afraid to identify winners and
losers.

His two Buyer’s Guides to RRSPs contain a useful rating of
RRSP-eligible mutual funds, and include informative chapters on
contribution limits, spousal plans, and foreign-content rules, as well
as special reports on several investment options. The new regulations
governing RRIFs are covered, but annuities are largely ignored. Like so
many other financial planners and commentators, Pape emphasizes the
importance of accumulating a million or more dollars inside a
tax-sheltered RRSP, but gives little consideration to how Canadians will
be able to access this money without paying the taxes they have deferred
for years. Such quibbles aside, these books are useful guides for all
investors.