Dividend Income

Most dividends received from companies located outside of Canada are not paid in full to stockholders. Most countries have a withholding tax on dividends though in some cases the tax can be partially reimbursed if there is a tax treaty between Canada and that country. But there are a few countries that do not have a withholding tax. This list includes prominent companies in each country.

• United Kingdom (Shell, British American Tobacco, BP, HSBC, Barclays, Rio Tinto, Imperial Brands, AstraZeneca, Anglo American, Unilever and GlaxoSmithKline)
• Hong Kong
• Singapore (DBS Group, OCBC Bank)
• Malaysia
• Vietnam 
• Estonia
• Latvia
• United Arab Emirates
• Kuwait 
• Qatar
• Malaysia
• Mauritius
• Bahamas
• Bermuda
• Cayman Islands 

Taxes

Minimizing taxes is important, but it is essential to use all the legitimate methods to avoid underpaying or being guilty of evasion.

Methods to reduce taxes:

1. Donating to a registered charity or political party.
2. Offset capital gains with any available capital losses.
3. Moving a stock from a cash account to a registered account may generate a capital gain or loss. Use this wisely: use any unused capital loss to offset a capital gain, or generate a capital loss to offset current or future gains.
4. As much as possible, have income from savings come in the form of dividends rather than bank interest, including GICs. One way to achieve this with minimal volatility is with minimum rate reset preferred shares.
5. Keep high yielding Canadian dividend stocks out of registered plans to take advantage of the dividend tax credit.
6. Keep U.S. listed dividend paying stocks in an RRSP or RRIF. This allows receiving the full dividend without U.S. withholding tax (due to a tax treaty).

I've used StudioTax, a paid software, in the past and found it very good; the amount of tax that I had to pay was exactly as the software had calculated. Wealthsimple provides a free tax filing service.

The website TaxTips.ca has a page showing the tax rates in Ontario for various types of income. Note that the percentages below do not include the addition of the Ontario Health Premium which can increase the tax rates by up to 25%!

 

Resource Stocks

Resource stocks can be an important part of an investment portfolio. These are basically companies extracting and processing oil and gas and various minerals. Major minerals are copper, iron, aluminum, nickel, zinc, lead and uranium, plus the precious metals: gold, silver, platinum and palladium.

Oil & Gas (integrated): Chevron (CVX), Exxon Mobile (XOM), Imperial Oil (IMO), Suncor (SU)

Oil & Gas (extraction): Athabasca (ATH), Strathcona (SCR), Ovintiv (OVV), Arc Resources (ARX), Tamarack Valley (TVE), Baytex (BTE), Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE)

Natural Gas: Tourmaline (TOU), Expand Energy (EXE), Antero Resources (AR)

Oil & Gas (royalty): Topaz (TPZ), Freehold Royalties (FRU)

Gold & Silver: Newmont (NEM), Barrick (ABX), Agnico-Eagle (AEM)

Silver: Pan American Silver (PAAS)

Minerals (various): Anglo American (AAL), BHP Group (BHP), Glencore (GLEN.L), Teck Resources (TECK.B), Rio Tinto (RIO)

Oil & Gas Services: PHX Energy Services (PHX)

Minerals Specialized

Coal: Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP), Stanmore Resources (SMR.AX), Yancoal (YAL.AX)

Copper: Freeport McMoRan (FCX)

Uranium: Cameco (CCO), Mega Uranium Ltd. (MGA)

Resource ETFs

Silver: Sprott Physical Silver Trust (U.UN, GlobalX Silver Miners (SIL), iShares Silver Trust (SLV)

Uranium: Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (U.UN), Sprott Uranium Miners (URNM)

Doug Casey

A long time advocate of alternative investing and international diversification, Doug Casey is a valuable resource for those seeking a safe haven in these perilous times.

His website, International Man, has many articles and resources to aid in designing a strategy of wealth diversification. He also has a free newsletter available at Crisis Investing.

Similar to Andrew Henderson's Nomad Capitalist, Doug advocates "going where you are treated best"®, which means typically moving to a non-Western country that does not over-tax and over-regulate your economic life. He also is a critic of fiat currencies and advocates protecting your wealth with some exposure to precious metals and other hard resources. For political freedom he recommends having multiple passports.

Crypto

The non-fiat currency of the 21st century, yet to be full implemented as a viable alternative to fiat currencies or gold.

Bitcoin - USD 2010-2024

How to create a paper wallet.

Investment Savings Account

To earn higher interest on cash (CDN or USD) in an RRSP, TFSA or a cash account that you want to keep liquid, use an investment savings accounts (ISA) available from various banks. These can be purchased like a mutual fund but are actually a type of savings account. Priced at either $1.00 or $10.00 per unit. They don't pay interest per se, the unit price remains the same but you receive additional units.

 

Institution	CDN	USD
	TICKER SYMBOL
Scotiabank	DYN5000	DYN5001
Royal Bank	RBF2010	RBF2014
TD Bank	TDB8150	TDB8152
CIBC	ALT5078	—
Desjardin Bank	DJQ1000	—

 

TICKER	Rates as of 2026-01-01
DYN5000	CAD	1.95%
DYN5001	USD	3.15%
RBF2010	CAD	1.8%
RBF2014	USD	3.15%
TDB8150	CAD	1.8%
TDB8152	USD	3.15%
ALT5078	CAD	1.9%
DJQ1000	CAD	1.95%

Precious Metals

Precious metals, gold, silver and platinum in coin and bar form can be purchased online and in-store from some suppliers. Canadian PMX usually has the best prices, but Silver Gold Bull has a bigger selection. Some suppliers:

• Canadian PMX, Toronto - free shipping on orders over $500
• Gold Silver Bull, Calgary - free shipping on orders over $299
• TD Precious Metals
• APMEX – U.S. based
• AUBullion, Toronto
• Canada Gold, multiple office across Canada
• The Silver Standard
• Chards of Blackpool, Blackpool, UK
• Swiss Gold Dealers 

Canadian Maple Leaf gold & silver. U.S. Liberty gold & silver

Britannia

Sovereign

South African Krugerrand

U.S. Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle

Fine gold bars:

1 kilo bar

1 kilo bar

50g bar

1 oz bar

Gold Income

A relatively new company has developed a security to invest in gold and make income. Monetary Metals has issued a gold bond that has matured and, according to their website had a return of 13%, though it's not clear if that is in dollar terms or gold. They are looking to provide more issue to allow investors to earn gold as interest.

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A few silver coins I'm looking at buying:

2012 War of 1812 3/4 oz

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Precious Metal Stocks

Barrick Gold Corp.

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.

Newmont Corp.

Top 20 Gold Mining Companies in the World