10 resources to become a better investor

Co-opme offers you a wealth of information and advice on investments. Here's a list of 10 other credible and useful resources to help you understand how to grow your money and improve your knowledge of investments.

  1. The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). This agency oversees Quebec's financial markets and promotes the interests of consumers of financial products and services. The AMF website contains a wealth of information for the general public.
    • The Be informed section provides access to simple introductory texts along with more comprehensive brochures covering many topics such as personal and property insurance, investments, mutual funds, retirement, and deposit insurance.
    • The AMF offers you a series of simple, user-friendly financial calculators to make your financial forecasts.
    • In the Prevent fraud section, the AMF publishes a number of investor warnings about certain companies and gives valuable information on how to detect potential fraud.
  2. Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. This federal organization was created to provide information and protection for consumers of financial products and services. The website includes a section on savings and investments that gives detailed information on the subject with themes such as:
    • Investing: understanding the basics
    • Common types of investments
    • Working with a financial planner or advisor
    • Investment fees and costs
    • Investing: your rights and responsibilities
  3. Question Retraite. This reference organization was established in 2003 upon the initiative of the Régie des rentes du Québec to educate Quebecers about the importance of starting early to save for retirement. This site, available in French only, offers the following resources:
    • A series of educational articles grouped under 4 main financial planning themes in view of retirement: planning, saving, evaluating and consulting.
    • The Guide de la planification financière de la retraite is a fully downloadable brochure on retirement planning, published annually.
  4. Flash RetirementQuébec. The Régie des rentes du Québec, in collaboration with a group of financial institutions (including Desjardins), has designed more than 50 information capsules on retirement planning. The Flash RetirementQuébec capsules will help you:
    • become better informed about your current and future financial needs
    • identify the sources of income available to you at retirement
    • learn about the various savings and disbursement products
    • identify winning financial strategies
  5. Régie des rentes du Québec. The RRQ offers interactive retirement planning tools online.
  6. Mouvement d'éducation et de défense des actionnaires. The MÉDAC offers, in French, a 12-hour initiation to financial markets (site in French only), covering 4 major themes:
    • how financial markets operate
    • financial products
    • capital investment funds
    • Internet resources
  7. Collège de Rosemont (Montreal). This CEGEP established the Institut collégial en littératie financière (site in French only) program for financial literacy. The program on personal finances, Gestion des finances personnelles (site in French only)
  8. BOURSTAD. Students and the general public can participate in the annual BOURSTAD (site in French only) competition organized by Collège de Rosemont. This is an introduction to stock exchange investments through an Internet simulator. The participant plays the role of a financial advisor managing a $100,000 portfolio.
  9. ACTIF is a financial training and activities cooperative. It offers seminars (site in French only) in French (evenings and weekends)
  10. Université Laval offers a teletraining course in French, entitled Introduction à la planification financière personnelle (site in French only).
  11. Did you know that Desjardins has a podcast that teaches you about managing your money? Listen to The right behaviours for sound investing episode with Strategist and Portfolio Manager Jean-René Ouellet.

For young investors

  • AMF also has a site devoted to the financial education of young people where they'll find information on investing in the section, I want to manage my finances.
  • The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) set up the Financial Fitness Challenge, an educational program aimed at enhancing financial knowledge among young Canadians from ages 15 to 21.