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Originally posted by Ruby_Ottawa

I have used leveraging conservatively. Just to add a little bit of torque. In terms of financing, I went with one of the major banks with a unsecured, 5 year term, variable rate (mine is right now prime +1 although I am aware that a slightly lower rate may be available if we were to go for an fixed rate). I could go with the brokerage financing at prime rate however there is a margin call with it and I do not like that feature. I am also aware that some companies may offer interest only feature with no margin call, however I understand that they limit the funds you can invest in to their own or selected number of funds. The later feature of not having a free hand in picking your funds which may or may not be on their list is a major turn off for me. Thus I have not pursued this option further, although may need to revisit it again in the near future. I would certainly be interested in knowing if there are any competitive interest only no margin call without fund investment restriction out there.

In terms of investments I am mostly into non-seg mutual funds due to lack of time on my part to build a portfolio of stocks and manage it. Occasionally, I have been tempted to invest in selected individual stocks or ADRs, but so far have resisted the temptation. I have looked into opening an brokerage account in India with for example ICICI direct, HDFC securities, etc. however do not have a clear sense of the carrying costs on such accounts or even if it is possible to open such an account from Canada? If there is someone on this board who is into this then would appreciate if they could share their experience.

I started this in March 2003 which in retrospect turned out to be good timing. I would like to take credit for it but it was in part by chance / luck (as has been demonstrated by some of the subsequent positions I have taken which have turned out to be not so lucky). Overall though, I am in black ie in the money.

Cheers.

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Another strategy for tax deductions and paying off your mortgage sooner is the tax deductible mortgage strategy also known as the Smith Manouevre.
However leveraging is an offshoot of this - kinda accelerates the Smith Man