The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that while the average Canadian is fixated on the price of gasoline and groceries, inflation may be quietly killing their investment returns. The Globe's Tim Shufelt writes that investors commonly underappreciate the threat. Tony Fell, the former head of RBC Dominion Securities, is campaigning to require the Canadian financial industry to account for inflation in how it reports investment returns. "I think they will find this very hard to argue against," he told The Globe. "It's a matter of transparency and reporting integrity." Mr. Fell made his case in a recent letter to the Ontario Securities Commission, arguing that Canadian investors are being misled. He has not yet received a response. Canadians with an investment account receive a statement at least once a year detailing how their investments have performed. For the most part, rates of return are calculated on a nominal basis, meaning they have no inflation component factored in. A real return, on the other hand, accounts for the hit to purchasing power from rising consumer prices. These figures, Mr. Fell argues, would give investors a clearer picture of how much they have gained from a given investment.
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