An “article” in a leading Canadian financial daily last week urged investors to consider alternative investments such as hedge funds, private debt funds, factoring funds, etc in order to achieve solid investment returns without taking on high risk. Once the privilege of the ultra-rich, such investment opportunities are now becoming increasingly available to a larger swath of the […]
Ever wonder why sometimes it just seems to take forever for the elevator door to close despite how many times you hit the close door button? That’s because the button doesn’t work – at least on the vast majority of elevators and usually if it does, only with a fireman’s key. “Liar!”, you shout! “I […]
Canadian securities regulators are currently going through the process of trying to reform our investment industry practices for the benefit of investors. Specifically they are trying to address fee and performance transparency and are also thinking about implementing a “best interest” standard for financial advisors in Canada. I know, the idea that advisors should work in […]
Most sensible surveys of peer-reviewed academic evidence will conclude that investors are best served with low cost, well-diversified investment strategies. Practically what that means for most investors is investing in passive low-cost market access products like index mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) based on simple commercial indices like the S&P500 for US stocks, the S&P/TSX […]
There are many pitfalls that can trip up Canadian investors as they try to save and invest sensibly for the long run. High and/or hidden fees, poor diversification, inappropriate investments for a given risk tolerance, under-utilization of tax efficient accounts are a few we see regularly but the one that might just have the largest negative […]
You’ll need time, discipline and a little help from the taxman. The Globe and Mail’s simple TFSA calculator can help you quickly and easily figure out what your TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account) might be worth down the line under different assumptions. The calculator takes into account current TFSA contribution limits including planned limit increases based on […]
Morningstar has updated it’s research on the factors that might help investors decide which investment funds to choose. Once again they find that costs are the only reliable indicator of future fund performance. The evidence is so clear in this area that they believe it should be among the top two criteria to use when screening funds. We […]
Every now and then a data point comes along that makes you sit back think, “hmm, that is interesting.” – Not interesting in that it forms the basis of a tactical investment move but interesting in that it helps us better understand the environment in which we invest. For example, Josh Brown, the Reformed Broker, highlighted this […]
“In short, these ETFs live by the big stock sword but they also die by the big stock sword.” This quote from a Bloomberg article this morning “Apple Takes a $4 Billion Bite Out of ETFs as Smart-Beta Shines”, captures one of the obvious shortcomings of investing in simple exchange traded funds (ETFs) that weight their holdings […]
In the early 1980’s the prime lending rate peaked at over 20%. Since then the trend in the main benchmark rate in Canada and other developed economies has generally been down, leading to strong price returns in bonds over that period. With some fairly memorable bumps along the way stocks have also performed quite strongly […]