Investing

With Canadian mutual fund fees amongst the highest in the world according to a 2015 Morningstar Global Fund Survey, and online discount brokerage accounts becoming easier and cheaper to use every year, a savvy investor might want to think about finally making the leap and directly controlling their own investments. While it used to be…

Many investors base the success of their portfolio solely on their annual rate of return, but you should also compare your return to a specific benchmark index. What is an index? An index is a statistical tool designed to measure performance over time.   Financial service companies create benchmark indexes then license them to investment…

If I had a toonie (inflation-adjusted idiom) for every time a newly-converted passive investing devotee asked me, “I’m all set with my ETFs, but is now the right time to get into the market?” or “Yeah, I’m all about easy indexing now, but I read an article that says I can supercharge my returns by…

One of the biggest challenges investors can face is coming up with possible stocks to invest in. A slogan I have heard is the five-stock principle: for every five stocks you analyze properly and purchase, three will do about what you predict, one will do far worse, and one will do far better. I don’t…

Q. The Bank of Canada has raised its interest rate a couple of times so far and there may be more hikes in the near future. I own a bond mutual fund in my RRSP and I had been told I should dump it before interest rates go up, but I’ve held on so far.…

Many Canadian investors suffer from home country bias by holding all, or a large portion of, their investments in Canadian stocks. This makes little sense for those looking to build a diversified portfolio. Canada makes up just 3 percent of the world’s market capitalization and its markets tilt heavily towards financials (banks & insurance) and…

Most investors can get all the investment diversification they need with certain mutual funds and ETFs. But investing in stocks can be of greater interest to some investors who seek the thrill of attempting to beat the market. When you purchase stock, you own a piece of a company, which makes you a shareholder with…

Mutual Funds and Exchange Traded Funds are a great way to establish a balanced asset allocation and get plenty of diversification. One fund might be all you need, or you might decide you want to have a different mix that suits your investment goals. Investors once needed to comb through prospectuses and annual reports. The…

The story goes that in the late fifties, Chrysler Corporation did extensive market research to see what the American consumer really wanted in an automobile. The survey results were clear. The American auto buyer wanted a sensible car with clean lines and no frills. Above all, he was tired of the large ornamental tailfins which…

Imagine you’re at the stage where you finally have a decent amount of money to invest. After a painstaking amount of research you carefully construct a portfolio of low-cost ETFs with broad exposure to global markets, plus a healthy dose of bonds to smooth out the ride. You determine your rebalancing threshold and then set-up…