Canadian Couch Potato is your
complete guide to index investing

ETFs & Funds

Inside TD’s One-Click ETF Portfolios

The ongoing popularity of asset allocation ETFs is undoubtedly a good thing—maybe even revolutionary. Canadians have enthusiastically embraced ...

Inside the Horizons One-Ticket ETFs

Are asset allocation ETFs cheap, well-diversified and convenient? Absolutely. Are they optimally tax-efficient? Perhaps not, though any tax ...

Why Do Index Funds Use Derivatives?

Earlier this week I described how several US and international equity index funds get their market exposure by ...

ETF Risks in Perspective: Securities Lending

This is the final post in a series of three looking at the potential risks that ETFs may ...

Not All Indexes Are Created Equal

The recently launched BMO Equal Weight REITs (ZRE), which invests in Canadian real estate investment trusts, will go head-to-head ...

Understanding Swap-Based ETFs

Last fall, Horizons Exchange Traded Funds launched two innovative new ETFs. Rather than simply holding the stocks in ...

Indexing Basics

Can You Have Too Much Diversification?

Is it possible for a portfolio to be too diversified? There are certainly a lot of articles making ...

Ask the Spud: Can You Time the Markets?

Q. Have you ever done any calculations into the optimal time to purchase index funds or ETFs based ...

Worst Mutual Fund Ad of the Year?

The mutual fund industry loves to sell past performance, and it's not above massaging the data to make ...

Can the Pros Time the Market?

I never meant to make you cry And though I know I shouldn’t call It just reminds us ...

Debunking Dividend Myths: Part 4

This post is the fourth in a series exploring the myths and misunderstandings about dividend investing. The goal ...

Debunking Dividend Myths: Part 6

This post is the sixth (and last) in a series exploring the myths and misunderstandings about dividend investing ...

Financial Planning

Ask the Spud: Am I Vulnerable to US Estate Taxes?

Q: I am ready to follow the Couch Potato and would like to use the US-listed Vanguard ETFs ...

Dividends: Not As Tax-Friendly As You May Think

If your investments include RRSPs, TFSAs and taxable accounts, asset location is an important consideration. The returns of ...

Ask the Spud: Is My Pension Like a Bond?

Q: My wife and I have been using the Couch Potato strategy for a few years now, but ...

Why Plans Should Come Before Products

When I wrote the MoneySense Guide to the Perfect Portfolio [now out of print], I waited until Chapter ...

What Is the Advisor’s Role?

John Lawrence Reynolds' newest book, The Skeptical Investor, argues that Canadians were badly served by their advisors during ...

A Monte Carlo Case Study: Can I Retire Early?

Last week’s post about Monte Carlo simulations in financial planning sparked some interesting comments, so I thought a ...

Behavioural Finance

Why RESPs Should Be Kept Simple

In the last couple of weeks I’ve received two questions from readers who were trying to figure out ...

Cost Versus Convenience in “ex Canada” ETFs

I used to own one of those one-piece cutlery tools designed for hiking and camping—the kind with a ...

Podcast 20: One-Stop ETF Shopping

I’ve always tried to stress that successful investing is about the right process, not the right products. But ...

Why Simple Is Still a Hard Sell

Last January, I overhauled my model portfolios to make them simpler. Some of the older options included small-cap ...

Should You Buy Stocks For Your Kids?

If you’re a parent, how can you set your child on the road to investing success? One popular ...

Podcast 25: Dr. Steve Wendel on Investor Success

The latest episode of the Canadian Couch Potato podcast features an interview with Dr. Stephen Wendel, Head of ...

Portfolio Management

How to Set Up a Hands-Off ETF Portfolio

For DIY investors, asset allocation ETFs may be the greatest gift to come along in decades. It’s never ...

It’s Time to Reboot Your Portfolio

It’s been a while since the last new article appeared on the Canadian Couch Potato blog, and over ...

A New Rebalancing Spreadsheet for ETFs

It’s easy enough to build an index fund portfolio with your desired mix of stocks and bonds. But ...

TD e-Series Returns for 2020

The TD e-Series index mutual funds remain a useful alternative to the asset allocation ETFs that take centre ...

Ask the Spud: Can I Make Taxable Investing Easier?

In Episode 4 of the Canadian Couch Potato podcast, I answered the following question from a listener named ...

Is VRIF Right for Your Portfolio?

In my last few posts, I introduced the newly launched Vanguard Retirement Income ETF Portfolio (VRIF), explained where ...

Popular Posts

Unveiling the 2020 Couch Potato Model Portfolios

As long-time readers will know, I review my model portfolios once a year and, …

TD e-Series Funds: The Next Generation

For almost 20 years, the TD e-Series mutual funds have been one of the …

How to Set Up a Hands-Off ETF Portfolio

For DIY investors, asset allocation ETFs may be the greatest gift to come along …

Asset Allocation ETF Showdown: Vanguard vs. iShares

In the brief time they’ve been around, asset allocation ETFs have transformed the way …

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