Welcome to the debut episode of the Canadian Couch Potato podcast.
Every two weeks I’ll be releasing a new episode of the podcast and announcing it here on the blog. You can stream the most recent episode using the player below, or you can subscribe via iTunes or Google Play, or using your favorite podcast software, such as Stitcher, Pocketcasts or Overcast.
This inaugural episode features my friend and colleague Justin Bender. In our interview we reflect on our experiences developing our unique DIY Investor Service, where we helped clients build ETF portfolios they could manage on their own. Here are some links related to that interview:
- Renovate Your Portfolio appeared in MoneySense in 2012. Written before I joined PWL Capital, this article featured three of the original clients of the DIY service.
. - In his continuing efforts to support investors, Justin has just launched a YouTube channel called DIY Investing with Justin Bender. The first series of videos includes tutorials on how to place ETF trades at Canada’s largest online brokerages.
I’ve also created a regular segment called Bad Investment Advice, which features recent articles in the financial media. In this episode, I take issue with an article called One Place Where Passive Investing Doesn’t Rule: Bonds in The Wall Street Journal. Unfortunately, you need a subscription the WSJ to access this story online.
In the Ask the Spud segment that closes the show, I answer the following reader question:
“In your ETF model portfolios the equity component is split one-third Canadian, one-third US, and one-third international. Why is the Canadian component so high, when Canada makes up only 3% of the world market cap? And with poor sector diversification, at that.”
I’ve addressed home country bias in a past blog post and a MoneySense column. You may also be interested in Justin’s two-part discussion of the issue on his Canadian Portfolio Manager blog.
As always, if you have a suggestion for the Bad Investment Advice segment or if you’ve got an investing question you would like answered in a future podcast email me any time.
For Overcast users on iOS, the podcast is not in the directory. You can, however, manually add it using the ‘Add URL’ method and entering: http://canadiancouchpotato.libsyn.com/rss
Cheers!
AntennaPod (open source Android podcast app) supports searching from iTunes, but also fyyd and gpodder.net. Adding the feed to those directories should add to its visibility.
Great job on the podcast. Love the into and the interview / feature / Q&A format. Looking forward to the next one!
Thanks guys. I’m really thankful for websites like Canadian Couch Potato and Young and Thrifty. I find it’s tough to find good financial advice for Canadians, especially younger Canadians, so I really appreciate the energy and effort you guys are putting into this. Looking forward to learning more. Cheers.
Some information is better absorbed when it’s written down. Solutions to mathematical problems, computer code… and I’m going to kindly suggest.. investment strategy and related information.
The information in your podcast simply isn’t *sticky”. Sorry! :(
I do love the blog though!
I’ve been been following your blog for almost a year now and finally I feel I’ve gained the confidence to make the leap and transfer my investments to ETFs fund and become a DIY investor! I enjoyed your first podcast and look forward to others to come not to mention your soon to be available youtube videos. Thank you for this huge commitment to help people like myself make a DIY investment strategy a reality!
Do I need to be Google play subscriber to access the podcast? CCP did not come up when I searched in podcasts…?
@Suzanne, Andrew, corey_kaye and all: Thanks for the encouragement, and I hope you will enjoy future episodes of the podcast.
For those who are having difficulty finding the podcast in your favourite app, please give it a couple of days. Once it is added to the iTunes directory it should become very easy to find.
I am glad that you clarified which apps it’s available …. I have not seen many bloggers/podcasters do that! Patiently waiting for it to come through on PocketCasts. Can’t wait!
@Min Min: As soon as iTunes adds us to their list it should be available everywhere. Thanks for your patience!
Hi Dan – You podcast just got a mention over at the MMM forum – can’t wait to give it a listen on the drive to our current work in progress (aka the barnhouse) tonight.
And now for…”Baaaad Iiiiinvestment Aaaaaadviiiiiice!” LOL!
Excellent podcast, Dan– and Justin. Informative, and your reasons for moving away from your DIY service make sense. Like some of your previous clients, I too find Norbert’s gambit a bit too nervous-making and complex, and feel the pull of market timing and stock-picking. In your response to the question, your justification of 1/3 Canadian in the equity portion of the portfolio also makes a lot of sense. I ride buses a lot and your podcasts will be a great way to examine investing issues while passing the bus ride. I also like Justin’s Youtube videos, which will be a big help to DIYers. I’m looking forward to one on dealing with ACB on Canadian ETF’s with ROC calculations, etc, which I always find pretty complex, in spite of your very good paper on this.
Seriously, regarding “Bad Investment Advice” suggestions, it’s difficult to know where to start. A typical random opening of the business section of the Toronto Globe and Mail (a supposedly solid main stream source of investment advice) yields so many articles advising specific stock picks, advocating essentially market timing opinions, or warning for or against specific market sector positions, all of which are antithetical to a prudent, rational and long-term Couch Potato (diversified, agnostic, passive indexing) investing strategy.
The underlying situation is that the principles of passive indexing investing can be summed up in just a few basic points, with a few more clarifying corollaries. Having stated these underlying principles, there is very little else to say without repeating yourself. Therefore the business news editors are hard pressed to find new useful information that still conforms to Couch Potato principles. Either that or they recognise that solid Couch Potato information is a hard sell to readers indoctrinated by years of “predict the future” type of investment advice, so instead they just resort to feeding them variations on the same old lies, i.e. “Baaaaad Iiiiiiinvestment Aaaaadviiiiiice”.
This, like your blog, is excellent!
As a new investor, and someone who waited until.his mid-40s to get started in investing (other than real estate), and now need to make up for lost time, this information is so helpful.
Thank you!
I am looking forward to hearing and reading more!
Great job on the podcast. While i do agree that the written articles are best for study of more complex themes it is refreshing to have a new vehicle to deliver the messages. I for one need the constant reminders of why I am a couch potato investor and even enjoy laughing at myself when one of my deviations gets highlighted as a mistake!
Really enjoyed the podcast, although I only understood maybe 1/3 of the Canadian content. Just kidding. Feel free to explain more for investment noobs like me. Long live the Spud
This year is another great example of not to chase past performance which CCP has advised a lot on here. The simple index balanced portfolio is performaing a lot better than top Mawer’s Balanced Fund YTD and past 1 yr. In fact the Mawer balanced fund is getting beaten by most funds in that catagory this year.
Great to see it’s up on Pocketcasts!
As a newbie investor myself, I was really interested in this first episode. I found the pacing was done very well and the information was clear. You gave lots of justification for why you took the approach with your DIY program and explained your findings and conclusions very clearly. I agree that it’s important to find a balance between cost and accessibility. I’m okay with paying a bit more if it makes it easier to invest (hence, my first forays into a robo-advisor this year).
(Can you tell I am a high school teacher? Ha!)
I’m wondering if you could speak about short term investing in one of your podcasts. Specifically in wondering about saving for a home. I am at least a couple years out from saving a down payment and I’m wondering if their is a “safe” strategy for 2-4 year investment horizon. As of now the money just sits in a tangerine saving account but barely gets 1%. Love he site and the new podcast keep it up!
@Dave: As someone who lost a bit of money trying to “invest” leading up to a home purchase, I feel that there’s a good case for plain saving.
I’ve got a Tangerine account as well but their rates and time-limited promotions make it more suitable for saving up over several months, rather than several years.
High-interest savings accounts is likely what you want to look into, they give you rates similar to longer-term GICs with short-term liquidity. Check the data, rate histories and forums on this site: https://www.highinterestsavings.ca/chart/
@Dave: I’m going to echo Jakob on this one. With a time horizon of 2 to 4 years you just can’t afford to take any equity risk. Savings accounts and short-term GICs (cashable GICs if you think plans could change) are really the only viable option.
Hey its a been a while since I visited your site. congrats on getting a pod cast section. I look forward to hearing some of your thoughts
Hey Dan, I noticed that Podcast Episode 1 has recently been taken down from Spotify and Google Play. What gives?
@Mark: Looking into this. It certainly wasn’t something we did intentionally.