Canadian Couch Potato is your
complete guide to index investing
ETFs & Funds
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 ...
Couch Potatoes: Not the Next Financial Time Bomb
I would have been kicked out of journalism school for writing this: “The culprit behind the epidemic of ...
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 ...
Asset Allocation ETF Showdown: Vanguard vs. iShares
In the brief time they’ve been around, asset allocation ETFs have transformed the way DIY index investors manage ...
International Tracking Error: Part 3
In this final post in the series on why international index funds performed so poorly in 2009, it’s ...
Where Does VRIF’s 4% Payout Come From?
In my last post, I introduced the new Vanguard Retirement Income ETF Portfolio (VRIF), an asset allocation ETF ...
Indexing Basics
Indexing’s Dirty Little Secret
“Most actively managed mutual funds underperform the market.” Couch Potato investors sing this refrain all the time in ...
Couch Potato Portfolio Returns for 2014
Here are the 2014 returns for my Model Portfolios. The data below are from the funds' websites whenever ...
Review: The Elements of Investing
Whenever people ask me where they can learn more about Couch Potato investing, I need to answer carefully ...
Debunking Dividend Myths: Part 4
This post is the fourth in a series exploring the myths and misunderstandings about dividend investing. The goal ...
Is Indexing Less Risky?
Tom Bradley of Steadyhand Investment Funds wrote an insightful blog post yesterday about a television commercial for ING ...
Debunking Dividend Myths: Part 5
This post is the fifth in a series exploring the myths and misunderstandings about dividend investing. The goal ...
Financial Planning
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 ...
What Is the Advisor’s Role?
John Lawrence Reynolds' newest book, The Skeptical Investor, argues that Canadians were badly served by their advisors during ...
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 ...
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 ...
Why Plans Should Come Before Products
When I wrote the MoneySense Guide to the Perfect Portfolio [now out of print], I waited until Chapter ...
It’s Time to Ban Advisor Commissions
Should financial advisors be banned from collecting commissions on mutual funds? That’s been hotly debated for years, and ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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