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ETFs & Funds
Will the Real S&P 500 Please Stand Up?
I received an email recently from Scott, a reader with a great question about index funds and ETFs ...
iShares Launches All-in-One ETF Portfolios
Back in February, writing about the newly launched Vanguard’s asset allocation ETFs, I asked why it had taken ...
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 ...
Couch Potato Portfolio Returns for 2020
Just about everyone was happy to wave goodbye to 2020. By the spring it was shaping up to ...
Vanguard Drops the Gloves
It’s not easy to make a splash in the crowded ETF space these days. Many of the new ...
Couch Potato Portfolio Returns for 2021
Well, another year is in the books and it's time to review how investors fared if they used ...
Indexing Basics
Debunking Dividend Myths: Part 6
This post is the sixth (and last) in a series exploring the myths and misunderstandings about dividend investing ...
Where Do Returns Come From?
You don’t need a lot of mathematical horsepower to be a Couch Potato investor. Indeed, simplicity is one ...
Scott Burns Interview: Part 2
Here is part two of my interview with Scott Burns, the newspaper columnist and Chief Investment Strategist at ...
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 ...
The S&P 500 Effect
On Tuesday, February 16, Berkshire Hathaway will become part of the S&P 500, the most widely followed stock ...
Indexing’s Dirty Little Secret
“Most actively managed mutual funds underperform the market.” Couch Potato investors sing this refrain all the time in ...
Financial Planning
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: 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 ...
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 ...
Why Plans Should Come Before Products
When I wrote the MoneySense Guide to the Perfect Portfolio [now out of print], I waited until Chapter ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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