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complete guide to index investing
ETFs & Funds
Understanding Swap-Based ETFs
Last fall, Horizons Exchange Traded Funds launched two innovative new ETFs. Rather than simply holding the stocks in ...
Vanguard Drops the Gloves
It’s not easy to make a splash in the crowded ETF space these days. Many of the new ...
Under the Hood: Vanguard Total International Stock (VXUS)
This post is part of a series called Under the Hood, where l take a detailed look at ...
How ETFs Came Under Fire
ETFs are on the hot seat these days. On Wednesday, a US Senate subcommittee held a hearing to ...
Tim Pickering on Managed Futures, Part 1
On Monday I wrote about managed futures, a strategy that can add a layer of diversification to a ...
TD e-Series Funds: The Next Generation
For almost 20 years, the TD e-Series mutual funds have been one of the cheapest and easiest ways ...
Indexing Basics
Why You Should Beware of First Dates
Imagine that you’re the marketing director for MegaAlpha Investments and you want to advertise two of your mutual ...
Confessions of an Investing Parasite
As index investing has gained popularity, it is also attracted its share of scorn. The latest example is ...
Debunking Dividend Myths: Part 4
This post is the fourth in a series exploring the myths and misunderstandings about dividend investing. The goal ...
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 ...
Couch Potato on Ice
This week I was dismissive about the Dynamic Funds that swept this year’s Canadian Investment Awards. I argued ...
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
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 ...
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 ...
What Is the Advisor’s Role?
John Lawrence Reynolds' newest book, The Skeptical Investor, argues that Canadians were badly served by their advisors during ...
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 ...
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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