Vanguard’s New World Order
If you follow my model ETF portfolios, you may have noticed that one of your holdings has a new name. The Vanguard FTSE All-World ex Canada (VXC), launched in the summer of 2014, is a simple, low-cost [...]
The ETF Volume You Can’t Hear
Most investors prefer using ETFs that are bought and sold frequently. Although thinly traded ETFs are not always less liquid, experienced investors will tell you that they do tend to have wider bid-as [...]
Is a Pullback Really a Buying Opportunity?
The Canadian, US and international markets all fell more than 5% last week, the sharpest weekly drop we’ve seen in almost four years. Then on August 24, global markets plunged even further. If you wer [...]
It’s Better With Beta
The title of Larry Swedroe’s latest book, The Incredible Shrinking Alpha, raises a question: what happened to the idea that skilled managers can consistently beat the market? In a recent interview wit [...]
Is Beating the Market Harder Than Ever?
Is beating the market harder than it’s ever been? Larry Swedroe thinks so, and he lays out his case in his newest book, The Incredible Shrinking Alpha. PWL Capital has just published a custom edition [...]
Ask the Spud: My ETF Is Shutting Down
Q: I received a notice that an ETF I own will be closed within the next few months. Is it better to sell it now or wait until the termination date? – S.H. ETFs are now available for just about every n [...]
How Contributions Affect Your Rate of Return
Whenever I update the returns of my model portfolios, readers ask how the performance would have been different had they added money to the portfolios money each month. This question gets to the heart [...]
Calculating Your Portfolio’s Rate of Return
Perhaps no number is more important to investors than the rate of return on their portfolio. Yet this seemingly simple calculation is fraught with problems. If you’ve made contributions or withdrawals [...]
Raining on the All Seasons Portfolio
Investors are hungry for success stories, especially tales that include high returns with low risk. And the investment industry is always happy to stoke that appetite. One of the most popular stories [...]
China Grabs a Bigger Share of the Indexes
Traditional international index funds assign a weight to each country based on the size of its stock market. But in the case of China, that’s a bit misleading. Despite having the world’s second-larges [...]
