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 [...]
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 [...]
Should You Replace Bonds With Cash?
Not many investors are enthusiastic about bonds these days, and it’s hard to blame them. While rates have ticked up in the last few weeks, they’re still so low that even some sophisticated investors h [...]
How Budget 2015 Will Affect Investors
Yesterday’s federal budget included several changes that will affect investors—in the future if not immediately. Let’s look at the three most important announcements, with a focus on how they may appl [...]
Ask the Spud: Do Aggressive Portfolios Pay Off?
Q: I noticed that over the long term (10 to 20 years) the average returns of your model portfolios are quite similar regardless of the asset allocation, but the maximum losses vary dramatically. Would [...]
Are Preferred Share Indexers Dumb Money?
It’s hard to keep a straight face while arguing for active strategies in asset classes like large-cap stocks or government bonds. Those markets are so liquid and so well covered by analysts that it’s [...]
Does Your Portfolio Need Preferred Shares?
Last week’s blog introduced a new white paper, The Role of Preferred Shares in Your Portfolio, coauthored with my colleague Raymond Kerzérho, director of research at PWL Capital. That article looked a [...]
The Role of Preferred Shares
Preferred shares are often considered a hybrid security, since they share characteristics of both common stocks and corporate bonds. Like bonds, preferreds typically have a predictable income stream. [...]
An Interview With Wealthsimple: Part 2
Earlier this week I published an excerpt from my interview with David Nugent, portfolio manager of the online investment service Wealthsimple. In this second part of our interview, Nugent goes into mo [...]
Managing Multiple Family Accounts
Model portfolios like those I recommend are ideal for investors who have a single RRSP account. But life isn't so simple once you've accumulated a significant portfolio: chances are you'll be managing [...]
