Bias toward Canadian stocks is just fine
There are several good reasons to overweight Canadian equities in your portfolio {MoneySense]
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 [...]
Announcing the Couch Potato Robo-Advisor Service
[Note: This was an April Fool's joke!] One of the most exciting developments in investing is the rise of online wealth managers, also known as robo-advisors. These services offer online portfolio mana [...]
Ask the Spud: GICs vs. Bond Funds
Q: I would appreciate it if you could write an article contrasting the advantages and disadvantages of holding bond funds versus GICs. – A.R. All of my model Couch Potato portfolios include bond funds [...]
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. [...]
When Discount Bonds Are Hard to Find
Everyone loves a discount, but if you’re buying bonds these days you may be out of luck. Just over a year ago, the BMO Discount Bond (ZDB) was launched as a tax-efficient alternative to traditional bo [...]
