Did Your ETF Just Get Riskier?
One of the problems with actively managed mutual funds is that you can never be sure that the risk level will remain constant. In an income fund with a mix of government bonds, high-yield corporate bo [...]
A Spreadsheet to Manage Multiple Accounts
You’ve got an RRSP with your employer, another with a discount brokerage, and your spouse has a couple of his or her own. You both have TFSAs, too, plus an online savings account where you park your c [...]
Ask the Spud: Investing With Multiple Accounts
Q: How do I use the Couch Potato strategy across multiple accounts? We have a taxable investment account, my RRSP, a spousal RRSP and two TFSAs (one for me, and one for my spouse). Should we hold all [...]
Some Advice for New Potatoes
One of the most gratifying things about writing this blog is getting emails from young people who are just getting started in Couch Potato investing. “Without you,” a 23-year-old wrote this week, “who [...]
Are Active Funds Adding Value?
Just how well are mutual fund investors faring in Canada? That question isn’t as straightforward as it may seem. The Standard & Poor’s Indices Versus Active (SPIVA) reports are useful for determin [...]
Does the Couch Potato Work After Age 50?
Readers often ask me whether the Couch Potato strategy is suitable for investors approaching retirement, or even those who have stopped working. In his recent book, Retirement’s Harsh New Realities, [...]
The Timeless Harmony of a Balanced Portfolio
Deciding on the right asset allocation can cause investors a lot of grief—far too much, in fact, since there is no such thing as a perfect mix of stocks and bonds. In his excellent book Your Money and [...]
When Should You Use an Advisor?
Dan Solin’s excellent new book, The Smartest Portfolio You’ll Ever Own (see my review here), devotes several chapters to whether passive investors should work with an advisor. It’s a question I’ve con [...]
The Permanent Portfolio v. the Couch Potato
Let’s end the week with one final post about the Permanent Portfolio. Many readers expressed interest in this strategy, introduced by Harry Browne in the early 1980s. I’ve spent so much time on the Pe [...]
Is Gold a Hedge Against Inflation?
In series of posts last week, I looked at Harry Browne’s Permanent Portfolio, which includes a hefty 25% allocation to gold. The reason for holding such a large amount, Browne argued, is that gold pro [...]
