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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Couch Potato Model Portfolios for 2015
Call off the hounds: I have finally updated my model Couch Potato portfolios for 2015. Full details appear on the permanent Model Portfolios page, but here are the new versions in downloadable PDF for [...]
The Couch Potato Goes Abroad
Andrew Hallam’s Millionaire Teacher remains one of the best introductions to index investing. When I reviewed it three years ago, I stressed that Andrew writes with authority because he follows his ow [...]
Do You Have the Advisor Six-Pack?
When people criticize the financial industry in Canada, the target of their wrath is usually high fees and underperformance. These are huge issues and, of course, they go hand-in-hand. But the more I [...]
An Interview With Wealthsimple: Part 1
Wealthsimple is one of several online investment firms that have launched in Canada this year. They’ve often been referred to as robo-advisors, though they reject that name, and with good reason. Whil [...]
Ask the Spud: Should I Use Global Bonds?
Q: I was surprised to see a Vanguard infographic pointing out that international [non-US] bonds are the largest asset class in the world. Do you have any thoughts on why Canadians have not embraced in [...]
Do You Really Know Your Risk Tolerance?
Almost 75 years after it was written, Fred Schwed’s Where are the Customers' Yachts? remains one of the most entertaining books ever written about the investment industry. Here’s one of its best remem [...]
