Pulling Off the Bandage Quickly
Deferred sales charges (DSCs) may have been the mutual fund industry’s greatest marketing innovation. Back in the 1980s, it wasn’t unusual for funds to be sold with front-end loads of 5% or more. Then [...]
How Not to Prepare for a Bear Market in Bonds
The risk of rising interest rates has become an obsession in the financial media. Those risks are undeniably real: it’s quite possible that broad-based bond funds will see multiple years with negative [...]
Putting the Portfolio Odds in Your Favour
It’s well known that the majority of actively managed mutual funds underperform comparable index funds over any period longer than a few years. In fact, that statement has become so uncontroversial th [...]
Seeing Diversification in Action
Why should you add multiple asset classes to your portfolio? That seems like a simple question, but it’s one many investors would answer with only a vague comment about “more diversification.” It’s mo [...]
Why Diversification is a Piece of Cake
After almost four years of false alarms, the bond bears are finally able to act smug. Broad-based Canadian bond index funds have fallen in price about 4% or so in since the beginning of May. Meanwhile [...]
Ask the Spud: Should I Buy In Now?
I’ve just inherited a six-figure sum and am interested in investing using the Couch Potato approach. What is your opinion on entering the market now, given it’s at a record high? — C.T. This is the mo [...]
Equity Index Funds for the Socially Responsible
Last week I shared my interview with Timothy Nash, president of Strategic Sustainable Investments, the blogger behind The Sustainable Economist, and an expert in socially responsible investing (SRI). [...]
Understanding Floating-Rate Notes
By now every serious investor understands the consequences rising interest rates will have on bond portfolios. For more than four years we’ve been reminded that when rates go up, bond prices fall—and [...]
New iShares ETFs Give Canadians the World
In an era when ETFs are becoming increasingly narrow and specialized, the new iShares funds launched this week were a pleasant surprise. Granted, they were late to the game with the iShares S&P 50 [...]
Estimating Future Stock Returns
What are the long-term expected returns for stocks? That’s a fundamental question every investor needs to consider when deciding on an appropriate asset allocation. Unfortunately, it’s not a question [...]
