The Power of Simple Portfolios
Carl Richards, author of The Behavior Gap, wrote an insightful article in February called Why We Fear Simple Money Solutions. “People say they want things to be simpler—investing, life insurance, reti [...]
Why You Should Avoid DRIPs in Taxable Accounts
Last week’s post about calculating your adjusted cost base with ETFs drew some interesting comments. It’s clear that many DIY investors who use non-registered accounts were unaware of how much work is [...]
Ask the Spud: The Role of Real Return Bonds
Why has the iShares DEX Real Return Bond (XRB) dropped so dramatically this year? I thought this asset class was protective in times of rising interest rates (which are correlated with inflation), but [...]
Scary When They’re Down, Scary When They’re Up
It’s been barely a month since Alexander Green remarked that we’re currently enjoying “the most disrespected bull market in history.” Green described how investors who were shell-shocked by 2008 were [...]
Inside the BMO and PowerShares Low-Vol ETFs
In the last 14 months or so, Canada’s ETF providers have launched several funds based on low-volatility strategies. As we saw in my last post, the research suggests it may be possible to build a portf [...]
Don’t Invest in the Rear-View Mirror
Investors face many behavioral biases—that’s just part of being human. Perhaps the most difficult to overcome is recency bias: the tendency to believe what has happened in the immediate past is likely [...]
Review: Abnormal Returns
Tadas Viskanta's blog, Abnormal Returns, has gained a large and prestigious following during its seven-plus years. His new book of the same name also deserves a wide readership. Abnormal Returns (McGr [...]
Ask the Spud: Should I Unbundle My ETF?
Q: What do you think of investing directly in Canadian REITs instead of buying an ETF? It may be possible to achieve similar results without paying the ETF’s management fee. – Philippe V. ETFs promise [...]
Another 5 Underrated Index Funds
Last week I presented a list of five Canadian ETFs I feel are underused compared with their billion-dollar competitors. Here’s are three more ETFs and a couple of index mutual funds I’d put in the sam [...]
Under the Hood: First Asset Morningstar US Dividend Target 50 (UXM)
This post is part of a series called Under the Hood, where l take a detailed look at specific Canadian ETFs or index funds. The fund: First Asset Morningstar US Dividend Target 50 Index ETF (UXM) The [...]
