Investing

Investors are ready to throw in the towel. To cry uncle. To capitulate.  Can we blame them? This year has been brutal for both stock and bond markets. A global all-equity portfolio is down 16.87%, while a global balanced 60/40 portfolio is down 15.22% as of September 30th. But it’s not just the double-digit losses…

A counterfactual is when we create possible alternatives to events that have already occurred – something contrary to what actually happened. We do this all the time. “If only I had set my alarm, I wouldn’t have been late.” “If only I hadn’t been speeding, I wouldn’t have wrecked my car.” We also use counterfactual…

Canadian investors have several account types at their disposal to build an investment portfolio. This typically starts with registered accounts – RRSPs and TFSAs – to take advantage of tax deductions, tax deferred growth (RRSP), and tax-free growth (TFSA). But registered accounts come with contribution limits, so once those accounts are filled up many investors…

In a world full of conflicts of interest and questionable information, I’d like to offer this evidence based investing guide to help you make informed choices with your money. What’s the point of investing, anyway? We invest our money for future consumption, with the idea that we’ll earn a higher rate of return from investing…

Recent stock and bond market turmoil has many investors thinking about making changes to their portfolios.  Indeed, mutual fund investors may be wondering whether it’s the right time to switch from their expensive financial advisor to a low-cost portfolio of index funds using a robo advisor or online brokerage. DIY investors may be pondering changes…

No, I’m not asking how you’re doing (sorry, I know everything sucks right now!). I’m talking about your investments. Active managers love to tout their ability to capture all of the upside of the market while deftly avoiding the downside. We know empirically that is not the case (the SPIVA scorecard shows that more than…

We’re nearly halfway through 2022 and the year has not been kind to investors, to say the least. Global stock markets are suffering their worst prolonged losses in recent memory. The S&P 500 is down about 18.5%, international stocks are down about 17%, and emerging market stocks are down about 15%. Domestic stocks have fared…

It’s common for investors to be concerned about inflation because it brings to mind the high inflationary period of the 1970s that completely wrecked stock and bond returns. It’s also easy for investors to draw spurious conclusions about government debt and linking that to the hyperinflation that occurred in Zimbabwe or Venezuela. This article aims…

Investing has often been an expensive and/or complicated endeavour for Canadians. The vast majority of investors put their money into mutual funds sold by their bank or investment firm – funds which typically charge 2% or more in fees and leave Canadians with less money for retirement. Then along came exchange-traded funds (ETFs), then robo-advisors,…