Posts by Robb Engen
Weekend Reading: Hamburgers Are On Sale Edition
During the tech-stock meltdown at the beginning of the century, legendary investor Warren Buffett served up this famous stock market analogy: “To refer to a personal taste of mine, I’m going to buy hamburgers the rest of my life. When hamburgers go down in price, we sing the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ in the Buffett household. When…
Read MoreWorst Day Ever?
Will Monday February 5th go down as the worst day ever for stocks? On this day the Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 1,175 points – the worst single-day point drop in its history. But was it really the worst day ever? Investors need some context. The 1,175 point drop was indeed the biggest…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Frustrating Financial Beliefs Edition
It’s RRSP season, a time to consider topping up your contributions to build your nest egg and reduce your taxes owning for 2017. RRSPs are a useful tax-planning tool and one of the most effective ways to save for retirement. But some retirees don’t see it that way now that they’re in the withdrawal phase…
Read MoreReady to Join The ETF Movement? Here Are 4 Tips To Get Started
2017 was a good year for the Canadian ETF market, with total assets reaching nearly $146 billion at year-end. While a far cry from the $1.48 trillion that Canadian investors held in mutual funds, it still represents 28 percent growth for ETFs in Canada. BlackRock’s iShares dominates the Canadian ETF market, boasting a 40 percent…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Crypto Crazy Edition
This time is different – the four most dangerous words when it comes to investing. We’ve seen it time and time again. From Tulip Bulb Mania to the Dot Com Era, and the U.S. Housing Boom, exuberant market behaviour drives asset prices higher and higher until demand reaches levels that can no longer be sustained,…
Read MoreCredit Cards With No Foreign Currency Conversion Fees. What Are My Options?
Amazon.ca Rewards Visa and Marriott Rewards Premier Visa cardholders recently received a letter from their card issuer, Chase Canada, advising that these cards will be deactivated as of March 15th, 2018. It’s a disappointing, but not surprising exit for Chase, which sold its Sears MasterCard portfolio and related credit card operations; including a call centre,…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Bank of Canada Hikes Rates (Again) Edition
The Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate again this week, marking the third time since last summer that they’ve increased the benchmark lending rate. It now sits at 1.25 percent, while Canada’s big banks all moved their prime ending rate to 3.45 percent. The move has financial experts warning of the impact on…
Read MoreLearn How To Budget (And Download A Free Budgeting Spreadsheet)
I learned how to budget and got my finances under control back in 2009. Up until then I was like most working Canadians; my paycheque would come in, I’d pay some bills, go grocery shopping, maybe transfer some money into savings, and then (over)spend the rest on whatever. A budget not only helped track my…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Couch Potato Edition
Canadian Couch Potato godfather Dan Bortolotti recently posted the returns for his three model portfolios. Like my two-ETF portfolio, which returned 14.06 percent, Dan’s model portfolios had a banner year in 2017. Here are the results for the most aggressive versions of each portfolio: Tangerine’s Balanced Growth Portfolio – 9.5 percent TD’s e-Series Funds –…
Read MoreHow AI Can Help You Find & Save More Money
If you’ve been reading this blog long enough you’ll know that I’m a big fan of behavioural finance – that is, combining psychology and economics to help us understand why we make irrational decisions about money. This relatively new field of study has produced ground breaking research and insight that has already made a big…
Read More