Investing

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…

We all know about the economic cycle, the natural fluctuation of the economy going from growth, peak, contraction and trough. It looks like the bell curve you’re familiar with from school. Apart from that, millions of investors are still trying to discover a formula for timing the stock market by finding patterns. But, in any…

Most investments are grouped into the three traditional asset classes of stocks, bonds, and cash or cash equivalents. There are also alternative investments such as real estate, commodities, collectibles, art, and antiques which operate far differently and require more investigation, expertise and each has specific risks. Building Your Wealth with Alternative Investments Real estate Real…

On January 7th, 2015 I sold 24 Canadian dividend stocks worth about $100,000 and bought two low-cost index ETFs (Vanguard’s VCN and VXC). It was a bold move to switch to indexing after years of dividend growth investing. Lots of people questioned my decision. I even lost blog readers because of it (seriously). But it…

With Canadian mutual fund fees amongst the highest in the world according to a 2015 Morningstar Global Fund Survey, and online discount brokerage accounts becoming easier and cheaper to use every year, a savvy investor might want to think about finally making the leap and directly controlling their own investments. While it used to be…

Many investors base the success of their portfolio solely on their annual rate of return, but you should also compare your return to a specific benchmark index. What is an index? An index is a statistical tool designed to measure performance over time.   Financial service companies create benchmark indexes then license them to investment…

If I had a toonie (inflation-adjusted idiom) for every time a newly-converted passive investing devotee asked me, “I’m all set with my ETFs, but is now the right time to get into the market?” or “Yeah, I’m all about easy indexing now, but I read an article that says I can supercharge my returns by…

One of the biggest challenges investors can face is coming up with possible stocks to invest in. A slogan I have heard is the five-stock principle: for every five stocks you analyze properly and purchase, three will do about what you predict, one will do far worse, and one will do far better. I don’t…

Q. The Bank of Canada has raised its interest rate a couple of times so far and there may be more hikes in the near future. I own a bond mutual fund in my RRSP and I had been told I should dump it before interest rates go up, but I’ve held on so far.…

Many Canadian investors suffer from home country bias by holding all, or a large portion of, their investments in Canadian stocks. This makes little sense for those looking to build a diversified portfolio. Canada makes up just 3 percent of the world’s market capitalization and its markets tilt heavily towards financials (banks & insurance) and…