Investing

New research from investment management firm BlackRock suggests that Millennials are fearful of the stock market and sitting on too much cash in their accounts. It got me thinking – do Millennials fear the stock market? Or are there other factors at work? Millennials came of age during the global financial crisis and Bernie Madoff Ponzi…

I get plenty of questions about my two-ETF retirement portfolio. Some advisors think it’s too simple – stating that a properly diversified portfolio should contain at least six asset classes. Further to that, some clients and blog readers ask me whether it’s wise to add a dash of gold, REITs, or even farmland to their…

This article is a review of the Wealthsimple robo-advisor platform and includes positive testimony from a real-life Wealthsimple investor. I started investing at 19 without really understanding what I was doing. A bank advisor set me up with a portfolio of mutual funds, and for several years I paid a handsome fee for what amounted…

GICs get a bad rap in today’s low interest rate environment, but when stock markets are reeling, like they were this summer, investors often seek save havens to wait out the storm. Cash is king for those who don’t have the stomach to watch their portfolio plunge in value, and GICs at least offer the…

For five years I attempted to beat the market with a portfolio of Canadian dividend stocks. As my investments grew, I began measuring my returns and comparing the results to a benchmark – an exchange traded fund from iShares called CDZ, which tracks Canadian dividend stocks. I wanted to know if my judgement as a portfolio…

Last year I invited 15 financial experts to share their thoughts on borrowing to invest. At the heart of the debate was a question I received from a reader about using leverage to invest in a single stock: “With Canadian Oil Sands (COS) paying a juicy 8 percent dividend, does it make sense to borrow…

So you have some money you want to invest but you’re worried because you keep hearing that there’s going to be a stock market crash. Isn’t it better to wait until after that happens so you can buy in when it’s safer? It’s true that the stock market will crash. In fact I guarantee it.…

The stock markets have shown some volatility this summer and this has concerned some investors who have been riding the latest “full steam ahead” bull market and think a market correction is imminent. These concerns have increased interest in investment products that have a principal guarantee. But are they worth it? These guarantees come with…

Even though I sold my dividend stocks and moved to a two-ETF solution earlier this year, I still believe that an investor with the right temperament and patience can succeed with a dividend growth (or value investing) strategy over the long term. With that in mind, I’m pleased to share this guest post from Dividend…

Target date mutual funds – also known as age-based funds or life-cycle funds – are low maintenance, retirement plan products that operate under as asset allocation formula, which adjusts itself as it gets closer to the year you will retire. You may be familiar with the concept if your employer pension plan participates in one…