Weekend Reading: Market Madness Edition

It was a bad week for the stock markets, highlighted by Friday’s 500+ point Dow Jones meltdown. Meanwhile, the price of a barrel of oil dipped below $40, leading to this cheery headline and photo in Business Insider yesterday:

DOW SINKS INTO CORRECTION, OIL CRASHES BELOW $40: Here’s what you need to know:

Oh, the humanity!

Rob Carrick also commented on the stock market madness this week, asking his Facebook group if they were feeling nervous. My response:

“I feel like if I just took a 25-year nap, and ignored articles like this one, everything will be okay.”

Bason Asset Management’s James Osborne takes it a step further with this brilliant article on perpetuating nonsense and ignoring the facts.

“The general premise (or at least headline) of this edition is that this guy thinks the markets are scary, and as a purported solution he is moving more money out of index funds and into actively managed funds.”

This week’s recap:

On Monday I took a personal finance spin on Louis C.K.’s hilarious comedy bit, Of course . . . but maybe.

On Wednesday Marie explained the real cost of buying your home.

On Friday we continued our retirement series with a post from the newly retired Jamie – who’d rather be fishing.

And don’t forget to enter our massive five-year anniversary contest, which closes August 31st. There are over 60 prizes worth more than $5,000 up for grabs.

Weekend Reading:

There’s never a better question for an investor to ask than this one, “Where’s the evidence?”

Meet Ben Carlson; the author of one of Wall Street’s best-read blogs. Here’s Ben, on his A Wealth of Common Sense blog, discussing the three simple pieces of advice he’s ever received about investing.

My favourite MoneySense writer, Norm Rothery, shares another reason to stick to low-fee funds: Investors tend to trail fund returns because of how often they buy and sell.

Sandi Martin calls out some distressingly common investment advice:

Words I just heard! “If clients want to retire early & can’t lower spending, then allocate their portfolio to earn a higher rate of return”

— Sandi Martin (@SandiMartinSPF) August 20, 2015

Speaking of bad advice, Steadyhand’s Tom Bradley puts a recent bank survey on debt in perspective with a look at good debt and bad debt.

Michael James on Money with a smart take on CPP, saying whatever problems we may have with our CPP system, having payments stop when you die is not one of those problems.

A good look at how much income retirees really need.

Live long and prosper: how to be a Spock-like investor.

The Ontario Securities Commission is cracking down on mutual fund companies using industry awards in their ads. Did you know that in order to be nominated, a fund company actually has to pay to be included?

Rob Carrick says consumers should give banks and oil companies the Uber treatment.

RateHub’s Alysha Richard talks to Global about how to get the most out of your credit cards:

But is the endless hunger for credit card points really worth piling on debt?

A look at some super-savers who are socking away up to 70 percent of their income.

Our Big Fat Wallet blogger Dan Wesley takes a more balanced approach to saving, saying that he’s willing to pay more to have some leisure time.

Finally, Mark Seed looks at some frugal athletes, including one top prospect who’s living in a van.

Have a great weekend, everyone!