Some happy year-end thoughts!
An interesting year on many fronts – financial and societal. But have I learned anything I can use in the future? From a financial perspective, I very strongly believe we are going to get more of the...
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Is it all over for stock market investors? Don’t bet on it!
I’ve been reading lots of articles suggesting that the stock market is ‘overbought’ (an expression meaning that we’re in some sort of a bubble, stocks are overvalued and risk is high that they’ll...
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Mutual Fund Mania – Choose wisely during RRSP season!
Usually the first vehicle of choice for new investors is a mutual fund. In days of yore, which in the investment industry is more than five years ago, investors usually bought equity funds but in more...
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You want back into stocks…but should it be growth or value?
Decades ago, the academic community and financial services industry, in an effort to better understand what causes good versus bad rates of return in stock markets, began studying differing styles of...
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Canada’s most flexible and legitimate tax shelter!
In 2004 I wrote a book (with my friend Pamela Clarke and published by Insomniac Press) called Resources Rock: How to Invest and Profit from the Next Global Boom in Natural Resources. Since taxes are...
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Reacting to headlines is perilous!
You can avoid plenty of grief by reading headlines and as George Costanza (from the popular sitcom Seinfeld) says: “Do the opposite.” You might notice that the average ‘Joe’ was far more concerned...
View ArticleThe Unconventional Conventional Part 15
Welcome back. Today, more on what Financial Literacy means to me. And hopefully leading to a better understanding of these terms for you, the individual investor, and then the advisor, so that we can...
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The swarming of AAPL.
Understanding how the shares of Apple Inc. managed to get squashed so badly has much to do with knowing a bit about investor psychology and modern market dynamics. It wasn’t very long ago that shares...
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Don’t get whipsawed by Risk Management!
Back in February of 2012, I recall a prominent CFO departing a global insurance company. This particular individual was labelled “the highly regarded architect of a hedging strategy that proved key in...
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How to Tell the Difference Between Investing and Gambling!
I saw a question posted on a popular social network. The question was: ‘What is the difference between gambling and investing?” I’m inspired to reproduce (edited with permission) the following excerpt...
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Sex and the January Effect!
A perplexing phenomenon for money managers and academics alike is the so-called “January effect.” Also known as the small-cap effect it generally refers to the fact that January tends to be a pretty...
View ArticleThe Very Best 401k Plans
I just read an article that listed six features of “great” 401k plans: high company contributions, instant eligibility, immediate vesting, low fees, auto enrollment, high employee contribution rates. I...
View ArticleThe Investment Gods Created Volatility… and it was good
Have you noticed how paranoid people are getting about market “volatility”. OMG, cries the DOL, we’re going to fine employers if their 401k plan participants don’t grow their balances as fast as the...
View Article401k Plan Fiduciary and Performance Responsibility
Anyone who influences the investment product mix should likely be a fiduciary… but only if the selected investment managers are fiduciaries as well. Yes, that eliminates all Mutual Funds and ETFs,...
View Article401k Drawdown… OMG
“Drawdown” has become the most feared word in the 401k vocabulary, just as “Total Return” has become the most worshipped phrase. OMG, how will plan participants be able to retire if their portfolio...
View ArticleInside Modern Portfolio Theory – For Emperors Only
Maybe it’s just me, but when I hear “Monte Carlo”, I can’t help but think “casino”… My previous article post dealing with the income growing opportunities of 401k account “drawdown” elicited some...
View ArticleS&P 500 Index: Morning After 401k Musings
March 2000 witnessed the S&P 500 Index breach the 1,500 barrier for the very first time… seven and a half years later, it was in just about the same position. Inter-day October 15th, after an...
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Lower gas prices can mean really big TFSA savings!
Many Canadians have grown accustomed to low mortgage rates and strong residential pricing, and now the price of gasoline is leaving a few more bucks in our pockets. Don’t get too comfortable, because...
View ArticleThe Microsoft Retirement Income Program
Reading Between the Lines Once we recognize that all investment portfolios eventually become retirement income portfolios, we can begin to focus on the regular recurring income that they produce…...
View ArticleHow To Be Prepared for Rising Interest Rates
I’ve seen a lot of discussions lately that erroneously conclude: “rising interest rates are something to be feared and prepared for” by buying short duration bonds or by liquidating income purpose...
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