Key principles to follow when starting out as an investor One of Warren Buffett’s famous maxims is to buy when everyone else is selling. This principle has helped male him, through his investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc., one of the richest men in the world....
Rebalancing for recovery The March market meltdown, bond market gyrations, repricing of assets, and the flight to safety over the past couple of months has thrown many portfolios into disarray, particularly those of the do-it-yourself variety. The turmoil is likely...
The real cost of investing in mutual funds and ETFs The way the marketing hype has it these days, you’d think investment costs have dropped to zero. What with all the do-it-yourself platforms out there hawking their black boxes and promising, at least implicitly,...
Active versus passive investment styles The “couch potato” portfolio is so named because it takes a “passive” approach to investing. It is predicated on the theory that markets are efficient, or smarter, than any single person. Studies have shown that the passive,...
More popular with older, risk-averse investors Many investors, especially those facing retirement, are often offered so-called “segregated” funds by their financial advisors as a way to participate in the stock market while guaranteeing their principal. Although a...
Why it pays to pay attention to MERs As new fee transparency rules for advisors and money managers start to kick in, more investors have been asking me about difference between the costs of various mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. It’s a valid question, and...
The choice between bond ETFs and mutual funds Bond yields have dropped recently, and as a result, bond values have risen significantly. For example, the passive iShares Canadian Universe Bond Index ETF has risen 3.3% since the beginning of the year, and is up 4.9%...
How to avoid money-losing moves in gyrating markets During periods when sentiment sours and markets sell off suddenly and steeply, as has happened recently, financial advisors’ phones never stop ringing, with clients asking whether they should sell their funds or...
Is your mutual fund safe? You may have been surprised to see some mutual funds and exchange-traded funds disclose that they use “derivatives” in their portfolio management. It may have come as a surprise, because most investors acknowledge that derivatives can be...
Sorting out MERs, TERs, and loads If you’re a novice investor, and you’ve been looking at the costs of mutual funds, you’re probably finding it more than just a bit confusing. For example, you might have seen a number of different costs and expenses listed for...
Should you switch to ETFs for their lower MERs? The lower management costs of exchange-traded funds compared with mutual funds seem almost too good to be true. Many do-it-yourself investors are wondering whether they should switch completely to a portfolio of ETFs....
Choosing the wrong letter can cost you plenty! The choice of mutual fund investments can be complex and completely overwhelming. There are very nearly 36,000 investment fund products (including clones) on the market. These include not only money market funds,...