Insights

In this video, I explain what happened at SVB, some of the differences between the Canadian and US banking system, and the protection that is in place for Canadian bank depositors.

The years leading into retirement are full of excitement and anticipation of a new life, free to enjoy it as you wish. The years leading towards and into retirement can also be some of the most anxious years, as getting used to managing finances in retirement can be overwhelming. There are 3 mistakes that I see prospective retirees making. In this video, I walk through the 3 mistakes, and offer some resources and perspectives that I hope will help.

The often-forgotten, but nevertheless critical asset class for many investors is fixed income which are broadly referred to as bonds. Stock holders are owners of the company and are entitled to a share of dividends that are paid out if the company issues them or if the company itself is ultimately liquidated. Bond holders are lenders of capital to the company or, in the case of government bonds, the government.

A value stock could be one that is priced low relative to its cash-flow, its book value (its assets minus its liabilities), or its sales. Warren described his early value stock picks as “cigar butts” - stocks of companies that were so distressed that their total outstanding stock value was actually worth less than the book value of the company. His style has evolved since those early years, but his philosophy has remained intact. His strategy is to buy stocks of quality companies at relatively low prices and hold onto them for a long time.

What is it about small company stocks that made their addition so impactful to Bill Bengen's original safe withdrawal rate findings? Is there something unique about small company stocks that causes them to outperform large company stocks over long periods of time?

Watching the market on a daily basis can feel chaotic. In this video I look at monthly stock returns for Canadian stocks going back to 1956. Up months. Down months. No observable pattern. Anxiety inducing, perhaps? You bet! But, when you zoom out and look at the data differently, we can see that stock returns as a whole are positive most of the time. Small moves upward, punctuated by significant moves both upward and downward. Volatile years like this one can be difficult for any investor. But, if you have a portfolio that is tied to a financial plan and is a good fit for you - you can tune out the noise and have a much better outcome.

The research that Lorie performed to prove that stocks returned 9% per year is a finding in historical data, which we will refer to as an “empirical” finding. It was observed in historical data, it is not a theory or a guess. Next, we might question what are the unique characteristics of stocks that made them a better investment than, say, bonds? And, then, let’s extend that further and ask - what other characteristics or “factors” exist in publicly-traded securities that we can observe “empirically”? And then finally, how can we use that insight to construct portfolios for different investors with different needs, tastes, preferences, and goals?

Registered Education Savings Plans (RESP’s) are a very popular and useful way to help a loved one pay for their post-secondary education. In many cases the beneficiary of the RESP, a child or close family member, graduates high school and uses the funds in pursuit of a college diploma or a university degree. But sometimes, life changes and the beneficiary of that RESP account no longer needs the money for their education. This situation leaves the RESP holders wondering - what else they can we do with this RESP account? In this post, I offer some alternatives for families that are faced with this question.

Now that we are nearly 10 months into this "death-by-1000-cuts" bear market, you may be looking at me a little bit sideways when I say that a lot of the bad news around a possible recession, among other fears, is already priced into the market. How is this possible?

In this video, I challenge the assumption that retirees should avoid all volatility in their retirement portfolios. I look at a retiree who began retirement in 2008 with a 60% stock / 40% bond portfolio, and compared their withdrawal experience with another retiree who held only cash or short term fixed income estimates.