- Though I am a fan of lazy portfolios, I did not know much about the Easy Chair Portfolio, which is celebrating its 10th birthday. The Toronto Star promises to update us on its performance in an upcoming column.
- Warren Buffett reiterated his opinion that index funds are an ideal vehicle for most investors: “The best way in my view is to just buy a low-cost index fund and keep buying it regularly over time, because you’ll be buying into a wonderful industry, which in effect is all of American industry. If you buy it over time, you won’t buy at the bottom, but you won’t buy it all at the top either.”
- In the brouhaha over fund fees, it is important to remember that low-cost funds are available in Canada. Rob Carrick writes about a new low-cost fund option from Philips, Hager and North.
- As the S&P 500 tries to break into record territory, Jeremey Siegel explains why he is still bullish on U.S. equities.
- A column in the New York Times says that this might finally be the year in which large-cap U.S. equities finally outperform small company stocks.
- I find it disappointing that Rob Carrick did not mention the low-cost bond index mutual funds (like the TD eSeries or Altamira Precision series funds) that are an ideal vehicle to get exposure to fixed income for average investors.
- Many economists think that the next move by the Bank of Canada will be to raise interest rates towards the end of this year.
- Canadian Financial DIY explains why it is important to build a portfolio using asset classes with low correlation with each other.
- SteadyHand’s Tom Bradley cautions investors not to forget risk as markets keep posting new records.
Bookmark: del.icio.us Digg StumbleUpon
4 responses so far ↓
1 Outroupistache // May 10, 2007 at 11:49 pm
CC, I know you are aware of the difference but using the term “low cost” in reference to any Canadian fund gives too much credit to our domestic fund industry. Another of your posts refers to a study that concludes the Canadian fund industry has the highest fees in the world. Even the lowest cost of our Canadian funds are not close to those of our nearest neighbour, the USA, nor the UK.
Take bond funds, for example. The iShares UK bond ETF index funds are mostly 0.20% annual MER, the US iShares range between 0.15 and 0.20% while the good old Canadian iShares clock in at 0.25% to 0.40%. Canadian costs are double those in the US. That’s the same company!! TD’s e-Series bond index fund has 0.48% MER while Vanguard’s US bond ETF funds have expense ratios of 0.18 to 0.20% and the absolute highest of any of their many mutual funds is 0.29% with the majority in the 0.14-020% range. Canada has a long ways to go before I would use the term low cost in the same sentence with the word fund.
2 Canadian Capitalist // May 11, 2007 at 6:53 am
Good point. However, I noted that the funds are low-cost compared to other Canadian mutual funds. Yes, Canadian mutual fund fees are very high compared to the rest of the world, but what can the average investor do about it?
3 MillionDollarJourney.com // May 14, 2007 at 10:08 am
CC, what is your opinion on the % of bond allocation to ones portfolio? Do you follow the age rule where the older you get, the higher the % of bonds you should hold?
FT
4 Canadian Capitalist // May 14, 2007 at 1:49 pm
FT: Everyone (even the most aggressive investor) should have some bonds in their portfolio. In my personal portfolios, I am shooting for 20% allocation and am currently at 15% and I consider myself an aggressive investor.
Having your age in bonds is a good thumb rule, but it also depends on other factors like your time horizon, risk tolerance etc.
Leave a Comment