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moneysense.ca, 30/08/07
This and That
- If you are thinking about buying a HDTV in the near future, this report in The New York Times suggests waiting till the New Year to take advantage of even lower prices.
- The Globe and Mail reports that a serious security breach has occurred at the discount broker TradeFreedom. The report mentions that the company has already contacted affected clients.
- Ellen Roseman writes in The Toronto Star about the Horizon BetaPro Bull and Bear funds.
- Rob Carrick reports from the red carpet on who won in the Canadian Financial Excellence Awards.
- Larry MacDonald points to a list of giant Canadian mutual funds. Even if you are a believer in the value added by active management, you will almost certainly do better with a low cost index fund compared to a giant equity fund. A recent report from Leith Wheeler funds shows why.
- There will be no post on Monday. Have a nice Labour Day weekend.
moneysense.ca, 30/08/07
With respect to purchasing computers and other high tech consumer products, it’s always cheaper in price next year and six months after you buy it, it will always be half the price. That’s just the nature of the market as cutthroat competitors like Sony and LG continually duke it out by producing better hardware at lower prices year after year to conquer the market. For consumers, if you want one, you have to resign to the fact that this is rapidly depreciating equipment and you just have to dive in and bite the bullet at some point. For me, I only do that when the stuff I currently have finally dies.
I looked at the Horizon Funds some time ago. I found at that time that their effective MERs are really high (5%). So, I would have to be absolutely confident of, for example, a market meltdown in order to buy into one of their bear funds because it’s only perfectly suited to short term trading. So far to date, the idea of shorting anything on the market makes me so nervous I would break out in hives… I may change my mind in the future, though.
Phil: I am working on a post on the Bear fund. I am a long-term investor and firmly believe that nobody can consistently time the markets. Yes, markets can be overvalued but that has never stopped it from becoming more overvalued. I think it is folly to invest in anything which has a negative expected long-term return.
I agree with the HDTV idea. I’d wait til the new year and the christmas season is over. Like anything, items particularly electronics always tend to drop fairly fast. Just look at the HDTV DVD players right now, they have already come down quite a bit.
I agree with the HDTV idea. I’d wait til the new year and the christmas season is over. Like anything, items particularly electronics always tend to drop fairly fast. Just look at the HDTV DVD players right now, they have already come down quite a bit.
How come you didn’t link to MY article on the BetaPro funds? =)