Author Archives: peter benedek
Annuities IV
Annuities IV So there are no simple rules to decide if an annuity is appropriate for you. As a general statement, I can see no compelling reason to start considering annuities as part of a retirement plan, until there is better disclosure of the fees and charges that go into the pricing of annuities […]
Annuities III
Annuities III So after having done some preparatory work on annuities in Annuities I and Annuities II , now let’s do a few scenarios with and without annuities.(There is also the Annuities IV blog the last in this series of four on annuities.) This blog is not the definitive but rather more like an introduction to annuities. […]
Annuities II: (Almost) Everything you wanted to know about annuities, but were afraid to ask
Annuities II: (Almost) Everything you wanted to know about annuities, but were afraid to ask In the Annuities I blog we discussed “what is (the measure of) wealth? Here we’ll discuss what annuities are, what flavours they come in and what are some their pros and cons. (Annuities III and Annuities IV are the remaining two […]
Annuity I: What is wealth?
This blog (originally posted in 2007) is the first of a number of blogs pertaining to annuities and their role as longevity insurance. (There are couple of follow-up blogs that you might also be interested to read on annuities at Annuities II: (Almost) Everything you wanted to know about annuities, but were afraid to ask, Annuities […]
Hedging foreign currency exposure
Hedging of foreign currency exposure: To do or not to do? As the Canadian Dollar hits parity with the U.S. dollar, more investors and newspapers are talking about currency hedging. An example of currency hedging is when a Canadian investor who invested in say the U.S. market is concerned that her U.S. dollar returns will […]
Universal life
Universal Life Insurance: Are there tax advantages? YES; is it advantageous for your wealth? UNLIKELY! (Originally published October 27, 2008) What is a Universal Life Policy? It is a combination of term insurance and an investment vehicle which is tax-deferred to the investor or even tax-free on death to the beneficiary of the estate. Situation […]
Benchmarks
Benchmarks I was discussing last year’s equity returns with a good friend of mine and he mentioned that his advisor did quite well having returned 14%. Unfortunately, the corresponding index returned 18% over the same period. One of the usually overlooked areas by investors is a valid measure of (fund) manager or advisor performance. And […]
ETFs: past, present and future(?) (A somewhat dated view)
ETFs: past, present and future(?) First let’s start with some background material. There are basically two types of funds: (i) Open End Funds (what we usually think of as mutual funds), units of which can be continuously bought/sold directly from the distributor/manager for the NAV (Net Asset Value), and (ii) Closed End Funds (CEF) units […]
Deflation: Impact on retirees
Deflation: Impact on seniors? Is it necessarily bad? In a nutshell For seniors on a (nominal) fixed income or COLA indexed income a downward trending inflation or even a mild case of deflation might actually turn out to be beneficial. Seniors who tend to have relatively more conservatively invested retirement savings and/or are beneficiaries of […]
Senior inflation
Senior Inflation We talked elsewhere about the worries of retirees of outliving their assets due to both growing average longevity and the significant individual longevity variability around that average, leading to the risk of significant longer retirements. The longer retirements in turn lead the requirement for larger asset pool at the start of retirement in […]
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