Hot Off the Web In the wake of last week’s stock market volatility, you would expect lots of articles to address the value of diversified portfolios for risk reduction. Here are some of them. In “There’s strength in diversity of portfolio assets” Richard Croft of the Financial Post explains how adding an asset to an […]

Hot Off the Web The past week was a reminder to us that stock markets go down as well as up. However, it is the target asset allocation of our portfolios that determines the overall risk that we are taking and hopefully the target was selected to be consistent with our risk tolerance. If we […]

Hot Off the Web WSJ has been prolific on good insurance related articles over the past week. In “Getting a deal on your term life insurance”  Clements encourages you to review the cost of your current life insurance. Not only the prices have dropped precipitously over the past 10-20 years but the policies are now […]

Hot Off the Web The large number of RRSP related articles continue in tune with the season. Rob Carrick of the Globe and Mail in “Are you saying no to free money from your employer? “ reminds the reader to contribute to RRSP or defined contribution pension plans in order to take advantage of the […]

Hot Off the Web In “Is your portfolio ready for a slump?”  we are reminded that good times in the market won’t last for ever, and we should check if our portfolio has shifted significantly away from the target asset allocation. Also, if we have for example a position that has grown to $50,000, we […]

Hot Off the Web Both the Globe and National Post continued the almost daily articles on the income trusts saga. In “Trusts: Ottawa not victimizers” Chevreau explains why the narrow interests represented by the “Trust lobby had no hope against Flaherty” . Adding a nail to the income trust coffin the Bank of Canada message […]

Hot Off the Web In the NYT article entitled “A contrarian view:  save less, retire with enough” Damon Darlin tables the debate on assets required to be saved for retirement. This is a debate between calculations of financial institutions (who at times are accused of trying to beef up assets under management) and some economists […]

Hot Off the Web “Getting more of what the market gives” in the WSJ focuses on why investors have to change the emphasis from investment returns in general toward the returns we receive as investors ourselves. Data shows that investors don’t receive anywhere near what the markets return (after fees, costs and taxes) due to […]

Hot Off the Web Interestingly, today’s WSJ in “Spending in Retirement” discusses the same important topic I covered in my last week’s blog on “Withdrawal Strategies in Retirement”. That is, how much can you withdraw from your portfolio without running out of money? The perspectives presented here are very similar. Here reference is made to […]

Hot Off the Web In the Globe and Mail article “Feeling well enough to work longer?” the results of an Investors Group sponsored Decima Research poll show that 65% of the working 45 to 64 year olds expect to do some work during retirement. However, only 23% of those surveyed were actually working in their […]