Peter Guay

The sudden ratcheting up of the coronavirus crisis has made for an anxious couple of weeks on every front—health, family, work and finances—and there’s more uncertainty to come.

We’ve just finished the RRSP season when many Canadians make a last-minute contribution to beat the deadline for a deduction on their 2019 income taxes.

With low interest rates, fewer defined benefit pension plans and longer life expectancies, more people than ever are concerned about outliving their savings in retirement. In fact, surveys indicate running out of money is the biggest fear of seniors, with some studies finding that many people consider it a fate worse than death itself.

One of the biggest developments in asset management over the last decade has been the tremendous growth of investment products in private equity, venture capital, real estate and infrastructure.

There was some good news recently for the cause of investor protection when all but one of Canada’s 13 securities regulators announced they’ll ban deferred sales charges (DSC) on mutual fund sales.

By this point in January, it’s a safe bet that many New Year’s resolutions have already been broken. Change is never easy and using the dawn of a new year, or a new decade, as motivation doesn’t seem to help much. Temptation derails us in so many subtle ways!

I came across an interesting article recently about the Norwegian Oil Fund, the largest sovereign wealth fund on the planet. The Norwegians certainly showed admirable foresight in setting up the fund after oil was discovered in the North Sea in 1969, according to the article, which summarizes a talk given by Anton Mork, an economics professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

The article, Passive vs. Active: Nothing to fear but fear itself, debunked the idea that the huge and growing popularity of passive investing is making markets less efficient and creating the conditions for a crash.

It may be bad memories from last October coming to the surface, but I’ve been sensing more nervousness about the stock market in recent weeks. You’ll recall the markets went through a bad patch around this time in 2018, with the S&P/TSX Composite down 6.3% in October and another 5.4% in December. South of the border, the S&P 500 plunged 6.8% in October and 9% in December.

The growth of passive investing shows no signs of letting up and neither do the warnings about it from people who earn their living actively managing investments.