Advanced Investing

Evaluating investment performance is not as easy as observing your rate of return. A rate of return is only as meaningful as the methodology used to find it, and the benchmark that it is being compared to. The most common rate of return calculation methodologies are money-weighted rate of return, time-weighed rate of return, and Modified Dietz which is sort of like a hybrid of the two.

Today on the show we are joined by Steven Leong who is the Head of Canada iShares Product at BlackRock. Steven is here to talk about single decision ETFs, the new XGROs and XBALs from BlackRock and whole lot more.

I’m afraid this might hurt a little, but I do it out of fondness for your Common Sense Investing. Repeat after me: Dividends do not matter.

We consider whether an equal weight index ETF outperforms a comparable market cap weighted ETF by any measures of value to investors.

Most investors accept that small-cap stocks have outperformed large-cap stocks over the long-term. This “size effect” was the first market anomaly to challenge the single-factor, capital asset pricing model. Unfortunately, as I’ll explain in this post, I’m unaware of any funds currently available to a DIY investor that DO properly apply the small-cap effect.

Diligently saving for retirement is by far the most sensible thing you can do to achieve a comfortable retirement. After all, if you haven’t saved enough to begin with, how you invest it will only take you so far. That said, it’s also worth considering what taxes and optimal investing can do to the savings you do accumulate.

What the Ontario government is trying to do to the investment industry is shameful. We like to think regulations are there to protect us, but the current Ontario government and the Canadian Securities Administrator are doing anything but that. The last few months have been incredibly frustrating to watch as regulatory proposals come out that are clearly not in investor’s best interests.

We argue the case for Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) as just the forerunner of a coupling of algorithms with advisors to improve the client experience.

I’ve always tried to stress that successful investing is about the right process, not the right products. But good products certainly help. In the latest episode of the podcast, my guest is Todd Schlanger of Vanguard Canada, who was one of the architects behind the firm’s asset allocation ETFs, launched earlier this year to great fanfare in the DIY investing community.

I’ll admit it. When I list all the ways investors have no control over portfolio performance, it does not make me the life of the party. I’m more the party pooper, telling investors they shouldn’t chase after hot holdings, dump declining ones, or jump in and out of the market based on whims and emotions.