Behavioural Finance

Who better to have on the 100th episode of the Rational Reminder Podcast than Professor Ken French? Ken has been a massive inspiration to us and has remained a guiding light for sensible, evidence-based investors over the last few decades! His work with Eugene Fama stands as the seminal work on the subject of passive investment portfolios and we are so delighted to have him on the show today as we talk through some of his thoughts on a variety of subjects.

In a recent blog we discussed how a fall in market prices today leads to an expectation of higher returns tomorrow. We explore this in more detail by considering the impact of the fall in portfolio values at the end of March and the revised expected returns on investors in different stage of their lives.

No one credible ever said that investing was a simple endeavour. It might have some simple guidelines, that if followed are more likely to yield positive results, but the ins and outs of the markets, decisions and their impacts, movements and crashes are never straightforward one-dimensional cases.

The current bear market is unique. The global coronavirus pandemic has brought large segments of the world economy to a halt. Some economists are forecasting a 25% decline of the U.S. GDP (annualized) for the second quarter.

In our second special release episode during the 2020 COVID-19 bear market we discussed a broad history of US bear markets from 1900 to 2020, the recent volatility in the bond market, bond ETF NAV spreads, a nuance in the legislation on tax-loss harvesting, and some of the tax-related changes that Canada has rolled out in light of the current situation.

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.

Stock prices reflect investors’ expectations about future profits and risk. When those expectations change, as they do frequently, prices change, and they can change dramatically. Volatile stock prices do not mean that the market is broken or that the world is ending; sharp price declines are expected from time to time in an efficient stock market, and their inevitability should be built into every investment plan.

In this special episode, Cameron Passmore and Benjamin Felix discuss how we are handling the situation as a firm, investing through a crisis, historical comparisons, and more.  

It’s not unreasonable to assume that a desirable retirement equates to having the financial freedom to meet one’s lifestyle and personal goals. The more efficient a person is with their assets, the higher the likelihood of this, which is why sensible retirement income planning is so necessary.

Welcome back to the Rational Reminder Podcast everybody. Today we are using the opportunity to have a bit of a philosophical discussion about a bunch of things related to your retirement and the financial planning that goes into it.