Year: 2017

  • Cash is trash. Inflation is the biggest killer of your money

    Many people think that having money in cash is the safest investment of all, but in reality, it is the worst investment of all. Having cash is the only investment where you are guaranteed 100% to lose money. How do you lose it? You lose it to inflation, the silent killer of capital. Why does…

  • Financial Analysis and recommendations: Elijah Baker

    Elijah is a friend I met at the McGill Toastmasters club. His speeches have always been thought-provoking and inspirational. Elijah is a true hustler. He has several side gigs and jobs. Due to his many activities, he hasn’t much time to think about his financial goals. He only started saving after having a conversation with…

  • Asset allocation for a Canadian 10 years into the past

    If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will know that my favorite asset allocation for Canadians is ⅓ Canadian stock, ⅓ US stocks, and ⅓ International stocks. Let’s say that you met me 10 years ago (October 2007) and you asked me how to invest your money. And let’s say that…

  • Currency diversification from the Canadain dollar

    Here is a 10-year graph of the same investment, the S&P 500, being held in Canadian dollars and being held in US dollars. Because of the cost of hedging, the investments in Canadian dollars underperform the investment in the US dollar by a whopping 15.60%, that’s a lot of moolah. Long ago I suggested that…

  • At what point should you start adding bonds to your portfolio

    I advocate not to have bonds in a portfolio, but the conventional wisdom is to have a portfolio of stocks and bonds. Let’s clarify a few points: Stocks are not more risky than bonds in any 10-20 years time period, they are just more volatile. Stocks produce a higher return than bonds. If stocks are…

  • There is no solution for income inequality

    Social inequality is nothing new, it has existed since the beginning of civilization. Some people like to focus on building wealth and some people focus on other activities other than building wealth. Here is a short excerpt for Plutarch in the year 594: “the disparity of fortune between the rich and the poor had reached…