Year: 2017
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Investing in commodities is worse than dead money
Most financial advisers recommend capital diversification between two asset classes: stocks and bonds. But every now and then I see some financial advisers recommending two additional asset classes: real estate and commodities. A common portfolio including those additional would look like this: Stocks: X% Bonds: X% Real estate: X% Commodities: X% In previous articles, I…
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How to choose a mutual fund
Mutual funds are one of the most flexible and available financial products for new investors. They are within the reach of practically anyone. With as little a $25/month, anyone can get started. See my previous article about what are mutual funds. Let’s say that you decide to get started investing in mutual funds. Open your…
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What are Mutual Funds
One of the best financial instruments to get started as an investor are mutual funds. How a mutual fund operates An investment company solicits investments from many investors. Those investments can be as small as $25 per month. This is what makes mutual fund so appealing, that it is within the reach of practically anyone…
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Large-Caps, Mid-Caps or Small-Caps?
What the academics say Ever since I have been reading finance books, I have been reading that Small-Cap stocks are riskier but they perform better. I see graphs and charts backing up these studies, so I decided to double-check. Is it true that Small-Cap performs better than Big-Caps? I went to my favorite ETF provider…
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Trends in the US Economy
Differences between the Canadian and US economy I rather focus my attention on the US economy than on the Canadian economy. I see the Canadian economy as a huge gas station for the US and a huge ATM machine. The biggest drivers of the Canadian economy are the oil companies and banks. You take those…
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Global diversification, not always a panacea
For years I have been promoting the advantages of global diversification. My recommended portfolio Generally, I recommend a portfolio of ⅓ Canadian, ⅓ US, and ⅓ international stocks. I claim that different countries run at different economic cycles, this means that as some countries’ economies are growing other countries’ economies are shrinking. Avoiding home bias…