Millennials Prefer Financial Advisors More Than Robos
A study found that the number of Millennials that had an advisor was 40 per cent while those using automated financial services only accounted for seven per cent. The study was done by Natixis Investment Managers. I suspect the results that heavily favoured a financial advisor was because it surveyed those with at least US$100,000 […]
Better Investment Fees Disclosure is Proposed
Investors can look forward to enhanced disclosure of investment fees and costs on the mutual funds and ETFs they own, writes Peter Watson. This is a good thing, and it is a follow-up to cost disclosure requirements that were implemented in 2016. The new standard of disclosure is at the proposal stage and the objective […]
Managing Expectations and Important Aspect of Investing
Most investment categories had disappointing returns during the first quarter of this year. First a few details. We looked at seven different sectors. Four different stock markets, a global real estate index and two bond indexes. Six of the categories had declining values in the range of five to eight per cent for the quarter […]
Significant Interest Rate Increases will be Painful
Last week the Bank of Canada increased interest rates by half a per cent. This is the largest interest rate hike in two decades, writes Peter Watson. Plus, there were warnings additional rate increases will be announced. The BOC also announced it will stop buying federal government bonds which it has been doing to keep […]
Federal budget attempts to balance many priorities
Canada is at a critical stage of our evolution. The federal budget highlighted some of the challenges we face as a nation, writes Peter Watson. The goal of a federal budget is to outline the income and expenses and how the government navigates between different priorities. I cannot remember a time where there have been […]
Investors Will Benefit from New Investment Industry Rules
New legislation regulating the use of financial titles will reduce confusion in selecting an advisor, writes Peter Watson. Investor confusion on selecting a person to help you with your finances should be greatly reduced. Ontario will start to regulate who can use standard industry titles. The titles “Financial Planner” and “Financial Advisor” will now be […]
Over managing your investments could cost you money
There are two ways to manage your portfolio. You can take a consistent approach with little change in the allocation to stocks and maintaining that balance over time. Alternatively, you can make periodic shifts in the weighting of stocks and bonds. These shifts can be based on a specific criterion, or just your gut feeling […]
Mutual fund past performance data can be misleading
There is a bias in mutual fund past performance than can overstate past results, writes Peter Watson. Since mutual funds are the investment vehicle of choice for most Canadians, it is helpful to understand how to interpret information that is publicly available. We will follow the path of a very astute investor who wants to […]
Interest Rate Increases will be Painful
The Bank of Canada has warned us of pending interest rate increases for a long time. Last week interest rates were increased by one quarter of one per cent. Many are anticipating six interest rate increases over a relatively short period of time. These increases are necessary to slow down economic activity in order to […]
The pandemic will continue to change how we work
It’s time to focus on your career, given the changes to employment as a result of the pandemic, writes Peter Watson. Work has changed as result of the pandemic. Change has occurred in sectors that seem logical, but changes are also happening in areas that were not directly affected. Restaurant employment has seen a mass […]